Proud of my Old Man =)

I firmly believe that in order to embark on a successful nutrition (i despise the word D-I-E-t!) and exercise overhaul it is up to that person to 'WANT TO CHANGE' for themselves. No amount of nagging will force someone to make a positive change that will last long term. Trust me i know! As much as I have wanted certain family members to change their nutrition habits (its an automatic response when you are a nutritionist!) over the years i know better than to force them to. Why? Because it can cause all sorts of anger, resentment and worst of all EMOTIONAL issues (refer to my Hemorrhoid issues!). So i know that keeping quiet is best.

So this arvo, i dropped by mum and dads for a coffee and to pick up my new pot-plant. (Mum bought me this cute Money plant in a red pot for my outdoor table. They are suppose to bring good luck). While I was chatting with mum, she mentioned that dad has given up refined sugar- biscuits, chocolates, dried fruit, etc. I was so dumbfounded that i nearly fell off my stool! So i raced downstairs to interrogate my dad lol

The first thing i noticed in the rompus room was a book called Sweet Poison by Dr David Gillespie sitting on the coffee table. Now dad rarely reads ANY books let alone NUTRITION books! Dad told me that he had listened to the author do an interview on talk back radio a month ago about the dangerous and damaging effects that refined sugar has on the body. So he bought the book, read the book and decided to just cut out the sugar!

Now FYI, my dad has always been physically active. He works out for 30min every morning doing bodyweight resistance training, walks the dog for an hour each day, and still teaches ju jitsu once a week. He's a 5th Dan Black belt and will be 69 this year. He's in pretty good nick for someone his age.

BUT as far as i can remember, dad has never been ultra lean (since i was born). I wouldn't say that he has been overweight either, but his 'sugar belly' has always yo-yo'd between 5-7kg over the years.... and that 'sugar belly' is not the result of lack of exercise!

Remember you can't out-train a poor diet!

Now dads' nutrition is far from poor, he actually eats quite well (mum makes great healthy and tastey food) BUT his problem is his 'sweet tooth'. He loves scotch fingers, dark chocolate and icecream... and 'portion size' is NOT apart of his vocabulary lol.

So over the past 4 weeks dad has dropped 3kg just by reducing his sugar intake! His training has stayed EXACTLY the same. When he told me, I could tell that he was so proud of himself for changing his habits, i could see it in his eyes, they were smiling. So i asked him what made him want to change, and you know what he told me?

"I wanted to challenge myself and remove the POISON from my body. The weight-loss was a bonus and i now have more energy too!"

Pretty cool huh!

Change happens when you are ready.

Go dad, i'm really proud of him too.