Let’s face it: as a small business owner, you’re the one wearing all the hats. You have to manage your business, manage a family, raise kids, give back to your community, attend religious ceremonies, and then take time out to eat, sleep, bathe (hopefully), and ponder ways to do all of the preceding “more efficiently” as we go forward. So the question becomes, do you really have time to work out? Do you really have time to eat right? Do you really have time to take vitamins?

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With all of the things you have to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, it’s hard to add one more item to your list, however, living a healthy lifestyle is very important, not just for small business owners, but for all.

Over 70% Of Americans Are Overweight Or Obese

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), is a branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services. NIDDK conducts and coordinates research on serious diseases affecting public health. According to NIDDK:

• Over 70% of American adult men and women are considered either overweight or obese
• Nearly 40% of American adult men and women are considered obese

The term “overweight” refers to having an excess amount of body weight and the term “obese” refers to having an excess amount of body fat. Both being overweight and being obese comes from an energy imbalance, which is if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off daily, then the excess calories turn into excess body weight and body fat.

Being overweight and/or obese increases your risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, various types of cancer, and more. So based on this information, it’s very important that you develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle so you do not become either overweight or obese.

The U.S. Fitness Industry Is The Biggest It’s Ever Been

Now, despite America’s overweight and obesity numbers, the U.S. fitness industry is in shape, with nearly $30 billion in national sales from gym/fitness center membership revenues alone, not including the other billions that are earned from fitness supplements, fitness equipment, fitness magazine subscriptions, and more. So how can the U.S. fitness industry be the biggest it’s ever been, but American adults are literally “fatter” than they have ever been before?

Well, it’s quite simply because many of the U.S. fitness industry’s fad diets, fad workouts, and fad supplements simply don’t work.

Fad Diets

There are a host of fad diets out there, from the Atkins diet, to the vegan diet, to the zone diet. All of these diets focus on “losing pounds” instead of changing lifestyles for the long term. As you seek to develop/maintain a healthy eating lifestyle, do not fall into fad diets, instead you can try the following:

1. Go over to the list of The World’s Healthiest Foods
2. Gather all of the foods from this list that you “love” to eat.
3. From there, put together a meal plan with a basic three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) that consists of these foods in meal portions of moderate size. You don’t want to eat to get “full,” instead, you want to eat to “fuel”.
4. Incorporate portions of fasting between meals, which is just basic spacing of let’s say 5 – 6 hours between each meal.
5. Two times per week, “treat” yourself to a cheat meal day by eating what you want. Note: this isn’t a pig out day, but just a day for you to relax from your normal healthy eating routine, to eating whatever you prefer.

Fad Workouts

From ab belts to spot reducing (trying to burn fat off specific areas only), there are many Fad Workouts promoted in the market today. Instead of trying these fad workouts, instead here’s an example of what you could do:

1. Do 16 workout sessions per month, broken down to 4 times per week.
2. Within the session, include both cardio and weight lifting exercises. You can do bulk sessions with weight lifting first, following by cardio, or you can do solo sessions of cardio only or weight lifting only.
3. Choose workouts you like to do and that you’re excited. Staying motivated to exercise is key!

By focusing on a total body workout and cardio plan, you will be burning fat from all areas (your body determines where the fat comes off first) while also building lean muscle mass at the same time.

Fad Supplements

From fat burner pills to pills that make you “toned”, most of the supplements pushed by the U.S. fitness industry are simply a waste of money. This even includes many protein shakes (which most don’t contain the right level of whey isolates) and many protein bars (of which once you count the sugar included, you aren’t that far off from eating a Snickers bar). Instead of trying all of these fad supplements, thinking that popping a “pill” is going to “melt the fat away”, instead try the following:

1. Buy a good multi-vitamin. I recommend Opti-Men or Opti-Women, which is a good multi-vitamin for a good price, with a lot of required daily nutrients and values included.
2. Take Omega 3 Fish Oil, which are just nutrients that help present a variety of diseases and help lower blood pressure, keep you looking younger, healthier, etc.
3. Take green tea, which provides a variety of benefits that fight off various diseases, help boost metabolism, and more.

Living Healthy Is A Must

With all of the things you have to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, living a healthy lifestyle is very important as not just a small business owner, but as an individual.

With over 70% of Americans being overweight and nearly 40% being obese, taking time out to maintain a healthy eating lifestyle and an active workout regimen, is not only very important, but it can be life sustaining to help avoid becoming a victim ofvarious diseases from cancer to heart disease.