No one understands commitment and dedication better than Olympic athletes.  They learn very early on that if they are to reach their performance goals they need to fully commit and dedicate themselves to a certain lifestyle where physical training and eating to support that training, become second nature.   Their training and eating habits become deeply ingrained into their lives to the point that if these habits were missing from their day, the athletes would crave them.  They would feel unbalanced and unconnected to their true being and instinctively try to bring things back into balance to regain that missing connection.  It can take years for these athletes to develop a lifestyle that serves their personal goals and aspirations, but once that lifestyle is developed it becomes part of the fabric of who they are and how they live their lives. 

Inspiration

One of the most inspiring things about Olympic athletes is their willingness, commitment and dedication to developing a lifestyle based on their personal goals.  They identify what actionable steps they need to take to reach their goals and those steps become habits.  Habits become so ingrained into their being that a lifestyle is then born.  Goals are declared, actionable steps to reach these goals are identified, actionable steps are put into action and become habits and the collective habits become a lifestyle. 

It is true that there are only very few that will ever achieve the levels of athletic greatness that Olympic athletes do, but we all can achieve a lifestyle that serves us and our own personal health goals.  We too can develop a lifestyle where the habits we cultivate become second nature and part of who we are, this is not just reserved for Olympic athletes.  Just because we are not training to be on an Olympic team, does not mean we can’t set personal health goals and strive to develop a lifestyle that will lead us to personal achievement. 

 A Dietary Lifestyle

A dietary lifestyle is what we all should have.  A dietary lifestyle is not dieting.  The two are very different.  A dietary lifestyle will serve you for a lifetime. It has permanence, ease and depth. A diet is temporary, difficult, limiting and shallow. 

 A dietary lifestyle is all about habits. Good eating habits will last a lifetime, not come and go like fad diets.  Once habits are formed, they don’t require much thought because they become part of your daily routines and practices such as checking emails, walking your dog or driving your kids to school.  They become part of the cadence of your day.

Dietary lifestyles also have depth.  Once good habits are put into practice, you can always go deeper. You can dig deeper to continue to shape your habits to align with your goals.  Breakfast is a great example of this.  Let’s say you are someone who eats donuts and drinks coffee for breakfast on a fairly regular basis but you know that menu is not going to help you achieve your long term health goals, so you decide to start changing your breakfast habits. You decide to eat toast instead of a donut.  Good.  You can do better though.  You then decide to eat a banana and a granola bar.  Even better.  There is still room for improvement.  A simple fruit salad and a plant based protein smoothie then becomes your breakfast menu.  Fantastic!  You will crave this breakfast and feel off center when you don’t have it.  You will celebrate your win of developing a habit that is serving a beneficial purpose.  It’s not about counting calories or keeping a scorecard.  It's about developing and improving upon habits that will be in place for the duration. The habits that make up a dietary lifestyle.

 Kickstart a healthy habit by adding this smoothie into your day

In honor of the Olympic games I have put together a smoothie recipe that incorporates all five colors of the Olympic rings. Blueberries represent the blue ring, blackberries represent the black ring, strawberries or raspberries represent the red ring, pineapple or mango represent the yellow ring and spinach represents the green ring. I call it, The O Ring Power Smoothie.  It's a great smoothie for any meal or snack and it's super easy to assemble.  It's also a great smoothie to make a habit of drinking daily, because it's a powerhouse of nutrients.  

The O Ring Smoothie

Ingredients:

• A Handful of Frozen Blueberries
• A Handful of Frozen Blackberries
• A Handful of Frozen Strawberries or Raspberries
• A Few Chunks of Frozen Mango or Pineapple
• A Handful of Spinach Leaves
• About 1 Cup of Orange or Apple Juice

Directions:

 Put all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth.  

Notes

 If you prefer a thicker smoothie, use less juice.  If you prefer a thinner smoothie add more juice. 

Some fresh fruit can be substituted for frozen.  A dash of cinnamon is also a great addition.

You can also use a Mixed Berry frozen fruit mix for the berries.  

Show Us Yours!

If you make this we would love to hear about it!  Send us a pic on Facebook Messenger or Instagram Direct Messaging at Grow Your Lunch Oh.  Who knows, your picture could be featured (with your permission of course)  in one of our upcoming posts, emails or newsletters!