If you work in health care or have friends and family in the industry, you have probably heard of a term called universal precautions. In short, it means that you treat every drop of blood or body fluid as if it contains that the nastiest of the nasty diseases known to man and encourages health care workers to use the appropriate safety precautions such as:
1. Latex gloves
2. Gowns
3. Eye protection
4. Proper handwashing/hand hygiene
Is every drop of blood and body fluid a healthcare worker comes across infectious? Of course not but you cannot tell by looking what is infectious and what isn’t; by treating every situation like it could be infected body fluid, the theory is the worker will always utilize the appropriate safety precautions thus minimizing a health risk to that worker.
A few weeks ago I was scrolling on Facebook and came across a post on a client’s timeline that I found to be brilliant. It proposed adopting the mindset and habits of a person who has been diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease even if you don’t have heart disease or are diabetic. If your first thought is “Huh?” please bear with me for a moment.
For people who are diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease, there are certain exercise and nutrition habits that are recommended in order to manage the disease states. Things such as:
1. Regular exercise (aerobic and strength training)
2. Improved nutrition (less processed foods and more fruits, vegetables and lean proteins)
3. The utilization of stress management techniques
4. Encouraging activities that promote balanced wellness across the spectrum
As a personal trainer, these are the same themes we promote on a daily basis to our clients at Integrated Wellness Concepts. The only difference is the mindset of “pretending” to be diabetic. You see when we are “apparently healthy,” it is really easy to bag an exercise session when we don’t feel motivated or make poor food choices and give into cravings because in our minds, we are healthy.
Now, do people with heart disease and diabetes do the same? Sadly, there are many non-compliant individuals who still engage in poor habits despite a diagnosis, but there are also many people who go to great lengths to employ healthy habits to reduce the effects of diabetes or risk having a heart attack.
So if you don’t have diabetes or heart disease should you train like someone who has had a heart attack or diabetic complications? Of course not but you should train at a level, volume and intensity that is appropriate for your current fitness level, goals and interests. By the way, the same can be said for the magnitude of your nutrition changes as well.
The key to this concept is developing the mindset of pretending to have one of these diseases so you are less inclined to make poor food choices and sit on the couch. The team at Integrated Wellness Concepts are masters at helping you develop a program that meets your goals, interests and fitness level and can help coach and hold you accountable to accomplish great things in the coming year. Your goals are our goals and we would love the opportunity to work with you.
1. Latex gloves
2. Gowns
3. Eye protection
4. Proper handwashing/hand hygiene
Is every drop of blood and body fluid a healthcare worker comes across infectious? Of course not but you cannot tell by looking what is infectious and what isn’t; by treating every situation like it could be infected body fluid, the theory is the worker will always utilize the appropriate safety precautions thus minimizing a health risk to that worker.
A few weeks ago I was scrolling on Facebook and came across a post on a client’s timeline that I found to be brilliant. It proposed adopting the mindset and habits of a person who has been diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease even if you don’t have heart disease or are diabetic. If your first thought is “Huh?” please bear with me for a moment.
For people who are diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease, there are certain exercise and nutrition habits that are recommended in order to manage the disease states. Things such as:
1. Regular exercise (aerobic and strength training)
2. Improved nutrition (less processed foods and more fruits, vegetables and lean proteins)
3. The utilization of stress management techniques
4. Encouraging activities that promote balanced wellness across the spectrum
As a personal trainer, these are the same themes we promote on a daily basis to our clients at Integrated Wellness Concepts. The only difference is the mindset of “pretending” to be diabetic. You see when we are “apparently healthy,” it is really easy to bag an exercise session when we don’t feel motivated or make poor food choices and give into cravings because in our minds, we are healthy.
Now, do people with heart disease and diabetes do the same? Sadly, there are many non-compliant individuals who still engage in poor habits despite a diagnosis, but there are also many people who go to great lengths to employ healthy habits to reduce the effects of diabetes or risk having a heart attack.
So if you don’t have diabetes or heart disease should you train like someone who has had a heart attack or diabetic complications? Of course not but you should train at a level, volume and intensity that is appropriate for your current fitness level, goals and interests. By the way, the same can be said for the magnitude of your nutrition changes as well.
The key to this concept is developing the mindset of pretending to have one of these diseases so you are less inclined to make poor food choices and sit on the couch. The team at Integrated Wellness Concepts are masters at helping you develop a program that meets your goals, interests and fitness level and can help coach and hold you accountable to accomplish great things in the coming year. Your goals are our goals and we would love the opportunity to work with you.
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