Strengthen Your Core

We have all read the warnings about why fat storage that results in an apple-shaped middle is dangerous, and it is high time that I buckled down and did some serious core strengthening and whittling.  In reading up on the subject, I have learned that it is not just about ab crunches and sit-ups.  Abdominal muscles are just part of the equation. The "core" is also the numerous muscles that serve to stabilize the spine and pelvis and shoulder girdle. These muscles help control your movements, transfer energy, and shift your body weight. And as I know from previous back pain issues, they protect your back.

In order to be effective, core exercises need to target all these muscle groups. For a list of the various muscles and their locations, along with a set of exercises, check out what exercise physiologist and fitness consultant, Elizabeth Quinn, has provided online.

Kukicha Tea

It was only recently that I learned of kukicha tea, a Japanese tea also known as twig tea. The twigs of the Cameliua sinensi are steamed and fried, then aged and roasted.  The tea has a pleasant nutty flavour which I find quite appealing.  And if simply the flavour wasn't enough, the tea is filled with many healthy properties: vitamin A, B1, B2 and C,  as well as zinc, copper, selenium and manganese, Rich in antioxidants, it is low in caffeine. This tea is quite different from any of the others that I've tried and is one of my favorites.

Tumeric

Tumeric, the spice of India for thousands of years, just think curries. The main ingredient in tumeric is curcumin, a natural antiseptic, antibacterial agent, anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant. That's a whole lot of power to pack into one delicious spice. And if that wasn't enough to encourage you to use it in your diet, this wonder spice may aid in fat metabolism, making it useful for weight control. Research is being conducted to determine whether tumeric may have properties that can prevent or treat various types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and arthritis.

Quinoa

Quinoa, pronounced keen-wa. How is it that it has taken me so long to find this super food? This ancient seed, from a vegetable related to Swiss chard, spinach and beets, was a favourite of the Incas.

Packed with nine essential amino acids, it has more protein than rice, millet or wheat. Gluten-free, it is a complex carbohydrate with a low glycemic index, low on cholesterol and rich in fibre (almost twice as much as grains).

If this wasn't enough, quinoa is a source of calcium (1 cup of cooked quinoa contains 30 milligrams), potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, riboflavin (B2), lysine (essential for issue growth and repair)  and manganese (an antioxidant).

Take a Hike

Wanting to exercise more and improve my fitness levels, I have been trying to devise ways to reach that goal without having to sign up for cardio classes, which because I don't enjoy them end up being torture sessions that I find excuses not to attend. That's where hiking comes in.  I love hiking because it offers cardiovascular benefits and usually involves being in nature.  With so much to look at I find I am distracted from the physical exertion, making a workout so much more pleasant. We are lucky enough to live near lots of hiking trails so I am incorporating this into one of my regular fitness activities.  Not only is it good for my physical health, it also works wonders for my well being. 

Garden

Gardening is such a pleasure for me. I love flowers and plants and getting my hands dirty.  There is something so therapeutic about it.  If  I lived in an apartment, there would doubtless be plants on the balcony and along side any windows. Gardening is a source of fitness, with all that digging, lifting and bending and takes me away from the kitchen and the temptation of snacking. But best of all it is an aesthetic exercise, blending colours and textures and visualizing how something will look sometimes months in advance. It is calming and meditative and so many life-affirming things all at the same time.

Cut Out Sugar

Excess sugar consumption can lead to diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Sugar is also known to have addictive properties.




Further Reading:
- Read about the dangers of sugar, the only food that is both a fat and a carb.
- Television show 60 Minutes aired a segment entitled "Is Sugar Toxic?" on April 1, 2012 that gives a wonderful overview on the subject.
- Dr. Robert Lustig's "Sugar: the Bitter Truth" lecture, mentioned in the 60 Minutes segment, is available on YouTube.
- Nancy Appleton, author of Lick the Sugar Habit, lists 100 sugar dangers.

Pu-erh Tea

Pu-erh tea (from Pu-er county in southern Yunnan Province, China) has been in the media lately for its curative properties. Made from leaves plucked from the Camellia sinensis plant, it is fermented and sold either as loose leaves or compressed tea bricks or tea cakes.


It is purported to have many heath benefits including weight loss and lowering LDL cholesterol. There are also claims that it lowers blood pressure, protects connective tissue and attacks free radicals in the body.


While it does have caffeine (though less than in coffee) so do all teas made from the tea plant Calellia sinensis. I love how brewing it and taking the time to sip this unique tea provides me with an opportunity to slow down and be in the moment.


Tea expert Jeff Fuchs (whose course I took on Asian tea at Carleton University) gave an informative interview about tea, and pu-erh tea in particular, for Ottawa Magazine.

Stability Balls

It's time for me to get on the ball... my stability ball that is. Inflated and resting in a corner of my living room, there is no excuse for not incorporating it into my fitness routine for a little variety, between stair-climbing and dancing.

Stability balls have the backing of the Mayo Clinic as one of the best ways to strengthen and tone your core muscles (abdomen, back and pelvis) and lower back. They increase the number of muscle fibres used in excercising, thereby increasing the efficiency of the excercises your're doing. Because they roll around, stability balls train stability muscles and improve your balance.

Stability balls are also great for stretching. When you lie on one, it helps your spine decompress. The balls also support your lower back as you stretch and exercise. And don't overlook how they contribute to weight loss: by strengthening your muscles you reduce body fat. What better reasons than all these to use this fun piece of exercise equipment regularly!  

If you care to join me, there are lots of websites that give information and exercises for the stability ball.

Dance

I'm so happy to know that dancing has so many benefits, because it's no secret... I love to dance!

Dancing does wonders for:

1. Flexibility - the greater your range of motion while dancing, the more your muscles can flex and extend.

2. Strength - dance strengthens by forcing the muscles to resist against a dancer's own body weight. Jumping and leaping uses lots of strength in major leg muscles, preventing osteoporosis as well as keeping the joints lubricated, which helps prevent arthritis.

3. Endurance - regular dancing, and especially vigorous dancing, increases endurance; and elevating the heart builds stamina. Dancing also helps improve our cardiovascular system and lung capacity. 

4. Balance - dancing allows us to master balance in numerous positions, strengthens our stabilizer muscles while protecting our core and possible injuries. It also improves our coordination and srengthens our reflexes.

5. Well-being - a stress and tension reducer, dance improves our overall sense of well-being. It raises our endorphin levels, which helps depression and guards our immune system. Dancing is expressive and helps to encourage harmony betweeen the body and the mind. It's soical too if you dance with others.

6. Circulation - dance gets the blood flowing thereby improving our circulatory systems.

7. Memory - memorizing steps, routines and dance patterns improves memory.

8. Weight loss - dancing burns calories: 5 to 10 calories per minute, depending on the intensity and spped of our dance steps.

9. Cholestrol levels - dance raise HDL (the good cholesterol) and lowers LDL (the bad cholesterol).

With so many different types of dance, there is no need to ever get bored. I'm going to make dance one of the main ways I exercise. Now where did I put my disco music... just kidding, it's already right by the CD player, along with all my other dance music!

Strawberries - Vitamin Powerhouse

According to my mom, when she was pregnant with me she indulged her severe craving for strawberries with vast numbers of this nutrition-packed fruit. I can't say if that is why I was supposedly born with a red strawberry-shaped birthmark at the back of my neck (which has long since disappeared) or a dislike for them that continued until my thirties. What I can say is that I am so glad that something so delicious, it also good for my health!

Rich in phenolic antioxidants, strawberries can:

1. reverse inflammation

2. aid in weight loss

3. reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease

This little red powerhouse is packed with vitamins: A, B, C (8 strawberries may contain as much Vitamin C as an orange), D, E and K. Strawberries also contain folate, which promotes healthy tissue growth and functional cells in the body.

I am lucky enough to live in an area that has many pick-your-own fields and every June or July (depending on the growing season we've had) I pick basket after basket of them while they are in season. I find it relaxing. It also a good feeling to eat something that has ripened so close to home and is eaten within hours, or even minutes, of being picked. The question always remains just how many bowls of strawberries I can consume while the strawberry fields are still open.

Fish Oil

Both Health Canada and the Stroke Foundation of Canada recommend eating two servings of oily fish twice a week. Unfortunately I don't eat fish. Just one of those little kid picky-eating things that I didn't grow out of. Fish-oil supplements to the rescue! I have no trouble taking them at all, no repeating or taste of fish.

The omega-3 fatty acids (both DHA and EPA) in fish oil lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and increase HDL, helping reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes. From what I've been able to read, it seems that there are many reasons to add fish oil to my diet, including the following: helps alleviate depression, anxiety, inflammation, arthritis, and eye disorders. Omega-3 fatty acids are brain boosters that are also good for your joints.

Also interesting is their contribution to skin care and weight loss. Fish oil is reported to improve the efficacy of exercise in reducing weight, playing a role in body shape and composition. It also improves dry skin, redcing loss of moisture.

Of interest to me is the possibility that fish oil may have a positive effect on osteoarthritis, helping reduce the impact of enzymes that destroy cartilages, though dosage is unknown. More reading will be required to learn more about this potential plus. 

Get More Sleep

We all know that getting enough sleep is important to our health and well-being. When my children were young, a proper bedtime was enforced because as parents, we knew only too well the consequences of a late night: a crankiness the next day that made everyone suffer. So why as adults do we think we can get away with going to bed late, day after day? Do the years make us suddenly immune to the effects of ignoring a regular bedtime for ourselves?

Sleep plays a key role in immune function, metabolism, memory, learning, concentration, emotional well-being and weight control. In addition to this amazing list, sleep increases our creativity, and allows the body to repair and restore itself. Muscle growth and tissue repair take place while we sleep. 

Research has shown that those of us who sleep 6 hours or less a night are twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke. Continuing to deprive ourselves of sleep, can lead to obesity and even shorten our life spans. If that wasn't enough, too little sleep can result in inflammatory disease, which is linked to heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and premature aging. It seems 6 to 8 hours a night is the optimum, as sleeping too much has its own dangers to your heath.

I certainly don't need more reasons that all of these to encourage me to get to bed earlier on a regular basis. I will make it my habit to climb into bed a little earlier and read a book for awhile, developing a nightly routine that will result in my falling asleep quickly and hopefully gaining a full night's healthy sleep.

The Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School has interesting information on the benefits of sleep.

Avocados

It took a friend's comment about how delicious she found this fruit to make me give it another look. I had tried them in my teens but wasn't keen, so I hadn't tasted them again since. Avocados had a bad rap for awhile because of their high fat content, but with J.'s rapturous endorsement, I did a little research and found that they are packed with all sorts of healthy properties.

Avocados:

1. Are rich is Vitamins A, C and E, and potassium.

2. Are high in protein.

3. Are high in oleic acid, a fat that activates the part of the brain that signals that you are full, thus helping with weight control.

4. While high in fat, they are monounsaturated fats and actually maintain the good cholesterol (HDL) and lower the bad (LDL). They also lower triglycerides.

5. With more carotenoid lutin than other commonly eaten fruits, they protect the eyes from macular degeneration and cataracts.

6. Protects against strokes

7. 1 cup of avocado contains 23% of recommended daily value of folate, which may lower the incidence of heart disease.

8. High in vitamin E, which protects against many diseases.

9. Contains glutathione, an important antioxidant, helpful in preventing symptoms of aging, cancer and heart disease.

Last week I bought my first avocado, tried it, and liked the mild creamy taste. So I will add avocado to the list of foods that I Iike and will aim to eat one a week, simply sliced and served without any embellishments, because I think it tastes great just like that.

Climb the Stairs

It's always a challenge to fit enough exercise into my regular routine, especially working full-time. So it was a welcome revelation to realize that there is a wonderful fitness tool close at hand ... the stairs. My workplace has an air-conditioned stairwell with 9 floors, 2 flights of stairs between each floor making a total of 18 flights. 

And to take advantage of this, all I need to do is change into flat shoes... I have a pair of running shoes in a drawer in  my office... and I am ready to go. So how easy will it be to climb stairs once a day, whenever I am at work? Easy! The hardest part will be to remember to do it, especially if it's a hectic day... so I will set a time to "do the stairs" and make it a part of my regular routine.

When I read about the benefits of stair climbing it made even more sense to take advantage of this quick and easy way to add some exercise to my daily plan. The positives are pretty great. Besides helping you lose weight, improve your fitness tone, strengthen your calves, thighs, tummy and bottom; it also has the following to recommend it:

1. It's free and accessible.

2. It's weight-bearing, so you build bone strength.

3. It is low-impact and therefore safe for the knees.

2. It provides a fairly intense workout that quickly increases your heart rate, improving cardiovascular fitness.

3. It's an efficient way of burning calories, and the more you weigh, the harder you'l work and the more calories you'll burn.

Exercise doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to provide benefits. Nor does it need to be inconvenient, taking time and energy to get to a gym or fitness class. All it takes is resolve to do it!

If you'd like to join me, there is lots of information about stair climbing out there. I came across a helpful Australian site filled with stair-climbing information to help you get started.

Hydration ... Drink More Water

How much water should someone drink in a day? Well, that depends who you listen to. The answer seems to change all the time. What isn't up for debate is the fact that water is essential for life. 

The benefits include:  

1. Helps in weight loss and speeds up metabolism.

2. Aids digestion and alleviates constipation.

3. Keeps muscles from cramping and joints lubricated.

4. Flushes out toxins and waste products.

5. Increases concentration and alertness, dehydration can lead to fuzzy thinking.

6. Healthier skin: helps replenish skin tissue, moisturizes skin and increases skin's elasticity. 

Water makes up 60% of your body weight. So it only makes sense to ensure that I keep myself hydrated enough to allow my body to function at its best. I am going to be more conscious of the amount of water I consume daily and make sure that I am consistent. 

Raise a glass to cool, clear water.

Update: So now that I'm drinking more water, I realize that I am also getting more exercise... by the increased number of trips to the washroom!  An added benefit that I did not envision. And here's a small tip: I have been bringing water to work in a 1-litre container. That way, once it's empty, I know how much I have already drunk that day.