Lifestyle Overhaul
Cooking a meal, servicing a car, teaching a child to kick a ball or giving your lifestyle an overhaul is not always easy. In fact, it’s a challenge: it takes stamina, perseverance, time and dedication… it takes change – and you’ve done it! Congratulations! Live in what you’ve accomplished and let it go deep into your lifestyle. Every time you repeat the activity, you are consolidating the changes you’ve made. Your perception of ‘normal’ will start to shift. We can embrace the change or slip out of it….. What are you going to do?
Here’s some tips to help you make the most of your health and fitness reboot:
Start your day in a positive way.
- Affirm who you are and where you’re headed (read your goals regularly)
- Eat Breakfast
- Drink water
Kick start and stay smart
- Be active every day
- Work hard and smart – High intensity intervals are ideal!
- Stretch and relax. Allow your body mind to wind down
Replenish energy spent
- Drink at least 6 glasses of water a day
- Two fruit and five serving on vegetables is your foundation
- Protein sustains – include it in every meal
The investment you put into your health has guaranteed returns. Many happy returns to you!
Why Stretch?
June 10, 2010 by admin
Filed under lifestyle, Stretching
Why Stretch?
- Improve posture. By stretching you are conteracting some of the positions we keep our muscles in for extended periods of time, allowing all muscles to keep their length.
- Increases range of movement around joints and Improves balance making daily activities easier to perform. Think back to a time you had tight muscles after a heavy workout… What did it stop you from doing? Maybe you had tight thigh muscles and all of a sudden sitting down became very painful. Stretching helps keep muscles flexible around joints and relieve muscle soreness.
- Relaxation. Stretching helps release muscles that become tense as a result of stress.
- Alleviate muscle soreness. Stretching increases circulation to muscles. This increases the rate of recovery by removing waste products from the muscle.
- Potential increase in muscle power and ability to control muscles. This will improve your sporting ability along with strength to do every day activities
- Decreases Risk of Injury. Each of the above factors means you’re less likely to injure yourself during sport, general exercise and every day activities.
It’s time to give your body what it deserves – A good stretch!
Incidentally Active
Incidentally Active
ü We could walk or ride some (or all) of the way to work
ü Take the kids to the park
ü Use the stairs in the office or apartment
ü Park the car further from our destination
ü Catch up with a friend and go for a walk instead of coffee
ü Walk up the escalator
ü Hang the washing out instead of using the dryer
ü Dare I say… Hide the remote control
Reducing Cholesterol
Conquer Cholesterol with Lifestyle
Cholesterol – the ESSENTIAL fatty substance in our body that’s vital in forming cell membranes and producing hormones in the body. So let’s not get annoyed with it, rather let’s maximise it’s benefits by doing all we can to keep it at a healthy level in our body. Our bodies make Cholesterol and we consume it in our diet…Cholesterol may be high because of our genetics, nutrition or lack of exercise.The good news is that although we don’t have control over our genetics we do have control over our lifestyle! The two lifestyle factors that contribute most to cholesterol are diet and exercise!
How does exercise lower cholesterol?
1. Increases the ‘good’ cholesterol in your body and lowers the ‘bad’ cholesterol.
2. Essential to maintaining a healthy weight
3. Keeps the heart strong and the vascular system toned.
What can you add to your diet to lower cholesterol?
a. Oatmeal and Oat Bran. Eating soluble fibre helps your intestine digest the ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL). Kidney beans, pears, prunes and apples are also classified as soluble fibre.
b. Walnuts and Almonds. These nuts are rich in polyunsaturated fats keeping the blood vessels healthy and flexible. Be aware that nuts are also high in energy so eat about a handful.
c. Fish Oils and Omega 3’s. Fatty fish such as mackerel, lake trout, sardines, salmon and tuna contains high levels of omega 3’s that help lower cholesterol. It is recommended that you eat Fish at least twice a week. You can also get Omega 3’s using supplements. Try some from Coastal Bodies.
