All posts by R.C. Liley

I'm an ex-mutual fund accountant who left the cubicle world to be a stay-at-home dad to my beautiful little girl, Avery, who entered our life on 11/15/13 and handsome little boy, Wes, who joined our family on 11/19/17. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, as of 8/17/07. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the utmost importance in our family and we strive to reflect this in our daily life. I always prepare our meals at home and only go out if it's a special occasion, and even then I tend to not get much. Food should be fun and a joy to eat, not something quickly consumed from a fast food chain or scarf down before the next meeting. I have come from strictly logging high miles to train for the next marathon to keeping exercise varied and focusing more on strength. I still enjoy going for a run when I can, but nothing crazy, and I prefer hill sprints while pushing my daughter, Avery in the stroller. She loves it and I get a great workout! I want to show the world how to appreciate their body and feed it real, wholesome food while moving more throughout the day. In doing so, everyone would be healthier, happier, and we'd all live in a better place as a result. I blog mainly about my life as a stay-at-home dad and frequently include reviews, participate in campaigns, and share my thoughts on fitness and nutrition. If you ever have any questions or thoughts to share, please reach out as I'm always open to listening or helping others however possible. That is, when I have free time since Avery is and my wife are the number one priorities!
Going Healthy, Health, Lifestyle

Playing the Odds: How To Be 90% Healthy

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We are constantly hearing that we’ve got to be completely healthy specimens. But there’s a lot to be said for being 90% healthy. You may have heard of the 90/10 Rule, where you are 90% well-behaved and the 10% you can “roam free,” and while it’s not necessarily an approach to diet, it is a way for you to change your mindset towards being healthy while also making you feel your best and at the same time not necessarily depriving yourself. But how can we really get into the mindset of being 90% healthy? 

Turning Unhealthy Foods Into Healthy Ones

Part of the draw in being 90% healthy is that we can eat whatever we want with that remaining 10%, but it’s important to play the odds. If there are things that we can do to make unhealthy treats healthier, we will feel better for it! You don’t necessarily have to come up with a low-fat version of something you love, because this will certainly take the shine off it for you but you can reinvigorate certain things that can make a big difference to your overall health. For example, if you like baking, you could add vanilla-flavored CBD oil to the mix and it could have a positive impact on you. Additionally, you could incorporate natural sweeteners and flour into your indulgences. And this can mean that you may feel better after indulging in something that you really like. If you can make things a bit healthier, for example, eating whole grain pasta instead of white pasta, it may make all the difference to how you view being healthy. 

Understand What That 10% Is for You

You have to understand your statistics to truly get to grips with what 10% means to you. For example, if you like three meals a day and have one snack, throughout the course of a week you have eaten 28 times in that seven-day period, this means that 10% of that equates to approximately three treats every week. When you start to get into this mindset, you will know your limits. 

Sticking to Your Limits

This is so important to being mainly healthy because you need to know what your body can handle. Some people don’t get along with too much milk, and this is why it’s so important to give yourself a solid foundation before you can be flexible with your food choices. The 90% doesn’t have to be salad! Many people try to be healthy in the most stereotypical way in order to reap the benefits of that 10%. But the fact is that if you don’t necessarily like vegetables, you can find ways to make them taste good. You can add a lot of spices to vegetables, and playing with flavors is not just going to benefit your diet, but your children’s diets as well! If you don’t like certain healthy food, you shouldn’t force yourself to eat it. 

Being 90% healthy is a benchmark that we can all achieve. It’s important to allow ourselves indulgences from time to time, but remember, everything in moderation!

Going Healthy, Health, Life, Tips

Making Life Easier As You Get Older

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Getting older is something that very few people look forward to. No matter where you are or your position in life, everyone has to age, and this is something that you simply can’t escape. Of course, though, you can make the process easier for yourself by taking the right steps. There are a lot of challenges that people have to face as they get older, but you can overcome them by taking the right steps as you go through life. To help you out with this, this article will be sharing some tips that will make it much easier to enjoy life.

Medical Support

Many elderly people have strict medical needs that have to be addressed each day. This can be a challenge for people to deal with on their own, and this makes advice very important. Advice on managing hearing loss and other conditions can give you the chance to make your own life much easier without having to bend over backward in the process. Most people are able to improve their own health with the right advice.

Of course, though, alongside this, you also need to make sure that you are working to get treatments and direct help from medical professionals. An audiologist can help with your hearing, and there are specialist doctors available for many different parts of your body. If you are unsure about who you need to talk to, you could consider the idea of seeing a regular MD before you get started.

Keeping Up With Friends

Maintaining a good social life can be difficult as you get older. Modern technology has made this much easier, but you need to be prepared to take advantage of it to be able to speak to the people you care about. Getting a smartphone or computer will make this nice and easy, with services like Zoom and Facebook Messenger making it a simple matter of opening your device to start a conversation. This is something that more and more people are working to achieve in the modern age.

Adapting Your Home

Getting around your home can be one of the biggest challenges for an elderly person. Stairs can be extremely dangerous if you have poor balance while reaching high things and climbing into beds and baths can also be difficult. Adapting your home to combat these issues doesn’t have to be too hard, with loads of companies on the market offering options that will make your home perfect for someone with limited mobility.

Getting old is an important part of life, but you don’t have to suffer through it. There are plenty of ways to make this time more comfortable for yourself, making it worth putting time into making sure that you are getting the best results. You will also see and learn about it with your own parents and how they dealt with it, they may have needed a caregiver for elderly people which you can then start to recognize when you need extra help.

Going Green, Health, Lifestyle

How to Reduce Eco Footprint at Home

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If you’ve decided you want to live more sustainably and reduce your eco-footprint, there are lots of ways to start, and most will actually end up saving you money. Reducing your eco-footprint means using energy and water more efficiently and only when you really need it.

We’ve become accustomed to having food, energy, and water at our disposal and so we often think of these things as being disposable. But, in reality, these things are not available to everyone and the impact of overconsumption is being felt around the world.

So we’ve laid out some simple steps you can take to reduce your eco-footprint in your home and create a green environment for the long term.

Use Energy More Efficiently

There are lots of easy ways to use energy more efficiently in your home. Some of them you’ve likely heard about. For instance, be aware of when your lights are on and, if you can, set them on a timer to match the sunrise and sunset. Not only will this help you live greener, but it will also help your circadian rhythm match your environment.

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One of the lesser-known ways to improve your energy usage in your home is to clean your dryer filter. A dirty dryer filter will mean you’re not making the most of your energy. If you happen to have an air filter, the same issue can happen, so take the time every once in a while to clean your air filters.

Depending on your state, there are also some lucrative financing options for energy efficient and renewable energy add-ons. For example, the PACE program California helps residents in the state fund sustainability improvements for their homes. Alternatively, you can hire a general contractor in Texas to help you make professional sustainability upgrades to your home.

You can also invest in energy-saving light bulbs to streamline your energy usage at nighttime. Most people say that light-emitting diodes are the most efficient type of lighting because they use less energy and actually last longer than traditional light bulbs. Take it one step further by using solar when possible. For instance, solar powered flagpole lighting is a great option to illuminate outside of your home and it costs nothing to operate.

Use Water More Effectively

Water usage is one of the main problems we face in terms of creating a more sustainable planet. Big industries like the meat industry require massive amounts of water to maintain their production rates. If you’re willing to make a change in your diet, you might consider cutting down on meat consumption since it means saving on water and not supporting the emission of gas from cows that contributes to global warming.

If you’re not ready to make a change in your eating habits, another way to ensure you use water in an efficient way is to install some type of water filter. There are a number of different kinds of filters, but the key is that you get drinking water without having to buy plastics. Plastics are a plague on our planet and the market is driven by the processing of fossil fuels, which is one more reason to think about some type of filter.

If you live in a location that gets a lot of rain, you might think about implementing some type of rain catcher for the tub so that you always have another green way of trapping water for your watering needs. If you don’t get rain where you live but want a similar tip, just drop a bucket in the shower and collect some water for yourself that way.

Don’t Waste Food

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We waste a ton of food in the modern world, which creates problems for the environment. It takes a lot of energy and water to produce our food at a mass scale and, once we’ve wasted it, it usually ends up in a landfill where the waste creates a gas that some say is more harmful to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide.

Make sure you only shop for what you need, use eco-friendly containers, or try an Oregon food delivery service that delivers ready-made meals to local residents. That way, you don’t have to worry about wasting food someone else could have enjoyed or the environmental impact of your diet.

You don’t have to break the bank or completely change your lifestyle to be more eco-friendly. Following these simple tips can help you transition to a greener lifestyle.