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Let’s face it; life gets hectic! We all have so many things pulling at us and begging for our attention: work, family, cleaning the house, paying the bills, taking time for fun and adventure, not to mention taking time to care for ourselves via healthy food preparation and exercise. In the midst of all those things, we may feel like we have to be SuperHuman and have an infinite amount of energy.
That’s not really realistic nor is it necessarily healthy.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to simply take a time-out. When you are feeling overwhelmed, I highly recommend to take a day to rest and recharge those batteries. It is certainly much better for you than having a third cup of coffee or burning yourself out completely. I realize this may be hard to do. If you are anything like me, you probably feel a little guilty doing this when you have a to-do list that seems to never end. I feel your pain! I teach Kindergarten full-time, then put on my other hat and work as a Health Counselor, and still try to balance all the other parts of my life. Every now and then, I just need a day to tune out and tune in. A day to sleep in the sun or lounge with a good book. A day to disconnect so I can reconnect at a higher level. It really isn’t selfish to do this. In fact, it is a clear sign that you have enough sense and self-love to know your limits and set boundaries in your life!
When you give yourself a recharge day, really do just that! Don’t answer all your emails, don’t spend hours on the phone or Facebook, don’t agree to have the neighbors’ kids over to your house for a playdate. Do something as small as take a beloved afternoon nap or something as large as a spa day! But whatever you do, honor your day and your recharge time!
I also highly recommend that on your recharge day, you keep your food healthy and light. Let your digestive system have a break as well. Don’t use this “me day” as an excuse to have an “all I can eat day”. Remember, this day is to be an act of self-love, not self-destruction.
When you take some time to rest and recharge, you are taking the time to honor yourself and listen to your highest good. You know when you’ve overextended yourself; if you listen, your body will speak to you. After a day of rest, I guarantee you will feel renewed and revitalized. You will be ready to meet your tasks, loves ones, and exercise regimen with the gusto that might have been waning.
Well, I’m off to go get some sleep, but before I go, I have a question for you. How do you recharge your batteries and what benefits do you notice after? How does your work, relationships, exercise, and attitude improve with proper rest and relaxation being built into your healthy lifestyle?
It’s a sad fact of American life that we have a childhood obesity epidemic on our hands. This might be the first generation where parents will out live their own of children. According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.* The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years has increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008.* The prevalence of obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1%.* Obese youth are more likely to have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and 70% of obese youth ages 5-17 years old have at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.*
There are many more statistics that I could give you, but the main point is that our kids are becoming more and more sedentary, eating more and more processed foods, and as a result, their quality of life is dwindling at an alarming rate.
I believe every child deserves the right to a happy and healthy life. This is part of the reason that I became an elementary school teacher more than 10 years ago. (I have been teaching Kindergarten for the last 5 years). I feel very strongly that without access to healthy food and exercise, my students’ chances of being healthy or happy greatly decrease; this in turn will and does effect their ability to achieve academically, physically, and socially speaking.
With all the devastating budget cuts to education that directly cut into Physical Education programs, added with the processed, sugar and fat laden food that kids are served daily in school cafeterias around the country, how do we ensure that our children do not become another statistic?
One of the solutions is getting back to basics when it comes to exercise. Kids naturally love to play and move their bodies; they are hardwired to move! I think we have forgotten this in the age of video games, the internet, and nonstop TV programming. Our kids are the unfortunate victim of our lapse of memory! The great news is that kids don’t need fancy equipment or games to get excited about moving. They just need the outdoors and maybe some simple resources like a playground, basketball, football, yoga mat, or maybe a jump rope.
Speaking of jump ropes, one of my favorite school events that helps get kids moving and raises their awareness about heart disease is Jump For Heart, a fundraising event created by the American Heart Association (AHA). Here’s how it works: leading up to the actual Jump For Heart event, students receive valuable info on heart disease and its prevention from their teachers. They can also fundraise for the AHA and earn prizes. On the day of the event, each grade level participates in a variety of jump rope games for about 25 minutes. Students are also encouraged to wear red in honor of the event.
Each year, I watch my students get so excited about the event. The beauty is that it is insanely simple. Fun music, jump ropes, teachers and students; that’s all that’s really required. I don’t really care if my students fundraise or not. I just care that they are getting excited about exercise, learning how to care for themselves, and are having fun! (I see this same excitement for Marathon Kids, a six-month running program for kids in grades K-5 that I will share with you in another post soon!)
Jump for Heart proves that exercise for kids does not have to be complicated or expensive (and it doesn’t have to be for you either). Simply getting our kids outdoors and letting them play can do wonders for not only allowing their bodies to move and play, but for their imaginations as well. Our video game generation of kids are losing out! Remember when we were kids and we would stay outside playing until we HAD to come home? Let’s get back to this and make daily movement and play come back in style!
Think back…what outdoor games did you love to play as a child? What simple low cost to no cost activities could you do with your children or a child you love that can get them moving?
* Statistics courtesy of the CDC.
So maybe you have decided to stop making all those excuses and start eating healthier or you’re already on track and are lacking some inspiration in the kitchen. How do you get new ideas and new recipes without having to pay for expensive cooking classes? One of the best ways to do this is by attending cooking demos!
Many health food stores and even some restaurants offer free to low cost cooking demos on a frequent basis. These demos are great tool to utilize because they not only give you some recipes to take home, but show you step by step how to make the dish, give you some nifty kitchen skills (i.e. food prep skills that will make your cooking/baking more efficient and tastier), let you sample the goods (hello, free food!), and best of all is the price! Most of the time I haven’t seen them above $10 and usually, they are free.
A few weeks ago, my boyfriend Mike and I attended a cooking demo over at Native Foods in Culver City. It was a free event that focused on soups and stews and was hosted by the talented and lively owner, vegan Chef Tanya Petrovana. Chef Tanya really took care of the crowd, answering questions and really breaking down the how-to’s of each of the dishes. Did I mention that she fed us too!? We had a great time, met some really nice people that live in our community, and walked away with 3 recipes: Tomato Garlic Bread Soup, Chili Verde Vegan, and Choco Banana Bread Pudding. Yum. (Stay tuned for another post where I give one the above a whirl in my own kitchen!)
The great part of these demos is that by trying the dishes, you get to see which ones you really like and which ones just aren’t your style. This takes away the sometimes unhappy mystery that picking a recipe out of book or on the net can give you; you never know if what you see on print will translate to “Yum” in real life! An added bonus is that you can also turn the recipe from the demo into your own once you try it in your own kitchen. For example, Mike and I eat gluten free, so for the Tomato Garlic Bread Soup, we will use gluten-free bread instead of regular bread. We will definitely be coming back for more free demos at Native Foods, as Chef Tanya has them almost monthly.
If you can’t find any demos in your area, try connecting with like minded folks on websites like Meetup.com or GiveItToMeRaw.com. See if anyone is having a potluck or food related gathering in your area…or set one up yourself! I have personally used both and have been to awesome potlucks and dinners where I walked away from the event with not only some recipes, but new friends. (Side note: I met my boyfriend, Mike, on the above mentioned raw food website. You just never know where you might find the ultimate connection!)
I know you are ready to get started on amping up your kitchen know-how! Where are some places in your area where there are free to low cost food/cooking demos? If you have been saying you are going to attend one but haven’t, now is the time! What are some other places or events that you can connect with others and get some yummy recipes to try as well? After all, food is so awesome in part because of the people we connect with through it and while we are enjoying it!
Excuses. We all have them, especially when it comes to things that take us right out of our comfort zone and into something new and unfamiliar. One of the most common things that people make excuses for are why they can’t start a healthy eating and exercise plan. In my “No Gym, Outdoor Workout” post, I covered many of them. But one of the most common ones I hear is not just an excuse but a fear that a healthy life will instantly equal a life of no fun.
Most people dwell on what they will be giving up instead of what they will be gaining when they finally commit to their health. They dwell on all the yummy treats and rich food that they will no longer be consuming. They think of the time they will have to allocate to exercise and food prep and are saddened to think that this will directly take away from their time on the couch watching another reality show. They get bummed out at the thought of giving up those tasty hot wings and extra large margaritas they love so dearly at happy hour with their friends after a very long work week. They feel exhausted at just the thought of having to prepare more meals at home instead of having the convenience of the drive-thru.
But do these people also think about how these things they are so afraid to give up are holding them back? The medications for high blood pressure, thyroid, or diabetes. The extra weight that is lowering their self-esteem and making everyday tasks difficult and tiring. The inability to play and keep up with their children. The possibility that their extra weight is not only cutting into the quality of their lives but the QUANTITY of it as well. How about how their weight/current health is keeping them from traveling and rocking it out on this beautiful planet because they don’t have the stamina to do walking tours, hikes, etc. Do they think about all the summers, springs, and special events that they wish they could sit out of because frankly, they don’t feel very good about their bodies?
Seriously, there is no cupcake or day on the couch that is worth all that.
I’m not just talking about looks. Granted, looking good can give you the confidence to be bold in your career, love and social life. But I’m talking about really being healthy, getting all your nutritional needs met so that you aren’t tied to medication, you aren’t always exhausted, and you have a sense of vitality. This in turn gives you the energy to move your body and exercise. Once you get in this habit, eating healthy and having regular physical activity seem more and more natural.
Every time you choose your health, your life chooses you. You start to gain more self-confidence and do things you only once dreamt of doing. Life becomes fun and you are more than ready to be fully present for it. Your relationships, sleep, career, even your spirituality all start to improve because you have the good health and well being to show up for your life. I’m telling you, it is powerful…and sweeter than any food or excuse you can think of!
If you have been dwelling on what you will miss out on if you change your diet and level of physical activity or if you have “fallen off the wagon”, remind yourself of all the things you are giving up by giving into your fear. Focus on what your life would look life if you owned your vitality, not what desserts you love best. Switch the focus from depravation to elation!
What health challenges are you facing? What would your life look like if those challenges were to fall away?
Envision this new life and let that be your motivation!
(FYI..you can still enjoy happy hour, reality TV, and a lazy day on the couch now and then. As your Health Counselor, I give you the ok.)
When it comes to staying physically active, finding the motivation to get started and stay on track can be hard. There can be a lot excuses that we tell ourselves: I don’t have the time, I’m too tired, I don’t like exercise, I don’t have the money for a gym membership, I don’t know what I should be doing to get in shape. You might be pressed for time (who’s not?), you might be tired (look at your diet/sleeping patterns), you might not like exercise (maybe you are thinking of it the wrong way), and you might have limited knowledge and financial resources, but I can promise you that there are ways around and out of these obstacles and excuses we tell ourselves.
I’ll talk about the others in another post, but for today I’d like to break this myth that you have to have a gym membership to get in shape.
The simple fact is YOU DON’T! If you take a look outside, there is an entire “gym” surrounding you and tons of exercises that you can do using your own body as resistance and the ground below you as a “treadmill”.
One of the best places to find an “outdoor gym” is your local park. The park bench is great for tricep dips. That old tire or a big rock can be perfect for push ups. How about using the children’s monkey bars to build some upper body strength?
I used to be a gym rat, on the treadmill running and running and going nowhere and feeling pressured to get off the machine so the next person could use it. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that the gym is bad or not a highly useful resource. (For example, I used to often workout at my gym at night afterwork for safety reasons. ) What I am saying is that being outside while exercising has many benefits that you can’t get at a gym. One, you get fresh air. Think about it…many of us are stuck inside all day. Isn’t it nice to see some sunshine or feel the breeze against your skin? Two, you can use that time to hang with your family or friends; they might not be gym members and would otherwise not be able to exercise with you. And three, IT COSTS NOTHING!! You could even take that extra $30-50 a month you spend on your gym membership and hire a health counselor to work with you one on one (shameless plug). Seriously, you could save some serious dough over time and wipe that “It costs to much” excuse right off the board.
If you live somewhere where the winter weather is just too cold for your liking for an outdoor workout, consider freezing your gym membership once the weather gets warmer again. At one point when I had a gym membership, I used to do this. Typically I would freeze my membership from April to October and unfreeze it in the winter months when I could make more use of my membership.
I’ll be honest..I don’t do a full blown outdoor workout everyday. I am highly addicted to yoga and spend a lot of time at my studio (Can’t wait to talk to you guys about that!!) But I prefer to be outside on my bike, on a hike, at the beach, or at a park when I am not at the studio and want to get in some exercise. That way I am not only saving money, but my workouts feel more like play than another chore, and as an added bonus, I am getting some one on one time with Mama Nature!! And trust me, when I can practice yoga outside, I feel the best of both worlds have collided!
Take a look at the video for an idea of one of my outdoor workouts.
Need some more inspiration or ideas? Check out my friend, Al Kavadlo at www.AlKavadlo.com. He is a Personal Trainer who is all about outdoor, no-to-low equipment required workouts and even wrote an awesome book with sample regimen.
So how can you start getting more outside exercise in? And what will you do with all that money you will be saving?
