Flexible Fitness
Gardening and yard work have many benefits. In addition to providing stress relief and an outlet for creativity, gardening and yard work are excellent activities to get us moving.
In fact, in the Centers for Disease Control’s 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, gardening is a suggested form of moderate-to-vigorous activity.
Anyone who has lifted and carried 40-pound bags of mulch, stretched into hard-to-reach places to do some weeding or pushed a lawnmower around the yard understands that gardening is a workout. But, just like any other form of exercise and physical activity, there are risks of injury.
If done improperly, gardening and yard work can lead to muscle and joint pain and repetitive strain injuries. Here are some basic body-mechanics tips to help prevent injuries and keep you gardening safely.
Nutrition Is The Most Important Part of A Weight Loss Program
Here are 25 simple tips that you can implement right away and get immediate results:
- Eat from smaller plates or bowls. The bigger the plate, the more you’ll eat.
- Eat more frequently and in smaller amounts. The longer you wait, the hungrier you become and the more you eat at each sitting.
- Increase your veggie variety to decrease boredom.
- Double the veggies at a restaurant instead of the potato or rice. It’s hard to get enough veggies, it’s easy to eat too much starch.
- Exercise during commercials. I know, it’s not nutrition related, but it’s easy to implement. The average American watches 2.7 hours of TV daily (I know, you’re different, you don’t watch TV…I hear that all the time). There’s an average of 20 minutes of commercials each hour. Exercise during the commercials and you’ll get 45 minutes done!
- Try a veggie burger. They’re pretty tasty!
- Use spinach in your salad
- Drink a large glass of water before each meal. It’ll help fill you up before the meal and you’ll eat less.
- Serve from the stove, not from the table. You’ll be less likely to go back for seconds
- Eat slower. Take your time and enjoy the meal. You’ll be less likely to go back for seconds when you take your time as well.
- Chew your food better. It aids digestion.
- Check the serving size. Check the serving size. Check the serving size.
- Make and take your lunch to work. You’ll make better food choices, you’ll eat less, and you’ll save a ton of money.
- Eat a real breakfast. A pop tart doesn’t count. Neither does the donut and/or cup of coffee.
- Use olive oil when cooking.
- Pack up half your meal at a restaurant before you begin eating. Restaurant portions are way too large, some of them can even account for a full day’s worth of calories or more!
- Shop the perimeter of the grocery store instead of the aisles. The good stuff is on the outside edges of the store. The processed stuff is in the aisles.
- Get salad dressing on the side and apply it yourself. You’ll monitor your intake much better.
- Fill half your plate with veggies. That leaves less room for the stuff that doesn’t help you get to your goals.
- Eliminate soda, sports drinks, and fancy coffee. We get 22% of our calories through drinks.
- Pay attention to sugar on the label. Low sugar is better.
- Eliminate white foods. White bread, white potatoes, etc.
- Keep track of everything you eat. If you don’t measure it, you’ll never know where you stand. On average, we underestimate the amount of calories we eat by 30% and overestimate the amount of calories we burn by 20%
- Have fruit as a snack instead of processed sugars
- Shop with a list. You’ll make better choices and again, you’ll save money.
- Get the kid size ice cream. Not the small, the kids size.
OK, so it’s 26. Consider the last one a bonus. Who doesn’t like ice cream?
Triathlon Training Tips
Summer is quickly approaching, and with warmer weather comes triathlon season. Originally reserved for uber-toned fitness fanatics wearing obnoxiously-colorful spandex, triathlons are now accessible to anyone and provide good motivation to get into full body shape. Even Lance Armstrong has switched from cycling to triathlon!
Contrary to popular belief, a triathlon is not necessarily the long, tortuous Hawaii Ironman event broadcast on NBC each year. Instead, a triathlon can be any event that involves the three sports ofswimming, cycling, and running (although occasionally, in a winter triathlon, the sport of swimming will be substituted with cross country skiing).
So unless you have aspirations to do an Ironman, you don’t need to swim 2.4 miles, bicycle 112 miles and run 26.2 miles to do a triathlon. That’s just one kind of triathlon — called an “Iron distance.” In addition to the Ironman, the three other most common triathlon distances are:
- Sprint distance: a 500 meter swim, 10-15 mile bike ride (~20K), and 2-3 mile run (~4-5K)
- Olympic distance: a 1500 meter swim, 26 mile bike ride (~40K), and 6.2 mile run (~10K)
- Half Ironman: half of an Iron distance
Healthy Eating on the Go
Her top tips for better choices include reducing your portion size and getting in more fruit, vegetables and protein wherever possible.
“What we buy is often carb heavy meals with no vegetables or protein. So, if you’re going to buy pasta, get a salad too, so you have fibre and veg and it aids digestion. Also, most takeaway places, if you ask for more veggies will do it for you. You can often get a healthier version simply by asking for it.”
Japanese - Go for noodles with fish or chicken or pork, soups with noodles and vegetables; sashimi (raw tuna or salmon); bento boxes.
Sushi/California rolls - Light and almost fat-free, these seaweed-wrapped rice rolls filled with tuna, cucumber or avocado are a godsend. Just go easy with the salty soy sauce.
Noodle soups - Clear soups with noodles from Asian food bars are generally a great choice – warming, filling and with very little fat. To increase the protein, order yours with tofu or seafood.
Burgers - Look for plain burgers served in at an ‘old-fashioned’ burger joint where the bun is toasted and you get tomato, lettuce and beetroot with the meat patty. Steer clear of double or triple burgers from the chains, which stack on the fat and calories, and avoid the ones with egg, bacon and cheese.
Filled rolls - Choose a crusty roll (multigrain or wholemeal) filled with lean meat, such chicken, turkey, lean roast beef and salad. Try not to buy ones with loads of mayonnaise, spreads or cheese. Instead go for avocado, mustards, goat’s cheese, cottage cheese or chutney and no butter.
Mexican - You can make some very good choices at Mexican places these days, such as Guzman Y Gomez that gives nutritional info and does things like burrito bowls and you can ask for no cheese, extra beans, salsa and avocado. If you choose wisely this can be a very good choice.
Tips for Keeping Your Workout Routine on Track
Set Realistic Goals
When it comes to your workout and exercise plan, you must set realistic goals. If you have not been a very active person, do not expect to be running 20 miles a day within the first month. You will become discouraged. This is one of the main reasons that exercise programs fail.
If you are just starting an exercise program, start out small. Walk a mile a day and gradually work your way up to two miles and so on. Add a few minutes of jogging here and there and build up slowly to running. If you are lifting weights in the gym, don’t start out at what you used to lift when you were younger. Start out with a low weight and work gradually to increase the repetitions. Gradually add more weight. This gives your muscles a chance to build and reduces the risk of muscle strain and pain.
Take the Routine Out of Your Workout
For some, a regular routine works best when it comes to exercise. However, for others this regular routine becomes boring and working out becomes just another job. If this is the case, consider changing up your routine. If you typically walk or jog on the treadmill, get out around your local neighborhood or park when the weather is good and enjoy some time outside while getting in your workout.
Consider adding different types of workouts like swimming, playing sports or even video games that require you to use your body to play. Keeping your method of exercise fresh will keep you interested in continuing.
Tasty Tips for Healthier Eating
Try incorporating these tips from Koff to help make healthier food choices year-round:
- Be a qualitarian: Choose the best quality food available at every eating occasion — you are what you eat, and your body runs best on better-quality fuel.
- Go all-natural: Make sure when you buy something that claims to be “all-natural,” it really is as marketed. Companies like Pulmuone Foods USA, Inc. make that easy through their eight all-natural principles, which exclude use of preservatives, artificial additives, MSG, hydrogenated oil and irradiated ingredients.
- Get a nutrition upgrade: Whether eating animal or plant-based proteins, eat them in their whole food form — think cubed tofu as opposed to a bar or product with soy protein isolate.
- Choose nutrient balance for optimal energy and results: Incorporating a balance of carbs, proteins and healthy fats, as opposed to just counting calories, gives your body a mix of each kind of fuel it needs to perform at its highest level.
- Incorporate D.I.T. meals throughout the week: Pressed for time? Create “Do-it-Themselves” eating occasions, such as a taco bar, so everyone in the family can find something they like.
Can Cardio and Weights Go Together?
Some trainers warn against lifting weights and going for a run on the same day. Mixing them, they say, will either limit the growth of the muscles, or reduce the endurance benefits of the run—what’s known as “muscle interference” or “exercise antagonism.”
A Swedish study, published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, investigated this effect in young, healthy men. Researchers asked the men to pedal a stationary bike for 45 minutes with one leg, followed six hours later by leg extensions with both legs. In this way, one leg received a combined aerobic and resistance workout, while the other had only strength training.
Muscle biopsies showed that the combined group and the strength-only group showed similar molecular and biomechanical responses in the cells. The scientists concluded that “aerobic exercise can precede resistance exercise on the same day without compromising” muscle building.
In a separate Canadian study, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, sedentary middle-aged men completed one of three trials—40 minutes of stationary biking; strenuous leg extensions; or leg extensions followed immediately by biking. In the combined group, the men worked at only 50 percent of the effort of the individual sessions.
The researchers found no “muscle interference” when aerobic and strength were combined. Signals of energy production and muscle building in the cell were the same with the combined group as with the individual sessions. This occurred even though the men were working at only half the effort.
Both studies indicate that, at a cellular level at least, mixing aerobic and strength training will not negatively impact your muscles. This finding should make it easier to squeeze your workouts into your schedule without worrying about which should come first, aerobic or strength.
Five ways to cut back on salt intake
Cut back on processed and prepared foods. Food manufacturers often use salt to preserve food and help “improve” the flavor and texture. Processors also use sodium to mask the taste of chemicals and additives they add to foods. Whenever possible, prepare your own foods using fresh, whole ingredients.
For example, make your own salad dressing with olive oil, lemon juice and fresh herbs insteaad of sodium-laden bottled dressings. Make oatmeal from scratch rather than using the flavored packets. This puts you in control of your sodium intake and your cardiovascular health.
Read labels. Just because a food doesn’t taste salty doesn’t mean it is low in sodium. For example, you might be surprised to learn that a bowl of corn flakes contains over 10% of the daily recommended amount. Even foods that taste sweet can contain a significant amount of salt.
You’ll find the sodium content listed on the nutrition facts label of every packaged food. You can also look up the sodium content of thousands of common foods right here on Nutrition Data. Use this information to keep track of how much sodium you’re getting and budget your intake throughout the day.
Make over your spice rack. Seasoning mixes, rubs, and marinades can contain a lot of unneccesary sodium. Revamp your seasoning arsenal with fresh herbs, spices, and low-sodium seasoning blends. Vinegar, lemon, and lime juice add flavor without adding sodium. Keep in mind that condiments such as soy sauce, mustard, mayonnaise, barbeque sauce, and even ketchup contain sodium. Remember to include them when calculating your sodium intake.
Look for low-sodium products. Hoping to keep up with consumer demands, manufacturers have created lower sodium varietes of your favorite convenience foods. Look for low or reduced sodium soups, canned vegetables, deli meats, crackers, sauces, and many other products and buy them whenever possible.
Choose smart when eating out. Take-out and fast food are notoriously high in sodium, especially Chinese and Mexican food. But all restaurant food tends to be higher in sodium that what you would prepare at home. Steer clear of heavily sauced dishes and when ordering, ask your server to request that your meal be prepared with a minimum of added salt. And when you know you’ll be eating out, budget your sodium intake throughout the rest of the day accordingly.
Plyometrics Exercises
Plyometrics — also known as jump training — is a training technique designed to increase muscular power and explosiveness. Originally developed for Olympic athletes, plyometric training has become a popular workout routine for people of all ages, including children and adolescents.
Plyometric training conditions the body with dynamic resistance exercises that rapidly stretch a muscle (eccentric phase) and then rapidly shorten it (concentric phase). Hopping and jumping exercises, for example, subject the quadriceps to a stretch-shortening cycle that can strengthen these muscles, increase vertical jump, and reduce the force of impact on the joints.
Because plyometric exercises mimic the motions used in sports such as skiing, tennis, football, basketball, volleyball, and boxing, plyometric training often is used to condition professional and amateur adult athletes. But children and adolescents also can benefit from a properly designed and supervised plyometric routine, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.
Plyometric training is associated with many benefits. First popularized in the 1970s by state sports trainers in the former East Germany, it’s based on scientific evidence showing that the stretch-shortening cycle prompts the stretch or “myotactic” reflex of muscle and improves the power of muscular contraction.
But plyometric training is also associated with some risks, including an increased risk of injury, especially in participants who don’t have adequate strength to begin with. So if you’re considering plyometrics, it’s important to consult with a sports medicine doctor or therapist who can assess your suitability for a plyometrics training program, and then select a qualified coach or trainer who can gradually introduce you to more difficult exercises.
Eggs and nutrition
Are eggs really incredible? Yes! Eggs are affordable, a great source of lean protein, full of vitamins and minerals and low in calories, weighing in at about 70 calories each.
Over the years eggs have received a bad rap for their cholesterol content. While eggs do contain cholesterol, that may not necessarily be a reason to avoid them. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one large egg contains 185 milligrams of cholesterol, which is 14 percent lower than previously thought. The American Heart Association recommends managing serum cholesterol levels by lowering your trans and saturated fat intakes, not through dietary sources of cholesterol. This means cutting back on full-fat dairy, fatty cuts of meat, butter, pre-packaged snacks and fast foods such as donuts and French fries. Multiple studies have shown that consuming one egg daily is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease.
