To Indulge or Not to Indulge?

I come from a family with a history of obesity, and like I mention in my book, Breaking the Chains of Obesity, 107 Tools, I grew up eating junk food. From chocolate chip pancakes to pizza and even pints of different flavored ice creams to choose from, I would indulge in all my food pleasures throughout my childhood. It wasn’t until my teenage years when I started to correlate this type of eating to my body image. Thank goodness I was an athlete growing up because if I wasn’t, who knows what type of body I would have.

With that said, it has only been over the last 10 years of my fitness career that I’ve taken my nutrition to the levels at which it stands today. I eat organically, I cut out both processed and virtually all high glycemic carbohydrates, I avoid sugar, I avoid caffeine, and I barely drink alcohol. I am very active and appear and feel very young and vivacious. This is why I eat this way. I love feeling great. I love sleeping well. I love feeling positive every day. I love feeling young. I love my sharp mind.

Do I ever eat “junk food?” Yes I do. And when I do it, I eat whatever I want. In other words, I never eat “healthier” diet food just to avoid calories, fat and carbs. I fulfill my deepest childhood pleasures by reaching for the carrot cake, pizza or Carvel ice cream cone if I feel like it. If I’m going to eat junk food, it better be worth every lick and every bite. It better bring me back to my childhood years when family surrounded me and the taste brought me to heaven. And I encourage you to do the same.

If you are on a weight loss journey, get the JZ Fitness Nutrition app, available on iTunes and Android. Learn it and embody it.  If you do that every day and treat yourself once or twice a month to whatever you want, you will never be on a weight loss journey again. I understand that it might take time for some of you to lose weight, but at the end of the day, learning how to live an optimal life, with treats intermingled throughout the month, will allow you to lead a fulfilling life without always feeling guilty about your nutrition choices. I teach people to eat for fuel. But if you have the occasional Sprinkles cupcake because you’re in control and you want to celebrate occasionally, then just do it. Stop feeling bad about it. Just don’t do it more than twice a month. Fair enough?

Check out THIS clip which stimulated my thoughts around this post.

Jenn Zerling (“JZ”) is the wellness ambassador for Stay Fit Housing guests. JZ is a life-long athlete, lover of life and people, and wishes to help America break the chains of obesity. She provides customized nutrition coaching and fitness training services designed to help all guests optimize Stay Fit Living. JZ’s fitness and nutrition writings can be found in multiple media resources (including JZFitness.com), and her JZ Fitness Nutrition app is available on iTunes and Android.

Is it Possible to Travel and Stay Fit?

Consider it your home away from home.  That is, no matter where your career takes you, just be the person you normally are when you’re at home, just at Stay Fit Housing.  Stay Fit Housing is exactly what the name states – you get to stay fit, even when you’re traveling.  Despite the erratic schedule, the bombardment of meetings, the lack of familiarity of where you’re visiting, this will be your home away from home.  How?  You have a team of passionate, five-star committed people who will walk you through an exceptional experience throughout your stay.

I’m JZ, the Director of Guest Wellness for Stay Fit Housing and owner of JZ FITNESS, a brand that develops programming for people to maximize their potential through optimal living.  When I was invited to join the Stay Fit Housing Team, I felt honored and looked at it as another opportunity to extend my teachings to traveling executives who want to stay fit on the road. Is this really a possibility? Absolutely!  In all my years of coaching clients, especially busy executives who travel two weeks out of every month, I found that the only two missing links to people falling off track were their lack of motivation and/or lack of resources.  If people have motivation, but no resources, then Stay Fit Housing is a dream-come-true for them.  For example, one of our guests had to travel for work, which interfered with training for her triathlon, which was only a couple of months down the road.  As an athlete, I know the vigor that goes into training, and I did my research to find a high intensity interval training gym and a triathlon club for her in the city she’s staying in.  She also downloaded my JZ FITNESS Nutrition app on her iPhone, and I coached her in nutrition.  She loved this luxury and had never experienced this convenience and service before.  She claimed that her travels were seamless, not only with her lifestyle needs, but with virtually everything else she needed.  This is Stay Fit Housing.

On the other hand, if someone has the resources but not the motivation, then perhaps the Stay Fit Housing experience can be one’s induction phase to a healthy way of life.  Either way, every guest receives the utmost amount of service throughout their stay so that not only are on-the road-stressors heavily reduced, but the guest is able to feel more “at home” on the road.

We are very excited to announce our Stay Fit Blog which is now open to health and wellness contributors who are looking to offer viable tips for traveling in good health for our guests and prospective guests. Please email Happy@StayFitHousing.com if you would like to join our invigorating community. Living an optimal life is indeed a lifestyle, and with the right resources in place, anyone can do it.  An optimal body is an optimal life.  

We look forward to serving you with helpful on-the-road tips for those who wish to live well, wherever the road takes you.

Jenn Zerling (“JZ”) is the wellness ambassador for Stay Fit Housing guests. JZ is a life-long athlete, lover of life and people, and wishes to help America break the chains of obesity. She provides customized nutrition coaching and fitness training services designed to help all guests optimize Stay Fit Living. JZ’s fitness and nutrition writings can be found in multiple media resources (including JZFitness.com), and her JZ Fitness Nutrition app is available on iTunes and Android.