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BySara
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February is American Heart Month!

As you may know, February starts tomorrow and is the start of American Hearth Month! To help support a healthy heart, here are some strategies you can implement to assist in a long and healthy life:

Get active! The American Heart Association recommends adults get at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous aerobic activity (or a combination of both), preferably spread throughout the week.

Maintain a healthy weight. When your weight is in a healthy range, your heart doesn’t have to overwork to circulate blood. Being an average weight reduces your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and many other life-threatening conditions, including some cancers and sleep apnea

Quit smoking. And stay away from secondhand smoke!

Control your cholesterol and blood pressure. Did you know high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease? Preventing and managing these health conditions through diet, activity, and behaviors is essential.

Drink alcohol in moderation. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink or drink in moderation by limiting intake to 2 drinks or less for men and 1 drink or less for women in one day.

Manage life stressors. Find healthy outlets for the inevitable stress of life, such as adult coloring books, reading, exercising, sewing, or picking up a new hobby that brings you joy.

It’s so important to take care of this essential organ all year round, but wear red during the month of February and give your heart some love!

BySara
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Halloween Tips

The holidays are just around the corner! Halloween starts the festivities with loads of candy that can send you into a sugar rush, spiral you into a sea of unnecessary calories, and cause inflammation around your waistline.

As we prepare for a more normal holiday season this year, think about how you can be more mindful of what you serve your guests and what you are putting into your own body. Consider some of these tips and tricks to help you start the season nicely:

  • Avoid buying candy that you like: If you don’t have it in the house, there’s less temptation to snack on it as you walk past the candy bowl.
  • Hide the candy until Halloween day: If you’re trying to prepare by catching the good sales, then hide the candy when you get home. Remember: out of sight, out of mind.
  • Buy individual bags of pretzels and/or popcorn instead of candy: I know I always appreciate it when my kids come home from trick or treating with some snack bags instead of just candy.
  • Allow yourself one piece a day for the first 3 days: You never have to live a life of deprivation, so allow one piece of snack size candy for the first 3 days after lunch if you really want some candy and then move on after day 4.
  • Give it away: After Halloween, give away the extra candy. Bring it to the office or donate it to the local food bank. Some dentist offices will even pay you for it!

Check out this chart we found on Elliptical Reviews and think about how long it would take to burn off some of these treats:

Wishing you all a very Happy Halloween!

BySara
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Vacation Time!

As we near the end of August, most people are getting ready to wrap up their summers with travel plans and various festivities.  I always look forward to vacations with my family and have the Go-Go’s “Vacation” stuck in my head for days as I pack (even though the song isn’t 100% appropriate).

At the same time, this can be when people let their guard down and possibly gain some weight, but it is possible to still have a great time without losing control and preventing weight gain.  Going on vacation and preserving your waistline can be done, I promise!

Take a look at some of these tips to see how you can maintain control but still enjoy those last few days of summer:

—Don’t drink your calories—

If you like a cocktail, go for it: but be mindful of how much and what kind.  For example, avoid cocktails that have extra syrups and sugary base beverages (e.g. soda, juice) and limit those Pina Coladas and strawberry daiquiris to one time during your trip.

Drink 1 bottle of water between every alcoholic beverage to space out the number of caloric beverages you consume in one sitting.

Look for drinks that have lower calories, such as hard seltzers, light beers, or mixed drinks (e.g. rum and diet coke, vodka with seltzer and lime).

—Avoid the all you can eat buffets—

I loved buffets when I was a kid, but now I find them to be very overwhelming and dislike them for more reasons than one.  Thinking of all of the caloric damage that can be done at a buffet starts to make me nauseous.  Sometimes these can’t be avoided on certain types of vacations (e.g. cruises, all-inclusive resorts), so try to make the best choices possible.

Before taking any food, survey the whole buffet first to see what foods are available.  Then put together in your head what you want to put on your plate.  Here are some options of foods you can grab:

 – Proteins (e.g. omelets, greek yogurt, lean breakfast meat, seafood, legumes)

 – Vegetables (can also be in your omelets)

 – Fruits

After eating these items, you may feel full and satisfied enough that you aren’t even thinking of grabbing one of those breakfast pastries you saw earlier.

—Share, share, share—

Remember: sharing means caring!  I do love trying different foods in the area I’m staying, but I don’t want to consume all of those calories.  Sharing meals with friends and family allows you to enjoy all of the delicacies without going overboard.  Plus, it also saves a few dollars.

—Stay active—

Vacation can be a great time to increase your daily activity since you have more free time.  Dust off that fitness tracker or use the feature on your smartwatch to track your exercise and aim for about 10,000 steps a day.  Whether it’s window shopping, biking, hiking, yoga, or just a new activity for you, get out there and move.

If there’s an activity you love to do, try doing it in a new place when on vacation.  I love doing yoga, so I will go to different yoga studios or do yoga on the beach.  You never know what you might learn that will be different from what you are used to at home.

Vacation can be a wonderful time, but you don’t have to regret all the eating and drinking you did when you get back home.  Remember: once you get home, get right back into your routine.  Drink lots of water to help you “de-bloat”.  If you can come back with about one or two pounds gained or lost, I call that a WIN.

BySara
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Coping With Chronic Illness

Most people don’t know this about me, but I suffer from an autoimmune disease. The formal diagnosis is still to be determined, but my type-A personality finally got the best of me and my body decided to attack itself. The disease can show itself in many different ways such as allergies, hair loss, GI issues, or, like me, joint pain.

In my mid-30s, I started to feel pain in my hands and wrists. Several months passed where I wore carpal tunnel braces and tried various PT exercises that a dear friend of mine taught me to do, but there was very little relief. At one point, my fingers became so swollen that I couldn’t wear my wedding rings or any of my other rings. I even had to go to the ER one afternoon to have them surgically cut off my finger because I couldn’t get them off no matter how hard I tried.

My doctor was running bloodwork, but we still couldn’t pinpoint what was happening. As time passed on, I didn’t have any answers and my symptoms got worse when the pain went to my knees. I could no longer go from sitting to standing without being in excruciating pain. I was frustrated and mad at my body. All I could think was “How can this be happening? I eat healthily, I exercise, I don’t drink, and I don’t do drugs.” I lived my whole life trying to prevent the onset of disease and this was the thanks I got.

One thing I have come to learn is that aging is an inevitable process – we all know this, but we don’t ever really stop to think about it (at least I didn’t). Although I lived this healthy lifestyle that I thought would keep me young and healthy forever, I had to accept that this isn’t always the case as time passed.

Most of us will suffer from something at some time because our bodies are just like a car: with time and age comes more needed maintenance and repairs. In my case, I needed to make changes to help reduce the inflammation in my body. I already ate right, but more changes could be made to manage my personal symptoms, such as paying attention to certain foods and how they made my body feel when I ate them.

For me, one of the foods I had to give up was peanut butter. It was natural peanut butter, but I started to realize that it was not good for me. My body felt achy, I got funky stools, and my eczema occasionally flared up. It took some time to accept this because I LOVED peanut butter – I had it literally every day for breakfast on my toast. Once I got my head around the fact that peanut butter no longer loved me, I had to walk away from it. The pain that came from eating peanut butter was just not worth it.

Another food that I had to give up was cow’s milk. It ripped my stomach apart every time I had it. I started trying different non-dairy milk options and found that my stomach felt so much better. I could get away with eating some cheese, but using milk in my coffee was just not possible anymore. I also switched to almond yogurt and used nutritional yeast when I wanted a cheesy flavor on some of my foods.

It’s really important to recognize that our bodies are constantly changing – and continuously address those changes. If you change your perspective and accept that some things are beyond your control, it will make the transition a lot easier. The market is loaded with alternatives for all of those foods we love but don’t love us back. You must keep an open mind: it won’t taste exactly like what you’re used to, but it will be good enough and you won’t suffer the negative side effects. I hope that you will take some time today to listen to what your body is telling you and start making changes for the better.

BySara
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Show Up For Yourself!

It can be a challenge to get up and stay motivated to work out at 5:00 a.m. every day, but there are plenty of people who do it. They get up for themselves. They get up because they want to feel good. They get up because they know that if they don’t, they will feel guilty and that terrible feeling of self-loathing and regret will haunt them all day long.

When my alarm goes off, I think of that extra hour or two of sleep, but then I remind myself that I am so grateful for how I feel when I am done. The excitement of being ready to take on the world and do anything is the conversation you want to have with yourself every time you want to bail. Say, “Stop! I want to feel good and this makes me feel good, so get up and just do it.”

Stop making excuses and blaming the job, the kids, or the schedule. Stop saying “Tomorrow”, “I wish I could”, or “If only I had the time” because guess what? You can and you do have the time. Show up for yourself.

How do we get to this point?
– Set small, realistic goals
– Be honest with yourself and set realistic expectations
– Reward yourself when you hit your goals
– Find a buddy to keep you accountable
– Take it one day at a time and allow it to become a part of your routine

Once an action becomes a part of your routine, it’s hard to break away from it. It takes time, but don’t give up on yourself.

A few years ago, I bought a Groupon to a hot yoga studio and it took months for me to redeem it. I finally got myself there at 5:30 a.m. because my husband remarked “Oh, you are not going to get up.”

“Don’t tell me I am not going to do something – I’ll show you,” were the thoughts that went through my mind as I got ready for bed that night.

When I got up in the morning and got ready, he rolled over and said, “You’re welcome.” Now clearly, he knew how to motivate me to get up in the morning, but that was all it took for me to get started. Before the pandemic, I got up every Tuesday and Thursday morning to take a hot yoga class. I relied on my teacher at the time to become a part of my accountability. Her knowing that I committed to being there twice a week made me not want to disappoint her. Whether she cared or not didn’t matter. I committed and I stay true to my commitments.

Unfortunately, things changed once everything locked down for the pandemic and I could not get to class. I found that my energy and body did not feel the same. Thankfully, I connected with a friend (funny enough her name is also Sara) who told me about a Zoom yoga class taught by a local teacher, Jessica. In the past, I wouldn’t have stepped foot in Jessica’s class because she was too intense, but I was desperate to get back to it, so I reached out to her and signed up for the first class.

Sara and I decided to do a 7-day challenge. Could we do yoga for 7 straight days? It seemed like a bit much, but we gave it a try and accomplished our first goal. Our goals kept growing until we decided to do 30 days of yoga. That’s right, I said 30 days of yoga! We kept a calendar going and marked the days so we could reflect on our success. The excitement of marking another day done was so rewarding. 30 days turned into 60 days, and before we knew it, we did 90 days of straight yoga. I had multiple sources of accountability at this point – my husband because of his remarks (ha!), Sara because she was doing it with me, Jessica because she knew we made this commitment, and our little virtual yoga family because we all expected each other to be there in the morning.

Realistically, we could not keep doing yoga 7 days a week, so Sara and I reassessed our goals and decided to take the weekends off and commit to Monday to Friday for yoga at 5:30 a.m. Now it’s been almost 1 year since we started. This morning, I was able to get up without my alarm because my body is just used to it. It has become a habit and part of my routine that my body and mind yearn for daily. You have to give things time to become a habit and don’t give up when it seems too hard. Just keep reminding yourself that you will feel better when you are done and no matter the length of time you do it for. Whether it’s for 15 minutes or 1 hour, your will be grateful that you did. You just have to do it.

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