From Excuses to Action
Is there a little voice in your head that stops you dead in your tracks? Let’s call this little voice the Excuse-Maker. You know the one! Whenever you decide to tackle a healthy habit, the voice chirps about how there are a million other things to do…how you don’t have the time to do it perfectly so there’s no point in doing it at all…how your goal is so gigantic and the effort you can put in is so small that you might as well quit before you even start. Maybe your voice uses different words than these, but if you tend to excuse your way out of the healthy life you wish you were living, this post is for you.
By the time you’re done making excuses, you could have finished a warm-up, done a couple of one-minute planks, or lunged enough that your thighs would feel it tomorrow.
So, how do you go from excuses to action?
Strategy #1: Let it go. Take a deep breath and allow the voice to become quieter…fading into the distance…until you can’t hear it anymore. The more you allow the little voice to pollute your mind with negativity, the more that becomes your comfort zone. It feels familiar and strangely cozy, so you’ll end up revisiting it often…even though you know it’s not helping. Let it go and create space for something new.
Strategy #2: Think of the Excuse-Maker as a trigger for exercise. Whenever the voice starts up with its lamenting over how impossible it all is, do 25 body-weight squats or a one-minute plank. It’s definitely a start!
Strategy #3: If your Excuse-Maker is a little more stubborn, think of a come-back. “I can’t work out this week! There’s an event at work, I’m working late every day, the kids need my help in the morning, and nobody else is going to cook dinner…” Your come-back might be, “Oh yeah? Well, I can take a 30 minute walk at lunch tomorrow, and take the stairs on Friday.”
Strategy #4: Make it non-negotiable. Stop entertaining the debate all together and accept the importance of regular exercise into your heart & mind. We all know it’s the truth. They say you can pay the price now (by exercising), or pay it later (by being sick). Block it off in your calendar. Carve the time out for yourself because you deserve it.
It’s easy, common, and a fairly good indication that you’re a good ol’ fashioned stressed out human being if you dwell on obstacles. The next time you find yourself dwelling, interrupt that inner monologue and switch gears. How can you make it happen? Focus on solutions and step up to the life you want.
Five Ways to Make Fitness Fun
OK, so that wasn’t a very challenging quiz. We all know that we won’t do things that we dread for too long before we give up. Giving up on fitness isn’t really an option though, is it? We all want to live long, healthy, happy lives, full of energy and vitality. If you hate traditional exercise, then I challenge you to think outside the box. How could you make it more fun?
Here are some suggestions:
- Go to Circus School! Harbourfront Centre has a summer class called “Circus for Adults.” It runs on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:30. For more info, go to www.harbourfrontcentre.com and look under “Summer Courses.”
- Try a dance class. These days, you can try just about any style of dance in a group format. Consider ballet, tap, burlesque or even pole dancing. It can be really invigorating to step outside your comfort zone!
- Buy a “Passport to Prana.” Curious about yoga, but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg trying to find a class you like? Passport to Prana is a program that grants you access to one class at each of 70 studios in the city for $30. Talk about value! Go towww.passporttoprana.com. Some studios have pilates too, so you can try it out as well.
- Make an excursion of it. I have truly fond childhood memories of cycling with my family. Every Sunday, we would hop on our bikes and ride along the Martin Goodman trail on Toronto’s waterfront. We lived in South Etobicoke, and we would ride all the way to the Beaches and back. There are a host of other trails you might explore in the city too. If biking’s not your thing, try hiking. You can have a gander at the city’s trails here:http://www.toronto.ca/torontomaps/parkstrails.htm
- Rent a canoe or kayak and explore the waterways. I actually just found this class called “Kayakercise” at Queens Quay and Rees – seriously! Check it out here:http://www.paddletoronto.com/Kayaking_Exercise.aspx
Remember that harassing your friends into coming with you always makes for a fun time. The more the merrier!
How will you spice up your fitness life?
Breathe Your Way to a Better Memory
The yoga-geek in me is so excited! I read an article the other day that revealed some really cool stuff about yogic breathing practices (pranayama), and I just have to share it with you. Admittedly, the article is not new (it’s from last summer), but I still think it’s worth mentioning.
If you’ve tried yoga before, you may have practiced or heard of Nadi Sodhana, or alternate nostril breathing. This is a practice where you close your right nostril with your right thumb and inhale through the left one, then close the left nostril with your right ring finger and exhale through the right one. Then inhale right, exhale left…inhale left, exhale right…and so on. There are two other similar practices that involve breathing exclusively through the left nostril and exclusively through the right nostril. People report feeling a sense of calm and mental clarity after practicing these styles of breathing, which is a pretty good incentive to do it. But there’s the little voice of the skeptic in all of us, right?
Now, western science has arrived to back it up – which makes me excited because we all like a little science and logic to convince ourselves that something is worth trying. Dr. Oz himself and Dr. Roizen reported the results of two pranayama studies on healthzone.ca.
In the first study, subjects practiced alternate nostril breathing for one month. The results: “…slowed sympathetic nervous system activity and increased heart rate variability, both indicating less stress.”
In the second study, subjects practiced left nostril breathing before a memory test. They scored 16% higher than those who did not practice the breathing technique. AND, children who practiced left nostril breathing experienced a 43% increase in spatial memory.
How fantastic is that? As a person who often has to double and triple check the location of my cell phone before I leave a place, I now have a very strong incentive to up my pranayama game.
Let’s Talk About Stroke
- At June 2, 2011
- By brigid
- In Cardio Health , Healthy Life
0
I saw on the news yesterday that most people don’t know the signs of stroke, which inspired today’s entry. We’ll look at risk factors, signs, and ways to reduce your risk.
Risk Factors You Can Do Something About:
-High blood pressure (hypertension)
-Smoking
-High cholesterol levels
-Being overweight
-Stress
-Physical inactivity
-Heart disease
-Diabetes (sometimes you can do something about this)
-Excessive alcohol consumption
Risk Factors You Can’t Control:
-Age
-Gender
-Family history
-Ethnicity (First Nations, and those of African or South Asian descent are at greater risk)
-Prior stroke
Signs of a Stroke:
-Sudden loss of strength; numbness in face/arm/leg, even if temporary
-Sudden difficulty speaking/understanding; confusion, even if temporary
-Sudden loss of balance, especially with other signs
-Sudden trouble with vision, even if temporary
-Sudden severe or unusual headache
Reducing Your Risk:
-Take time out every day to relax
-Get…and stay physically active – aim for 60 minutes of moderate activity each day
-If you smoke, quit – try www.smokershelpline.ca for support
-If you drink alcohol, limit yourself to 1-2 drinks per day, to a weekly limit of 9 drinks for women and 14 for men
-If you are overweight, talk to your healthcare provider about ways to achieve your healthy weight – or email me – even a modest weight reduction can help
-Consider the quality and quantity of fats in your diet – aim for 20-35% of your daily calories from fat (40-75 grams for women, 60-105 grams for men)
-Limit saturated fat (from animal sources)
-Avoid trans fats (foods made with shortening, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, hard margarines, many fast foods and prepared foods)
-Choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in nuts, seeds, fish, olive and canola oil
-Eat more fruit, vegetables and fibre
Make healthy choices and be well!
Bring on the freshness….it’s salad season!
- At May 19, 2011
- By brigid
- In Healthy Food Options
- 0
Most people who know my husband and I know that I’m the (almost) vegetarian, and he’s the carnivore. When we got married, we received the most beautiful wooden salad bowl as a gift, and our guests wrote in the card, “Keegan – welcome to your salad days.”
That’s sort of how I feel about summer. Amazing veggies are in season – and dare I say – some of us even start to crave salad. Even if you’re not a salad craver, I think you’ll benefit from some quick tips about easy ways to build your own salad bar as we head into our “salad days.”
Choose a green. Baby spinach, arugula, romaine, or spring mix. Try them all!
Choose a protein. Chopped boiled eggs, tuna, salmon, grilled chicken breast, a few shrimp (you can even just thaw some pre-cooked frozen ones), black beans, chick peas, kidney beans, lentils…so many options!
Choose extra veggies. Try green beans, beets (grated raw beet is yummier than you might expect!), broccoli, cucumber, grilled zucchini or eggplant – whatever your heart desires!
Go nuts! Add a tablespoon of your favourite nut – try walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, pistachios, or even sunflower seeds for added healthy fat and protein.
Try making a simple dressing from scratch. For an easy lemon vinaigrette, mix the juice of half a lemon with 1 tsp of olive oil and 1/2 tsp of crushed garlic, and you’re good to go. For an easy balsamic, add 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar. Another one of my faves is tahini dressing. Same as the lemon vinaigrette, but substitute 1 tsp of tahini (sesame seed paste) for the olive oil. Thin it out with some warm water (1-2 tbsp). Basically, choose an oil (maybe even sesame or hemp), choose an acid (like lemon or lime juice or vinegar), and add whatever flavours tickle your fancy. Black pepper, cumin, oregano and basil are all quite at home in a salad dressing.
Keep it simple. Streamline your experience by having ingredients ready in containers in your fridge so you can just grab it and go throughout the week.
Do a little prep on the weekend, cutting and grilling meats or vegetables, making your dressing, and maybe marinating beans in the dressing to get rid of the canned taste. Get creative, experiment, and find out what your faves are!
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