2008

December 2008: Holiday Pitfalls and how to avoid falling into them

With the holiday season upon us it is a time for social gatherings with family, friends, and colleagues that can often take us off track with our usual healthy habits. Here are a few common pitfalls you may encounter at this time of year and some tips on how to enjoy the holiday season and remain true to your intentions to take care of your body, mind and spirit.

* Stress eating: food is comforting – especially comfort foods, and we all have our favourites. To add to this, the holiday season can bring on some of its own particular stresses. Instead of numbing out with a pint of ice cream or macaroni and cheese, my favourite thing to do is get outside and take a walk. Yes, it’s that simple. Focus on your body: get some fresh crisp air into your lungs, clear your head, feel the blood pumping and stretch your legs out. Even 10 minutes can relieve stressful feelings and take your mind away from food as a source of comfort. You’ll return refreshed and glad you did something to take care of yourself.

* Mindless eating: eating while doing other things like shopping or driving usually means that you eat more than you need to fuel your body and often eat the kind of foods that are calorie dense while lacking nutrients. Grazing at parties is another form of mindless eating. Keeping a food journal is the best way to know that you are eating consciously (see my November 2008 Tip for more on this). You can continue to keep a food journal even through the holidays. In fact, if you don’t already keep a food journal, now would be a great time to start. Plan for 3 balanced means a day with 2 healthy balanced snacks, like fruit or nuts, and mindfully enjoy every morsel.

* Portion distortion: not only do restaurants offer bigger portions, our friends and family proudly serve up much more that we need to be satiated at mealtime. We do this because we are showing love, or are being shown love through food. The best way to show love is to allow everyone to choose how much they want to eat. If it’s hard to say no to loved ones without guilt, try this practice. Sandwich your no between 2 yes’s. For example, say “yes that looks delicious and I’d love another serving, but I’m nicely full right now. I’d love it if you would give me the recipe.”

* Exercise blues: sticking to your exercise regime may seem daunting with seasonal activities tugging at your time. Now is the best time to think of exercise as a way of pampering yourself. It may help to break your exercise routine into shorter periods. Instead of a 30 minute walk, try three 10 minute walks. Instead of 40 minutes of strength training every other day, do 20 minutes every day, provided you work on different muscle groups on consecutive days. Remember that being true to your exercise habits will reduce stress and leave you feeling great about yourself.

* Lastly, a little self-compassion goes a long way: self-compassion is the ability to treat yourself kindly and without judgement when things don’t go as well as you wanted. It consists of three components: self-kindness; common humanity; and, mindful well-being. Self-compassion is the key to maintaining resilience in the face of adversity. If you sucumb to one of these pitfalls, don’t beat yourself up about it. Instead, be grateful for all the good things you have and renew you commitment to take care of yourself during the holiday season and beyond.

November 2008: Log It and Lose It

Studies have consistently shown that keeping a food log can help you lose weight. Successful losers also exercised more and received more personal nutritional counselling.

To keep a log, record all the food and drinks you consume each day, the portion sizes and the times and places where you eat. Then look for patterns that lead to overeating. Do you overeat when you are stressed, unhappy or to reward yourself? Do you eat in the car? Becoming aware of such patterns will help you know where you can reduce calories by eating more mindfully. Eating 300 to 500 fewer calories a day has also been shown to reduce the aging process.

Recording your physical activity too will motivate you to inject more activity into your daily routing. Three 10 minute bouts of brisk walking spread throughout the day will support your weight loss goals and improve your health. Wearing a pedometer is a great way to build awareness of how active or sedentary you are in a day. Aim for 5,000 steps a day if you are just starting out and gradually increase up to 10,000.

October 2008: Six Simple Ways to Have a Better Day

1. Avoid “Hurry Sickness”. Start your day in a leisurely way. Give yourself an hour to wake, stretch, journal, meditate and enjoy a healthy breakfast. This primes the nervous system in a way that has a positive impact on the whole day.

2. Use an organizing calendar or system that includes your goals, values and action plans. Tackling the most important task of the day first, creates a feeling of accomplishment. Seeing how your daily actions are aligned with your goals and values builds integrity.

3. Cultivate presence. Being fully present to every moment prevents the stress of dwelling on past actions or projecting into the future, while ensuring that you get the most out of the present.

4. Use your breathing to calm and center yourself. Under stress our breathing can become shallow and short. Deepening and lengthening each breath triggers the release of calming neurochemicals.

5. Add fun to each day. This can be a simple as asking yourself how you can accomplish any task at work or at home in a fun way.

6. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Keep a gratitude journal. Thank the people around you for their service and care. Everyone enjoys being appreciated and giving appreciation feels good too.

Adapted from JFK University Department of Holistic Health

September 2008: Walk this Way

Walking is one of the best and most accessible exercise you can adopt. To get more out of your walking workouts, try the following extras:

* Walk briskly for at least 30 minutes every day: briskly means you are slightly out of breath but can still carry on a conversation
* Walk as much as possible: take stairs; get off the bus a stop early; walk to the store; park in the far end of the parking lot
* Use a pedometer for awareness and motivation: start with 3,000 steps a day and gradually build up to 10,000 steps a day
* Swing your arms to build momentum and burn off more calories
* Add intervals of high speed walking for 30 seconds every 5 minutes
* Walk up and down hills or stairs to build stamina and strength
* Choose varied terrains to build balance and burn more calories
* Try using walking sticks to enhance your upper-body workout
* Try walking backwards – but be careful!

Resources: University of California, Berkeley, Wellness Letter

August 2008: The Physical Benefits of Exercise

The specific and proven physical benefits of exercise include:

* Increased oxygen uptake by strengthening the heart and lungs and improving circulation
* Decreased resting heart rate
* Decreased systolic blood pressure
* Increased metabolism
* Increased lean muscle mass and maintenance of healthy weight
* Increased HDL (“good”) cholesterol and decreased LDL (“bad”) cholesterol
* Increased muscle strength and endurance, thus improving mobility and posture
* Improved cardiovascular endurance and stamina, thus increasing energy
* Decreased risk of heart disease, stroke and certain cancers
* Improved blood sugar control, thus protecting against type 2 diabetes
* Improved structure and function of ligaments, tendons and joints, thus maintaining balance, coordination and agility
* Strengthened bones, offering protection against osteoporosis

What are some of the things that get in the way of your ability to engage in supportive exercise, even when you know the benefits?

* Not enough time or money
* Don’t know what to do
* Not motivated or interested: the costs out-weigh the benefits
* Don’t have the skills
* Unsupportive environment at work or at home
* Don’t have the opportunity to exercise or access to appropriate facilities

Some of these may seem like real barriers to your ability to engage in activities that stand to improve your health and well-being and others may be imaginary limitations. Effective strength training can be done in 15 minutes every other day. Aerobic exercise can be broken into 10 minutes bouts throughout the day that are integrated into your daily activities. An energetic, strong, healthy, well rested and properly nourished body will support you better in your daily life and reduce the risk of developing health problems. If you’re not sure where to start, contact a Personal Trainer or Body Coach to help set you on your way.

July 2008: Making the Mind/Body Connection

You probably know that exercise is good for your physical health. Did you realize that physical activity can also have a major impact on how you think and feel? Studies have proven that physical activity can lower the risk of psychological distress and boost cognitive functioning and mental health. The positive effects of exercise include:

* Improved mood and overall psychological well-being
* Decreased stress, anxiety and depression
* Increased ability to sleep soundly and awake refreshed
* Increased ability to relax and stay calm under pressure
* Increased thinking speed, manual dexterity and concentration
* Reduced risk of dementia and increased cognitive function

How does this happen? Physical activity increases the release of endorphins (brain chemicals that act like natural opiates) and the neurotransmitters associated with mood. You may also start to feel better because you are doing something positive to take care of yourself. Exercise increases neurogenesis – the creation of neuron cells in the brain that process and transmit information. Exercise is the only non-pharmacological way to increase neurogenesis. And neurogenesis increases cognitive function. Translation: exercise makes you happier and smarter.

Resources: Food & Fitness Advisor, Weill Cornell Medical College

June 2008: WEEDS to keep in your Garden

Gardening is a great way to move your body around in the great outdoors. But all that bending, stretching, digging and lifting can take a toll on the unprepared body and reduce the pleasure and health benefits of gardening. To help avoid back pain and achy joints this season, here are some WEEDS that you might want to keep on hand.

Warm-up: with some light cardio to warm up your muscles and joints to reduce the risk of injury. Try marching on the spot while swinging your arms, jumping jacks and hip circles.

Elevate: sit on a low stool or bucket while gardening, to reduce the stress on your back, knees and ankles. Stand tall while raking and hoeing.

Enlist the help of others: when lifting and carrying heavy objects. To reduce back injuries, always bend at the knees and lift with your legs rather than bending over at the waist and lifting with your arms.

Drink: plenty of fluids, especially on hot days, and take a break every 30 minutes to stretch and move about. This will replenish your energy and reduce muscle stiffness.

Stretch & Strength: when you’ve finished gardening, some light stretching while your muscles are warm will reduce stiffness and promote flexibility. Focus on stretches for your low back, chest and legs, as well as any other areas that have worked hard. Strength training will extend your time in the garden, expand your capabilities, improve your posture and build bone strength. An effective, and easy to follow strength training program can be done in 20 minutes 2 – 3 times a week .

Resources: News Canada

May 2008: Multiply the results with Cross Training

Bone loss, back pain, high cholesterol, overweigh . . . very different problems… and there’s a single solution – Cross Training

Research shows that adding variety and changing the intensity of exercises you do increases the range of benefits you get. By consistently mixing it up, you can multiply the rewards: stronger bones, a limber back, a healthier cholesterol profile, and a firmer, fitter you.

When women who went through menopause early combined a number of different physical activities – from strength training to jumping rope – the results were clear: broadening their fitness menu expanded their physical benefits. After 2 years of doing cross-training workouts at varying speeds, intensities and durations, the women had increased their bone mass, boosted their muscle strength, reduced their back pain, improved their cholesterol profile and firmed and tightened their bodies.

The lesson for everyone: the more you mix up your workouts, the more rewards you’re likely to reap. And adding variety helps keep your interest up, too. Doing yoga or pilates, jogging, hiking, lifting weights, biking, playing tennis or golf, jumping rope, dancing, walking, swimming . . . it’s hard to get bored when you have so many get-moving options.  Work with a Personal Trainer or Body Coach if you’re not sure what’s the optimal mix for you.

Resources: Real Age

April 2008: Give yourself the gift of presence

Researchers have found that working on several tasks at the same time can take 2 to 4 times longer than if you tackle them one after the other. Brain scan studies explain why: when you try to do two or more things at once, your brain constantly switches back and forth between the tasks. This is a less efficient use of your neurons. Sleep loss, stress and mood disorders can worsen the problem. In fact in another study, stressed subjects performed worse than their calmer counterparts in several measures of cognitive function including, language, memory and hand-eye coordination.

So fight the urge to multitask and practice being totally present to each thing you do and each conversation you have. And engage in effective stress coping mechanisms, like getting enough sleep and physical activity, eating healthily and thinking positively.

Resources: Consumer Reports on Health

March 2008: Do you have time for the extras?

Are you stopping at Tim Hortons on your way to work?  Looking for a snack to get you through shopping at the mall?  Thinking of dessert dining out?  How about a treat after a hard day?  Here’s how much exercise a 150-pound person would have to do to burn off the calories in some popular fast foods.

You can save a lot of time in your busy day by grabbing a piece of fruit when you’re on the go and engaging in some physical activity that is part of an overall program designed for your health, fitness and well-being.

Resources: Nutrition Action Health Letter

February 2008: Do’s & Don’ts for Avoiding Exercise Injuries

DO warm-up exercises for 5 to 10 minutes before you start – like marching on the spot
DO cool-down exercises for 5 to 10 minutes at the end of sessions – like stretching
DO exercise regularly and consistently at least 30 minutes every day of the week – brisk walking counts as exercise
DO stop at once if you experience pain or unusual discomfort

DON’T exercise at a pace that’s too fast for you – if you can’t speak while exercising, slow down
DON’T double the distance, duration, frequency or intensity overnight – increase gradually
DON’T strength train the same muscles on consequtive days – take at least 1 day off between sessions
DON’T give up…just slow down – it may take 8 weeks to begin to feel and see a difference if you’ve been inactive for a long time

MOST OF ALL
Do something you enjoy
Be patient and good to yourself

References: PDRhealth

January 2008: Body Beautiful

At a time of year when thoughts of new year’s resolutions are present and when a few pounds may have crept on during the holiday season, you may find yourself in a conflict with your body. One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself at this time is that of body appreciation: accepting the size and shape of your body; honouring its strength, resilience and beauty; and being grateful for the support it provides you. Until you appreciate your body, you will be unable to change it.

Appreciating what is now
You need to feel good about you now. If you feel bad about yourself, this is what you will focus on – how imperfect you are – and this is how you will remain. If you feel good about yourself and you know there are things you want to change, this is what will drive your actions – self-appreciation – and the positive awareness that you can change some things to create the vision you see for yourself.

Realizing the future
Clarify: get very clear on the health, fitness and weight you want to be. Describe your vision of yourself and write down specific goals to get to that vision.

Visualize: believe that you can and will achieve the vision you set for yourself. Make it your intention to live your future self now. If you see yourself as a fit person, live like one.

Act: take the actions you need to realize your goals. Honestly examine your eating habits; get active; hire a personal trainer or coach; get a buddy; make healthy food choices; join a health club or class; take time to relax; get more sleep; quit smoking; practice starting over when you get knocked off your goals rather than judging yourself for going astray. Do whatever it takes for you to reach your vision and goals.

THIS YEAR CHOOSE YOU!

Empowering the Whole Person