Drink. Eat. Move.

Drink. Eat. Move. Water. Food. Activity. That's it. That's my whole column. That's all you need to know. No special diet. No mind blowing advice. Just water, food and activity. You say, "Oh don't patronize me, it is not that easy,” but, it is. “What are the best supplements? What vitamins should I be taking? What is the best workout? Do insanity and P90X work? I just want a flat stomach! How do I get a big chest? How much protein should I eat? I want a six-pack! What can I do?” BLAH!!! All the fitness questions that people are asking are not bad questions; it's good to be curious about them. However, the answer to most of them is so simple. Water. Food. Activity. A basketball is a basketball. It's neither good nor bad at the sport that has developed around it. What people do with a basketball is not up to the basketball. It is the same thought with a workout program. It's just a workout program. If it is not worked, tweaked and played with every day, it just sits and collects dust and people talk about how good they used to be at it in high school. If your legs and your arms work, use them. Use them at whatever activity you enjoy. Consistent activity on your feet is the first step. Your body is designed to move. Walking, running, jumping, lifting, playing; almost ANY word that ends in "ing" is worth exploring. Some people don't believe me when I tell them that a 15 minute walk in the morning or during the day is going to do anything. If you live in Madison, walk around Lake Francis in the middle of town. If you do not feel better after that then I don't know what I can do to help you. Some of you will walk around it and feel that it wasn't enough exercise. That's good! Do it again! If walking isn't enough then, “Run Forest!!!” Once you can run around it a few times, take it to the next level. Oh yeah, and drink water. It's free, it’s clean and in North Florida, there's a lot of it. Once you get those two things down (water and activity), then we'll talk. I will leave you with one more mind blowing fitness tip that my father, Jan Sanderson, gave me early on in life. At breakfast he said, "Noah, at the end of the day I'm going to tell you a way that you can get better at push-ups.” He had known that I was trying to do 40 push-ups in a row at the time and hadn’t quite been able to reach my goal. I wondered all day and racked my mind thinking, “What is Dad going to tell me? How am I gonna do it? Do I move my hands? Do I flex my back?” I asked my friends at school. I asked my gym teacher and my wrestling coach. Nobody knew what my dad knew! Finally, at the end of the day my dad picked me up from wrestling practice. I couldn’t wait any longer and I asked, "Dad, how do I do more push-ups?” He said, "I'll tell you after dinner!” So, I thought about it some more and was so excited I could hardly stand it. Finally, dinner was over and we were in the living room. The television was turned off. My sister, my mom, my dad and my baby sister were all there. "How do I do it dad? How do I do more push-ups!?" He replied, "O.k. Noah, get down there and knock out as many as you can right now and I'll tell you the secret. Don't even count. Just do as many as you can and I'll count.” I got down and did as many as I could without even thinking or counting. Up until that night, the most I had ever done up was 33 push-ups. I did push-up after push-up and finally popped up and begged, "O.k. TELL ME HOW I CAN DO MORE!” He said (knowing my goal was 40), “The trick to doing 40 push-ups is to do 50 push-ups.” Want more for yourself. #Thanksdad. Thanks Madison! Noah Sanderson grew up on a garden in Aurora, South Dakota. His mother, Liz, and his father, Jan, taught him 90 percent of what he knows, the rest he learned in kindergarten. Josie, Chrisbby, Jake, Lily and Clint are his siblings and the wind is at his back. He believes in good produce and he believes in good people. He is trying to change the world teaching healthy/smart living to anyone that will listen… starting with Celebrity Chef, Charles Arthur Smith.