Benefits of a Healthy Meal

Fit American Meals

Surround Yourself with Kind, Happy Friends

Friends are good to have. You don’t need many, but you need a few. One thing that I’ve thought about a lot lately is how my friends make me feel. Do they make me feel good or bad? Happy or sad?

As I entered my 40s, keeping friends around that constantly drag you down doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. You’re responsible for your health and happiness, and if you allow others to destroy that, you’re not doing anybody a favor.

Kind, happy friends don’t make mean jokes, don’t talk down to you, and don’t make you feel bad about yourself. They fill you with confidence, joy and security. And they support you in making healthy decisions.

Spend Time in Nature

I don’t need a scientific study to tell me that spending time in nature is good for well being. I experience it every time I go for a walk through the woods, hit the bike trails, or even just sit on the patio. I feel more alive and joyful.

When I lived in Montreal, several of my Canadian friends said the same phrase to me often, ”let’s go outside and breathe fresh air.” At first I thought what a strange thing to say, I never heard anyone say that to me before, but it works. By going outside no matter what the temperature and believe me in Montreal it can get to -30* it feels great to go outside and breathe. It refreshes your mind body and soul.

Be Still.

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Be still.

Just for a moment.

Listen to the world around you. Feel your breath coming in and going out. Listen to your thoughts. See the details of your surroundings.

Be at peace with being still.

In this modern world, activity and movement are the default modes, if not with our bodies then at least with our minds, with our attention. We rush around all day, doing things, talking, emailing, sending and reading messages, clicking from browser tab to the next, one link to the next.

We are always on, always connected, always thinking, always talking. There is no time for stillness — and sitting in front of a frenetic computer all day, and then in front of the hyperactive television, doesn’t count as stillness.

This comes at a cost: we lose that time for contemplation, for observing and listening. We lose peace.

And worse yet: all the rushing around is often counterproductive. I know, in our society action is all-important — inaction is seen as lazy and passive and unproductive. However, sometimes too much action is worse than no action at all. You can run around crazily, all sound and fury, but get nothing done. Or you can get a lot done — but nothing important. Or you can hurt things with your actions, make things worse than if you’d stayed still.

And when we are forced to be still — because we’re in line for something, or waiting at a doctor’s appointment, or on a bus or train — we often get antsy, and need to find something to do. Some of us will have our mobile devices, others will have a notebook or folder with things to do or read, others will fidget. Being still isn’t something we’re used to.

Take a moment to think about how you spend your days — at work, after work, getting ready for work, evenings and weekends. Are you constantly rushing around? Are you constantly reading and answering messages, checking on the news and the latest stream of information? Are you always trying to Get Lots of Things Done, ticking off tasks from your list like a machine, rushing through your schedule?

Is this how you want to spend your life?

If so, peace be with you. If not, take a moment to be still. Don’t think about what you have to do, or what you’ve done already. Just be in the moment.

Then after a minute or two of doing that, contemplate your life, and how you’d like it to be. See your life with less movement, less doing, less rushing. See it with more stillness, more contemplation, more peace.

Then be that vision.

It’s pretty simple, actually: all you have to do is sit still for a little bit each day. Once you’ve gotten used to that, try doing less each day.Breathe when you feel yourself moving too fast. Slow down. Be present. Find happiness now, in this moment, instead of waiting for it.

Savor the stillness. It’s a treasure, and it’s available to us, always.
—
From the Tao Te Ching:

It is not wise to dash about.
Shortening the breath causes much stress.
Use too much energy, and
You will soon be exhausted.
That is not the Natural Way.
Whatever works against this Way
Will not last long.

Perceived Exertion

 

 

When someone says to me, I have been exercising for months now and I am not losing
any weight. Several issues come to mind, but I want to discuss only one for now. Last
week we talked about intensity, and how it relates to exercise. Well intensity may be one
reason why you may not be seeing a change in your body. What I mean by this is…(sorry
this may hurt) you may not be exercising as hard as you think you are. What I mean by
using the word hard is the intensity of your workout. A personal training client of mine
used walking as her form of cardiovascular exercise. She expressed a concern to me that
she has been walking for 4 weeks now and hasn’t seen much a of a difference in her
body. So I suggested for that mornings session, that we take a walk. She lived in a
beautiful gated community, there were so many well manicured yards, a lake, landscaped
bicycle path and neighbors out for a morning stroll. As we began our walk, we passed the
first house and she slowed down to tell me to look at this most perfectly shaped magnolia
tree. It was beautiful, but to really study it, we had to slow down. I told her we needed to
gradually pick up our pace to the point we were breathing heavy and started to feel
sweaty. But again, she stopped to thank a neighbor for picking up her newspaper while
she and her husband were gone for the weekend. (we stopped completely). Now we had
to start up again and for the next 10 minutes we held a pretty good pace, I challenged her
with a few minutes of powering walking and slow down to her normal pace and then
once again pick up the power walk. She said for the first time walking, she felt herself
glisten, according to her southern women don’t sweat they glisten. Okay… so we were
now glistening and walking when we came upon another house in which she started to
tell me how this neighbor was going to add on to the enormous house they had already. I
told her I don’t mean to be rude but keep walking don’t stop. After 45 minutes, she
wanted to stop so we slowed our pace and headed back to her house. She said she was
pooped. My pint in sharing this story with you is yes, you may be going through the
motions of a cardiovascular exercise but are you really exercising with intensity?

To keep it real, I use a pulse rate monitor. I wear it around my wrist like a watch and I
believe it is pretty close to being accurate. The most accurate method would be to take
your own pulse, for a one minute period, but for most people you have to slow down to
really focus on counting each pulse you feel, so to avoid slowing down I use the monitor.
A pulse rate monitor will indicate your current pulse per minute. What should your pulse
rate be if you are working out?

While there a few different methods out there to determine your Target Heart Rate,
(THR) I prefer to use the Karvonen Formula. To begin you need to take your pulse rate
for 3 consecutive mornings, this means even before you swing your feet off the bed you
must lie still and take your pulse, be sure to have a clock to count your pulse for one full
minute. To take your carotid pulse, place your index and middle fingers directly under
your ear, slide your fingers down until under the jawbone, press lightly. For your radial
pulse, place your index and middle finger over the outside of your opposite wrist, wiggle
your thumb and place your two fingers at the base of your thumb. Count each beat for
one full minute. For our example, lets say for three mornings you recorded your resting
heart rate (RHR) at 74, 76, 75. Now add these RHR together and divide by 3. This would
figure out to be 75 RHR.

Now take 220- age= maximum Heart Rate. Lets say you are my client from above and
you are 40 years old. Her RHR=75. She is 40 years old. So 220-40=180.

Next determine if you are a beginner or want only a low fitness level your target would
be 50-60% of your maximum heart rate.

For an intermediate or average fitness level aim for 60-70% of your MHR.

For advanced or high fitness level aim for 75-85% of your MHR.

(Other factors that you should take into consideration for determining your heart rate
should be your fitness level, your age, injuries, and any medications you may be taking. I
advise you to ask your doctor to determine your THR.)

(MHR-RHR)xIntensity+RHR=THR

220-age= Max Heart Rate (220-40=180 MHR)

MHR-RHR= 180-75=105

Her level is a beginner so her range will be;

105 x .50 (minimum intensity) + 75 (RHR)= 128 Beats Per Minute BPM

Her maximum beginner intesity is

105 x .60 (Max intensity) +75 (RHR) = 138 BPM

So for my client when she is walking her heart rate needs to be within 128 – 138 BPM to
make a difference in her body.

I hope this helps you in your quest to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Power food: Carrots

Carrots are nutritional heroes, they store a goldmine of nutrients. Few other vegetables or fruit contain as much carotene as carrots, which the body converts to vitamin A. This is a truly versatile vegetable and an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fibre that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties.

The carrot is an herbaceous plant containing about 87% water, rich in mineral salts and vitamins (B,C &,E).

Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, a good source of potassium, and contain vitamins C & B6, copper, folic acid,thiamine and magnesium. The high level of beta-carotene is very important and gives carrots their distinctive orange color.