, can we apply lean principles to our health and fitness?

Well, as I found out in 2020 after reading Paul Ackers book: Lean Health, the answer is: Absolutely! We can and we should!

At PGNZ we are all lean thinkers. And as every lean thinker knows, everything in life is a process.

This includes the way we eat, the way we prepare our food, the way we plan our day, our fitness routines etc!

As I write this I am sipping on my 3rd fruit and vege smoothie for the day! Delicious! And to be clear there is no yoghurt or other processed foods in there! Just fruit and veg! Absolutely delightful. 😊

I read the book, Lean Health in 2020 and it totally changed the way I think about health and the way I treat my body, health and fitness.

As the scripture says: We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

The human body is a miracle of creation and yet most of humanity seems to treat it with disregard, disrespect and even outright contempt!

Last time I checked, we are only gifted with one body to care for in our time on this earth. So why don’t we treat it with the utmost respect!

Think of it this way: If your body were a car, it would be a Ferrari. The finest piece of engineering and high performance.

Yet most of us treat our bodies like a beat up Cortina!

Instead of fuelling it with the finest fuel and checking in at the best mechanics, most of us do exactly the opposite!

Gorging on processed foods, fast foods, packet food etc with zero nutritional value!

Our cities and indeed our hospitals are overflowing with people with chronic health conditions. Sadly a huge % of this is caused by diet and lifestyle.

Obesity, heart conditions, diabetes, cancer and many more debilitating illnesses can stem from bad food and lifestyle choices.

This is really sad and is a massive waste of unfulfilled human potential. Chronic, tragic waste!

It really all starts with overproduction.

We eat and drink too much of the wrong foods and drinks and lead lazy, idle lives thanks to the luxury which the modern western world has afforded us, leading to chronic health problems (defects), which then leads on to all the other deadly sins of waste!

Think of all the mountains of waste associated with living an unhealthy life! It is mind blowing if you stop to consider it and write it down!

The burden of all this on society is staggering. The loss of human potential and productivity is a tragedy!

Our forefathers did not have the luxury of spare time nor the convenience of packet and fast food!

So Im not suggesting that we should let our society revert back to the days of hard manual labour 7 days of the week. But we simply need to change our habits! Our daily habits are what define us!

So the essence of Lean Health is this: STOP making unhealthy choices. In other words: STOP and fix what bugs you! And STOP being lazy! Get moving! Get mobile! Move with urgency everywhere you go and block out time every day to do some intense fitness. It is not hard to do!

STOP eating out of packets! You cant fuel your body out of a packet! STOP eating fast foods! Start making healthy choices! Every day we are faced with hundreds of choices! The healthy people are the ones who make the healthy choices.

Here are some of my favourite health and fitness quotes:

1. Your body is your #1 customer!
2. If you don’t make time for health and fitness, you must make time for illness!
3. The essence of intelligence is not accepting anything less than excellence!
4. Your body is a Ferrari so treat it like one!
5. The irony of all this is that being healthy is actually easier, simpler and more enjoyable than being unhealthy! Everything about being healthy is better!
6. When you give up unhealthy diet habits you are not giving up anything! It is all net gain!
7. Your body is like an airplane. It performs best when its not carrying any extra weight.
8. Become addicted to healthy foods to fuel your high quality Ferrari.
9. Don’t make excuses, make changes.
10. If you want your life to be great, you have to be deliberate about everything you do.
11. Your daily habits define you. You are a direct result of what you do daily.
12. If you do the hard things today, life gets easier. If you do the easy things today, life gets harder.
13. If you don’t make it a priority now, it will make itself a priority later. There is no 3rd option.
14. You can choose the rigours of living a healthy life now, or the penalties of living unhealthy later. There is no 3rd option.
15. If you can win the fitness game, you can win in all other areas in your life

At PGNZ we are building a team of winners. A team which understands how important victory is. A team who understands that without great health we really have nothing. So we are determined to improve our health and fitness every day. 1% better every single day.

Action: Read or listen to the book, Lean Health by Paul Akers. It will change your mindset and more importantly it will change your actions and your life!

Cheers to your great health!