Surviving COVID (Part 2) – with Lewis Franz
Here’s what led me to sought after a healthy eating and exercise regime that’s helped me through COVID…..
I felt something wasn’t quite right with the way I was feeling each day and knew there needed to be a change. At the time I never thought part of the solution had anything to do with my diet as I wasn’t a lover of all things sweet or fatty. With the way the recruitment agency was progressing I should have been feeling on top of the world.
I counted my blessings within my recruitment career and am always on the lookout to grow and learn on how to serve clients and candidates better. However, near the end of the second year I wasn’t performing at the level I was used to and couldn’t identify where the sense of lethargy was coming from and with that self-doubt subtlety creeped in. As a strategy, I would reserve energy for work by withdrawing from family and friends to prepare for the next working day to ensure the high delivery of service.
What I’ve found going into the program
After consult with Lewis and participation in the program of a healthy diet and exercise, I am now more energetic with higher self-esteem, this isn’t to do with physically looking good, however that has been the added benefit. The noticeable difference was when my energy to rise so did my positivity!
Most importantly, the clarity to apply and to persevere with goals each day, and just in the nick of time before COVID! I’m not sure my positive outlook would be sustained during our COVID challenge had it not been for the health change.
What I’ve learnt is you have to take care of yourself from the inside first in order to apply quality in each day, whether it be for business decisions, family friends. With a busy schedule, don’t stand to think of what to eat let alone eating healthy when you’re running a business or attending to family duties, but that was effectively what it was. I was compromising on my own overall health being so fixated on the recruitment business and in turn, impacted on the way I made meaningful decisions. I highly recommend this program, one of the best ROI’s I’ve made this year.
To wrap this up, here is some food for thought from the interview with Lewis and also being part of the fitness program.
Two key factors I believe will help anybody……
How healthy eating improves the world around us
Logically speaking, we use our mind to direct our body every day to make decisions on whether to cross the road when it’s safe, turn left or right, choosing what school our children go to, or when making an important business decision! I’m trying to state the obvious as all these decisions are based on instinctive and intuitive abilities, therefore it makes a lot of sense to look after our body’s in order for our minds to function at a higher and more rational level.
For instance, some decisions are ‘’life changing’’ dependent on a split-second decision based upon our current state we’re in at the time. It could be a short or long-term goal, a life or death decision perhaps. The latter demands the extra effort with little time to prepare! Is that not worth a second glance to tweak our diet?
To make clear, I’m not saying healthy eating is going to miraculously eliminate all our problems, but it helps us make better decisions with a more optimistic outlook and with higher clarity.
Obviously, everyone’s values of what we want to achieve is different, however after feeling the benefits of eating the right foods in the right quantities I felt the increase in mood, much more positive, alert and ‘confident’ in my decision making, where I can execute with a more ‘peace of mind’ in the likelihood of having made the right choice the first time, all with optimism.
Consistency starts with us
Keeping a consistent routine during covid-19 helps us to maintain a sense of normality and structure, limits our naturally wondering minds on the negativity of the ‘unknown’ around the pandemic that ineffectively we have no control over and keeps us aligned in being more productive. Now I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like achieving something?! Feeling the sense of achievement is what keeps us going and it can be as small or as big as you want it to be. After the restrictions were applied, I intentionally adjusted work habits with new goals that would otherwise have been the norm. I felt at ‘ease’ feeling the progress as I consistently worked towards the new goals where time constraints prior top COVID-19 wouldn’t allow. I used to say, I wish I had more time and now here it is!
Another great example of how consistency can be very powerful tool is if we look into the psychology of children. In my earlier career as an early childhood manager overseeing programs for children between ages 1.5 to 5 years, Children have short attention spans and can’t tell time, yet intuitively were aware of the structure of ‘what is going to happen next’ and would calmly transition throughout the day with little prompting. Part reason for this is that the children had an organised routine set by the staff which gave the children a sense of direction of what to expect daily, they knew there was a plan and moved towards it.
I know it’s hard for a lot of us at the moment, however trying to see the silver lining in the ‘gift of time’ during this period by setting and staying consistent with our goals can also a great chance to upskill, or the opportunity to spend quality more time with family! We’re in the era where technology is a MASSIVE with multiple platforms of communication as a way to connect. Imagine if the pandemic happened twenty to fifteen years ago, what a scary thought!
Upon reflection, to perform at our best we need to look after ourselves. In most cases, we fall short of this getting caught up in the hustle and grind of everyday life. There has to be a level of commitment that goes with anything, but essentially our health is what helps guide our conscious and unconscious perceptions towards everything. There is that saying, where there is a ‘Will’, there’s a way, absolutely true! With that said, having the will can only take you so far with low energy levels to find that level of perseverance to stay consistent. It’s not going to be easy to change old habits, but it’s worth it!
If you’d like further information as a starting point here are a few links
https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating
https://melbournepersonaltrainers.com/3-tips-to-eat-healthier-at-work/
https://melbournepersonaltrainers.com/overcome-your-overthinking/
Or if you’d like to know more about Lewis Franz
https://melbournepersonaltrainers.com/lewis-franz/
A sample meal plan by Lewis
Protein: Serving size for Males 150g to 175g Food Weight. Females 75g to 100g Food Weight.
Eg. Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Turkey, Fish, Pork
Fats: Serving Size for Males 1 tablespoon in each meal and Females 2 Teaspoons in each meal.
Eg. Butter, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Avocado
Vegetables: somewhere between 100g to 200g. Eat until you are satisfied, Veggies are a good way to bulk up your meals while not giving you the urge to snack on other foods.
Eg. Broccoli, Cauliflower, Spinach, Capsicums, Lettuce, Green Beans.
Carbs: is dependent on training volume and current body composition. I tend to start people off with 2 carb meals per day around their training times and increase it as they start to see progress.
Eg. Sweet Potato, White Potato, Rice, Pumpkin