Eat Well and Exercise to Create Your Career Success

Today is March 1 – it’s almost Spring – time to start exercising outdoors.  I came across a great giveaway from the folks at Del Monte Fresh Produce the other day.  In an effort to motivate people to get healthy by exercising and eating more fruits and vegetables, they will give away 500 pairs of sneakers, from March 1 to 31, to Del Monte Fresh Produce Facebook fans.  This is a good deal becasue, living a healthy lifestyle is one way of ensuring your life and career success.

The “500 Sneaker March Giveaway,” hosted on the Del Monte Fresh Produce Facebook page, will randomly award 500 sneakers to 500 Del Monte Facebook fans who enter the contest.

All entrants will be encouraged to sign a pledge to exercise at least three times a week for thirty minutes and, as the USDA recommends, make half their plate fruits and vegetables.

Del Monte Fresh Produce is committed to providing consumers with quality fresh fruits and vegetables, which are key components in leading a healthy lifestyle. The “500 Sneaker March Giveaway” was created as a way to encourage Del Monte Fresh Produce fans to exercise as well.

Each week, during the entire month of March 2012, 125 randomly selected eligible US and Canadian consumers that enter the contest, will each be awarded a $75.00 gift card to Foot Locker to purchase a pair of sneakers.

For more information, please visit: www.facebook.com/delmontefreshproduce

I know what I just wrote sounds like an ad for Del Monte Fresh Produce, and I guess it is.  But what the heck – if you like their Facebook page you might win $75.00 toward a new pair of sneakers – just in time for Spring.  That’s a pretty good deal in my book.

Tweet 91 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “The better you feel, the better you’ll perform.  Live a healthy lifestyle.  Eat well.  Exercise regularly.  Get regular checkups.”

You have to be in reasonable shape if you want to become a life and career success.  A reasonable level of fitness will help you deal with the inevitable stress that accompanies creating your life and career success.  Diet and exercise are the keys to living a healthy lifestyle.  You don’t have to be a fitness fanatic, but you do need to get some exercise and pay attention to what you eat. You can lose up to 13 pounds using this product.

I’m not the best role model when it comes to a healthy lifestyle.  I’ve battled weight my entire life.  However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more serious about living a healthy lifestyle.  I exercise more and pay attention to what I eat.

I have found that the US government revised food pyramid provides great guidance on how to eat healthy.  Here are some of the highlights.  I try to follow these guidelines.  If you follow them, you will be doing well from a nutrition standpoint.

Eat at least three ounces of whole grain bread, cereals, crackers, rice or pasta every day.  Look for the word “whole” before the grain name on the list of ingredients.

Eat lots of vegetables every day.  The Del Monte folks suggest that half of your plat should be veggies.  I’m lucky here.  I love vegetables – even brussels sprouts.  Dark green and orange vegetables are the best for you.  Dry beans and peas are also good for you.

Fruits are also good for you.  Raw fruit is the best.  On the other hand, it’s best to limit your intake of fruit juice.  It’s often very high in calories and sugar.

Milk is a great source of calcium – something we all need for strong bones.  However, whole milk is very high in fat, so it’s best to drink low-fat or fat-free milk.  Yogurt and cheese are also good sources of calcium.

Eat protein (meat, fish and poultry) in small quantities.  Bake, broil, or grill – don’t fry – your protein. If you’re unable to cook your own protein – consider a fresh-prepped-meal service, like ProteinPromo. Use these coupons to get a discount and free delivery if you want to check them out, when I get too busy at work to cook – these guys are lifesavers for me.

The Mayo clinic suggests eating at least three fruits, four vegetables, four to eight servings of grains and pasta, three to seven servings of protein or dairy, three to five servings of fat and no more than 75 calories of sugar a day.

In general, you can eat healthy by eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.  Reduce your intake of saturated fat, trans fats and cholesterol.  Limit sweets and salt.  Drink alcoholic beverages in moderation, if at all.  Control portion sizes and the total number of calories you consume.

Exercise is the other important component of a healthy lifestyle.  It’s best if you can exercise for at least 30 minutes five times a week.  Fitness experts suggest that, of the 30 minutes, 20 should be spent in some form of cardio exercise, five in stretching, and five in resistance training.  This year, if you’re lucky you’ll be able to exercise some brand new sneakers courtesy of the folks at Del Monte Fresh Produce.

I find that it’s best to choose a time to exercise and build your daily schedule around it.  Some people like first thing in the morning.  Others like the evening.  I prefer mid-day.  I find that if I exercise around noon, I am less hungry and consume fewer calories at lunch.

Hydration and circulation are important too.  Drink plenty of water.  It keeps you hydrated and helps combat hunger.  If you spend a lot of time at your desk, take a few minutes every hour to get up and stretch.  You can do leg lifts and stomach squeezes at your desk.  A little bit of activity can give you a burst of oxygen that will energize you and keep you feeling good.

You don’t have to become a fitness fanatic to be a high performer.  However, eating well and exercising will keep you sharp and on top of your game.  It will keep your stress in check.  And while a little stress is a good thing, too much stress can knock you out of the game.

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Successful people are high performers.  To perform well follow the career advice in Tweet 91 in Success Tweets.  “The better you feel, the better you’ll perform.  Live a healthy lifestyle.  Eat well.  Exercise regularly.  Get regular checkups.”  You don’t have to be a fitness junky to become a high performer.  But if you take care of yourself you’ll be more likely to become a high performer, and high performance is a key to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  The folks at Del Monte Fresh Produce are giving away 500 pairs of sneakers in the month of March in an effort to encourage people to eat more veggies and exercise regularly.  All you have to do is like their Facebook page and you’ll be entered to win: www.facebook.com/delmontefreshproduce

That’s my career advice in eating well and exercising regularly.  What do you think?  Please share your thoughts with us in a comment.  And if you win, share that too.  I’ll sweeten Del Monte’s offer by giving you the digital version of my career advice book Climbing the Corporate Ladder if you’re one of the lucky Del Monte winners and post about it in a comment on this blog.  Climbing the Corporate Ladder will be out in March.  As always thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site last September.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.