I don't know about you, but sometimes one of the most overlooked aspects in life of a woman "of that certain age" is her heath. Millions of Americans make New Year's resolutions that they have forgotten about by February. And this goes on year after year.
How do I know? I keep a goal diary - with a list of the things that I want to accomplish. Mine is a little different than most people's probably, because I don't make my New Year's Resolutions in January, I do them in November about a week before my birthday. That's my time for looking over my life for the past year and planning for the future. Why am I bringing this up in July?
Well, right now I am in the middle of trying to make room for the latest mail bag of books that I had sent over from the states, and I happened to run across my book. And guess what goal has consistently been in it for the last 5 years? To lose those last, stubborn 10 pounds! (Ugh!)
But, I'm not the only one who doesn't manage to keep their goals each year - in fact, a lot of us generally end up adding on a few more pounds before the next January 1st rolls
around.
This is a terrible habit that will have major repercussions the older we get. In fact, whether we like it or not, a major part of living well and feeling great is personal fitness.
What kind of shape are you currently in? I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that you
(like me) could be in better shape. Hey, it all starts with a little motivation! And I am inviting
you to jump on the physical fitness bandwagon with me, and lets see what we can do about it! I know summer's here - which actually makes it easier for me, because of the huge cornucopia of really delicious fresh fruits and vegetables that are available right now. But no matter what our current habits are, there's almost always room for improvement, and there's no time like the present!
Everyone knows that working out and eating healthy leads to a healthier body. The better
your diet is and the leaner your body, the more energy you are likely to have. I can't
stress enough how good being in shape can make you feel. It's a physical and emotional
surge.
Because when your personal fitness levels are up-to-par, you not only have more
strength and energy, but you also have more confidence. You know that you look great and
that you can do things like head down to the beach in a swimsuit or wear less clothing in
public.
But when you're overweight, you feel the need to cover up and hide from the world.
This can often lead to depression and feelings of regret. Well, I say NO MORE!
It's time to put more time and effort into our personal fitness schedules.
So this is where I'm going to begin.
I took my desktop calendar, and I'm choosing five of those days to exercise every week, throughout the month of July.
Because July is a busy month (including the week when we're going to go to the mountains to get away from the heat), I'm having to fit the exercise in around our schedule. So sometimes I will be exercising on the weekends, and sometimes not.
Now, to get started you may want to try three days of cardio and two days of weight training,
alternating days. For me, because my arthritis is still an issue, I'm going to have to take it slow and easy on both the cardio - swimming is about the only cardio I can do right now) and strength training, but I'm going to do it.
Remember - having a regular personal fitness regimen will get your body in shape the way it's supposed to be year-round. Being in great shape is NOT just a summer thing - and just because summer's here shouldn't be an excuse for putting it off!
Eating right is imperative. You need a balance of good carbs, proteins and vitamins.
Typically you can consume as many vegetables as you please.
We need like 8 a day, so go for it. As far as proteins go, try lean poultry and fish. Then with good carbs, shoot for brown rice, whole grain breads and low-fat granola. And I know, none of this is news to you - or to me. But the truth is, the older we get, the more personal fitness relies on your diet. Without a nutritious one, you're doomed before you start!
I hope you'll join me on this personal fitness quest. Feel free to post on the blog and let me know how you're doing!
Talk soon!
Showing posts with label healthy eating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy eating. Show all posts
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
It's just plain nutty - but it helps your heart!
I just read an interesting article online about the heart healthy benefits of eating nuts. According to Dr. Gerald Gau (who is a Mayo Clinic preventive cardiologist and a specialist in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases), studies show that eating nuts can help your heart by:
According to the article, walnuts are the most healthy for you, but you can also enjoy hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts and pecans are also good for your heart. Even peanuts, which are not nuts at all but legumes, are good for you - as long as you eat them in moderation, of course.
The correct amount is a tiny handful once a day, and used in place of saturated fats.
The article lists the following reasons that nuts are so good for you: "...the unsaturated fats in nuts — both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats — lower bad cholesterol levels. Many nuts are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are a healthy form of fatty acids that seem to help your heart by, among other things, preventing dangerous heart rhythms that can lead to heart attacks. Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in fish, but nuts are one of the best plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Nuts also have lots of arginine, which is a molecule that increases the production of nitric oxide in your body, which may in turn help improve the health of your artery walls and make them more flexible and less prone to blood clots. Other substances in nuts that could improve your heart health include Vitamin E and fiber."
To read the entire article about why nuts are good for your heart, just click the link.,
- lowering the LDL, low-density lipoprotein or "bad," cholesterol level in the blood
- reducing your risk of developing blood clots that can cause a fatal heart attack
- improving the health of the lining of your arteries
According to the article, walnuts are the most healthy for you, but you can also enjoy hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts and pecans are also good for your heart. Even peanuts, which are not nuts at all but legumes, are good for you - as long as you eat them in moderation, of course.
The correct amount is a tiny handful once a day, and used in place of saturated fats.
The article lists the following reasons that nuts are so good for you: "...the unsaturated fats in nuts — both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats — lower bad cholesterol levels. Many nuts are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are a healthy form of fatty acids that seem to help your heart by, among other things, preventing dangerous heart rhythms that can lead to heart attacks. Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in fish, but nuts are one of the best plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Nuts also have lots of arginine, which is a molecule that increases the production of nitric oxide in your body, which may in turn help improve the health of your artery walls and make them more flexible and less prone to blood clots. Other substances in nuts that could improve your heart health include Vitamin E and fiber."
To read the entire article about why nuts are good for your heart, just click the link.,
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
It may keep the vampires away, but new study crushes garlic's hopes for fighting cholesterol
If you're worried about vampires, bad good night kisses from blind dates, or just enjoy the flavor, keep plenty of garlic around. But if you're using it to lower your cholesterol, you might just be crushed by the latest study about garlic!
The result of the study, which appeared in the Feb. 26 issue of the "Archives of Internal Medicine" reported that the study included both fresh garlic and some of the most popular garlic supplements.
"We did a bigger and better trial than has ever been done before and with NIH (National Institutes of Health) funding, not with supplement-manufacturer funding. And as far as lowering cholesterol, garlic didn't work," said Christopher D. Gardner, study lead author and nutrition scientist and assistant professor with the Stanford Prevention Research Center in Stanford, Calif.
If you have too much LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in your arteries, you are at greater risk for having a stroke or heart attack - which is still one of the leading causes of death in women, especially women
of that certain age."
Having LDL levels below 130 mg/dl is considered to be in the healthy range.
Historians have traced the use of garlic as a cure for many serious illnesses back as far as Egypt, around 1500 B.C.!
192 men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 participated in the study. All participants had what is considered "moderately high" LDL cholesterol levels (about 140 mg/dl on average).
Garnder's team focused on the moderate-level group because they wanted people who were not taking prescription drugs like statins, to keep the results from being affected. They assumed that people with moderate LDL levels were more likely to be using herbal or natural supplements to try to reduce their cholesterol.
And, by the way, pregnant women, smokers, people with heart disease, cancer, or diabetes, and current users of high blood pressure or lipid-lowering medications were excluded from the study.
The study ran for six months, and all participants took the equivalent of a four-gram clove of garlic in one of three forms: either mixed into a sandwich in raw form or as one of two popular commercially-available supplements, Garlicin and Kyolic-100 six days a week during that time.
The results: Blood tests revealed that none of the garlic options had any "clinically relevant effect" on LDL concentrations over the course of the study, either in the short run or the long run.
They concluded that neither dietary garlic nor supplements are likely to offer any such benefit to most patients seeking to lower their LDL levels.
To read more about their findings, click here: study shows garlic doesn't lower cholesterol.
The result of the study, which appeared in the Feb. 26 issue of the "Archives of Internal Medicine" reported that the study included both fresh garlic and some of the most popular garlic supplements.
"We did a bigger and better trial than has ever been done before and with NIH (National Institutes of Health) funding, not with supplement-manufacturer funding. And as far as lowering cholesterol, garlic didn't work," said Christopher D. Gardner, study lead author and nutrition scientist and assistant professor with the Stanford Prevention Research Center in Stanford, Calif.
If you have too much LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in your arteries, you are at greater risk for having a stroke or heart attack - which is still one of the leading causes of death in women, especially women
of that certain age."
Having LDL levels below 130 mg/dl is considered to be in the healthy range.
Historians have traced the use of garlic as a cure for many serious illnesses back as far as Egypt, around 1500 B.C.!
192 men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 participated in the study. All participants had what is considered "moderately high" LDL cholesterol levels (about 140 mg/dl on average).
Garnder's team focused on the moderate-level group because they wanted people who were not taking prescription drugs like statins, to keep the results from being affected. They assumed that people with moderate LDL levels were more likely to be using herbal or natural supplements to try to reduce their cholesterol.
And, by the way, pregnant women, smokers, people with heart disease, cancer, or diabetes, and current users of high blood pressure or lipid-lowering medications were excluded from the study.
The study ran for six months, and all participants took the equivalent of a four-gram clove of garlic in one of three forms: either mixed into a sandwich in raw form or as one of two popular commercially-available supplements, Garlicin and Kyolic-100 six days a week during that time.
The results: Blood tests revealed that none of the garlic options had any "clinically relevant effect" on LDL concentrations over the course of the study, either in the short run or the long run.
They concluded that neither dietary garlic nor supplements are likely to offer any such benefit to most patients seeking to lower their LDL levels.
To read more about their findings, click here: study shows garlic doesn't lower cholesterol.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Taste the Rainbow...
So one of the things that I'm working on, in my quest for health and fitness is to pay attention to my diet.
Which means eating lots of fruits and veggies and cutting back on meats. Especially red meats, maybe, because I just read about another study linking red meat to breast cancer.
Anyway, while I was wandering around the open air market in Toulon, picking up fresh fruits and vegetables for the boeuf bourgignon that I'm making for dinner tonight, that the frut and vegetables stands were filled with a rainbow of colors today. There were big, plump peppers - red, yellow and green,heads of green and purple broccoli, sweet fresh asparagus, ripe, red strawberries, plump purple eggplants, green zucchini, white mushrooms, bright lemons...
It was beautiful and I have to remember to take my camera the next time I go shopping, so I can share it with you!
By the way, if you want my recipe for the boeuf bourgignon, you can find it on my blog about the French Riviera .
Here on the French Riviera, my eating habits are completely different than they are when I'm in the states. Here a lot of the time, the only things you'll find in my freezer are ice cube trays. We buy everything fresh - today for example, I bought beef from our butcher, M. Fabre, mushrooms, peppers and salad fixings from one of the vegetable sellers, and carrots, strawberries, lemons, bananas and fresh green beans from my favorite seller.
We eat more vegetables here than we do when we're in the states, and they're almost always fresh, not canned or frozen. Of course, we're spoiled, because our open air market runs every day except for Monday. (Which means that you just buy extra on Sunday, not that you use canned.)
Anyway, I'm going to keep track of how many servings of fresh fruits and vegetables I eat for the next month. I want to see if I can do better. What about you? Care to join me and taste the rainbow too?
Which means eating lots of fruits and veggies and cutting back on meats. Especially red meats, maybe, because I just read about another study linking red meat to breast cancer.
Anyway, while I was wandering around the open air market in Toulon, picking up fresh fruits and vegetables for the boeuf bourgignon that I'm making for dinner tonight, that the frut and vegetables stands were filled with a rainbow of colors today. There were big, plump peppers - red, yellow and green,heads of green and purple broccoli, sweet fresh asparagus, ripe, red strawberries, plump purple eggplants, green zucchini, white mushrooms, bright lemons...
It was beautiful and I have to remember to take my camera the next time I go shopping, so I can share it with you!
By the way, if you want my recipe for the boeuf bourgignon, you can find it on my blog about the French Riviera .
Here on the French Riviera, my eating habits are completely different than they are when I'm in the states. Here a lot of the time, the only things you'll find in my freezer are ice cube trays. We buy everything fresh - today for example, I bought beef from our butcher, M. Fabre, mushrooms, peppers and salad fixings from one of the vegetable sellers, and carrots, strawberries, lemons, bananas and fresh green beans from my favorite seller.
We eat more vegetables here than we do when we're in the states, and they're almost always fresh, not canned or frozen. Of course, we're spoiled, because our open air market runs every day except for Monday. (Which means that you just buy extra on Sunday, not that you use canned.)
Anyway, I'm going to keep track of how many servings of fresh fruits and vegetables I eat for the next month. I want to see if I can do better. What about you? Care to join me and taste the rainbow too?
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