Tag Archive for: good habits

Personal Trainer

Movement Monday

People who want to lose a substantial amount of weight need a high amount of physical activity unless they also reduce their caloric intake.

 

Starting the Habit of Eating Healthy For Children

Eating healthy for children is easiest to recognize. Be clever and creative. But the question is what good food for children is. We all comprehend that eating healthy for children is complicated thing in the world, since children are dishonorable for disliking vegetables.

Every mom and dad should comprehend the connection between eating and health. Kids are still developing potent bones and teeth, unlike adults. Eating healthy for children could be fun task if parents know how to do it. To spicy food up for a better taste are accessible in lots of ways.

children

Some of the alternative to make your kid enjoy the good food is:

Make the Food Fascinating

Manage the food in attractive way and brand new. This will help your kids to improve eating pattern. At a time your creation will be destroying by them in pleasure. Create a couple of funny creature from food that you are cutting up, or a couple of object that they like; their focus will be away from the food.

Change their defintion of Healthy

Kids hate healthy, in line with them good food is bad taste, and it is not candy at all. originate a positive assume around them, don’t develop a negative assume. Put the healthy snack in the specific characters container. The will love to be pleased of the healthy snack while they hold the favorite container.

Give Them Options

Give them a possibility to select of 3-4 choice of good food. So whichever they need, they will select the good food. Or you can attach a healthy snack you identify they don’t like, it will commit the successive substitutes more interesting by introducing the snack they hate first.

There are other techniques you can find to pursue them to eating in healthy. Parents should comprehend about the benefit of eating good food since childhood. There are so numerous obesity drawbacks among children. As parents, you can help them by means of obesity drawbacks, even controlling weight for teenagers or kids is complicated thing. But you should do a couple of effort in making healthy friendly eating.

Making it fun of serving quality foods for kids so getting children consume healthy is not hopeless. To dish up the good food in an entertaining and persuasive way by arrange healthy snack on a serving dish in an approach that put together them look like saying “eat me”.

Once they have an eating healthy as routine, they will do these pattern for the rest of their lives and reach a lifetime of good health.

Positive Dieting Behaviors Deserve a Reward

When you are dieting it can be hard to stick to your goals and shed your body of excess weight. The good news however, is that there are numerous thing you can do to help keep yourself on task. Make sure to reward yourself when you stay with your weight loss regimen. Rewards are a wonderful way to make yourself feel happy and good about the new lifestyle you are leading.

Some people find it useful to set short term goals such as promising themselves that they will lose a certain amount of weight in a set amount of time. The important thing is to make sure that you do not set goals that are out of reach.

dieting

You should view the fact that you even reach a goal as something worth rewarding yourself for. People of all ages respond well to rewards and being an adult on a diet is not an exception to this rule.

Rewards are a wonderful way to motivate you to keep going and working towards a healthy life. As you reward yourself you are far more apt to want to keep working so that you can receive the next reward that you have set for yourself.

Rewards work in so many different areas of a person’s life that it makes perfect sense to think that a reward system is a good way to keep you on the right diet track.

Rewards are designed to make you feel happy about something that you have reached. It makes you feel better about yourself and the effort that you have put in. A reward tells you that you have worked hard and deserve to be treated.

There are so many different ways that you can reward yourself for doing well on your diet, however, it is wise to choose a reward that is not food related. If you really do want to treat yourself with a dinner out or something along those lines, just make certain that you pick only healthy foods.

Rewarding yourself with sweets is not a good idea as it will just create a problem in allowing you to stick with your diet. You could opt to make your reward something such as new clothes or a day of pampering at a spa. Anything that allows you to feel good about yourself is a good idea as a reward.

If you choose clothes as your reward, it is a nice way to watch your wardrobe grow with clothes that are very flattering to your new body shape.

Rewarding yourself with other things that will improve your appearance such as a new hair cut or color will go so far in making you want to continue working out and getting in shape. Men who diet but are not interested in such things as cosmetics can always purchase something that they like for their rewards such as a new tool.

Couples who are working on a diet routine with one another could create a special weekend away as a reward for keeping consistent with their diet. Always keep in mind when choosing your reward that it should be something that you really like or want. An item that is special is seen as far more of a reward than something that is necessary or that you would have bought for yourself anyway.

A great idea is to browse around ahead of time and find things that strike your fancy that you can use as rewards for yourself in the future so that you have some wonderful treats to work towards.

Exercise And Stress

Even though exercise may not be the most exciting word in your vocabulary, it sure is a word with a
lot of benefits. Participating in daily exercise will not only make you healthier in general, but it can also diminish the effects of stress on your body as well.

Think about all the times you have heard someone say “the doctor says it’s stress related”. Normally
people will laugh it off, concluding that doctors say that when they don’t know the real answers or
diagnosis. The truth of the matter is that too much stress will play a role in many diseases.

 

To help increase your immune system and decrease your stress level as well, try exercise, as movement is the key word here. Bending, stretching, reaching and walking. There’s really no need to buy any expensive equipment either, as you can implement more movement into your daily routine and reap the benefits.

If you like aerobic exercise, you should grab a partner and have a blast with one of the basic aerobic videos. Or, you can simply go out for a walk and enjoy spending time together. As you may have heard, walking really is the best overall exercise you can do for your health. As long as you have a pair of walking shoes, you’ll be fine.

As you go through your daily activities, make it a point to walk a little farther, bend down and pick something up without using a pick up stick or moving the item towards you with your foot. While you are sitting, you should also do some simple and quick stretches for your neck and shoulders.

If you enjoy sitting around watching television, you should consider buying a jogging board. These padded boards will make running, jumping, or walking in place less stressful on your knees and joints. They are easy to store as well and also very portable.

In many people’s opinions, jogging boards are the best pieces of equipment you can buy. They are also far cheaper than bulky treadmills and stationary bikes.

There are several different exercises that you can do to help you eliminate the stress in your life. Walking is by far the best, as you can easily lose yourself and your troubles by walking. Even if it is just around the block, walking can do wonders for your health as well as stress.

If you have a lot of stress in your life, you may want to consider a gym. Working out then sitting in the sauna is also a good way to relieve tension. If your gym has a pool, you may find swimming to be very beneficial as well, as it helps you to relax.

 

 

Personal Trainer

Pilates for Weight Loss

These days, weight loss is a major issue that almost everyone is concerned about. That is because the sedentary lifestyle is catching up and making obesity part of modern living. Unfortunately, beauty and sexiness are often linked with having a fit and slim physique. Thus, weight loss is considered as very important for a person’s overall appearance and confidence. Liposuction is very popular these days as a form of instant and effective weight loss. But for people who do not like the idea of undergoing surgical procedures, Pilates could be a good surgery-free alternative.

Pilates is a form of an exercise program that was developed by a physical fitness guru named Joseph Pilates during the height of the World War I. It is an exercise program that was developed to focus on flexibility and core strength. Specifically, the exercise program could bring about more ideal muscle tone that in turn could lead to a ‘taller and streamlined’ appearance. The tasks involved in the exercise could help you engage your core muscles (comprising of abdominal) and inner back muscles (especially those in the mid-back and lower back section). Thus, it could help you improve your overall posture, keep your back stronger, and attain a better posture.

weight loss

What people usually like about Pilates is that it does not require too much. The tasks could be done right at the comfort of your very own home. You may use a half-inch thick mat or just the floor. The exercise routines could take just several minutes to complete. You do not need any special equipment or tools. This is because the program is much focused on overall and targeted body movements. You could learn Pilates in many ways: through instructional videos and manuals or through guidance from experts or class facilitators.

Pilates is an exercise that is designed strategically for both men and women from all ages. The benefits are derived from the basic movements. When you do a Pilates movement, you are subjecting your body to a range of motions. There is no need to force the body to go further beyond what it could comfortably handle. The movements may be slow but they are more effective in burning stored calories. Proper and recommended pattern of breathing also helps make the exercise tasks more effective and relaxing. Overall stance is improved as well.

Not only does Pilates tone abdominal muscles. It is also effective in reducing back pains and lowering the chances for development of osteoporosis, especially in aging women. Combined with several other forms of cardiovascular exercises, Pilates could do a great wonder in losing those unlikely excess pounds at the shortest time possible. If you are aiming to lose those flabs that make your tummy area look awkward, you should strive to do Pilates exercise routines regularly. Pilates could also be considered as a mind and body exercise due to its highly targeted resistance in every movement. The exercise program is recommended for everybody, especially athletes, dancers, and obese people.

 

Do We Teach Our Kids Bad Food Habits?

It’s 7:00 am, and you’re late for work. The kids are just now ready for school, and no one has had time to think about breakfast. Oh, well, they’re not hungry anyway, and neither are you. We’ll just skip breakfast. You instruct them to eat good at lunch when they’re at school, and everybody’s off.
Lunchtime arrives and you’re just not that hungry. Maybe a quick snack bar, a diet soda, and back to work. Do you ever wonder what your kids are eating for lunch? Have they come to the same conclusion?

Alright, time to prepare dinner, and time is short. You have three places to be in order to get everybody to practice, pickup the cleaning, and then on home. On the way to the cleaners you realize dinner is going to be a lite one if you fix what you have at home. Where to stop? How about pizza and soda? Or maybe the kids would like burgers and fries. While you try to decide what to provide for dinner, the kids have finished practice and they’re starving. The gym has a food dispenser for snacks and sodas, and so they load up on candy bars and coke.

kids

It’s 6:45 pm and you’ve made the last stop on the child pickup train. Everybody’s loaded up and ready to go home. You’ve decided to stop for pizza, already called your order in, and it’s ready when you stop by.

Is this your typical day? If so, you’re among the vast majority of Americans. We all spend our days in a constant rush, with very little thought given to our nutritional needs, and much given to the convenience of what we eat. But do you realize in short-cutting your meal needs, you’re teaching your children that same habit?

We all read the articles about proper nutrition and our health, and we make the association between eating right and living longer, more healthful lives. But we don’t practice what we read. We certainly don’t ever stop to think about how much of our day is spent without any nutritional input at all.
Our children grow into adults, and we wonder why they look a little pale, or less than robust and healthy. They live in a world filled with stress, no exercise, and unhealthy eating habits. What do we really expect?

It’s our responsibility to take the time and while we teach our children good morals, good work ethics, and the values of family, to also teach them the importance of taking care of themselves. What good really are all the other values we try to instill if we teach them bad habits in taking care of themselves? What kind of quality do their lives have if they aren’t healthy and able to enjoy life?
So, as you rush home you make a mental note to improve your menu choices, tomorrow. You’ll take more time in preparing the meals they eat, and the food choices you put before them.

Teach them to look for nutritional value while seeking out convenience.

 

 

 

 

 

A Detoxifying Cleanse Can Boost Your Energy

Have your energy levels dropped for no apparent reason? When your body isn’t being nurtured properly it can shut down. This shut down isn’t an immediate cessation of function but individual systems begin to slow down to conserve energy. Your metabolism slows, glandular functions are hampered and the body itself will start to lose power and strength. The first thing you may notice is that you experience fatigue all the time and just can’t seem to get it together. Before you reach for another cup of coffee or other energy boosting concoction consider a detoxifying cleanse.

Think of your body as a car engine. What would happen if you never changed the oil in your car? As you can imagine, engine performance would slowly decline and you’d have to push harder on the gas to get up to speed. Have you ever tried to get onto the highway in a car with poorly performing engine? Instead of going 0 to 60 in 5 seconds, it takes 10. Your body is the same way, our bodies can become sluggish if waste, poisons, toxins, chemicals, and other harmful substances are not periodically flushed out with a detoxifying cleanse.

detoxifying

Most of us assume that our body can naturally rid itself of all of the toxins and waste matter that we’re exposed to. While this is true in optimal conditions, the American 21st century diet consists of preservatives, refined sugar and other chemicals that prevent our bodies from operating at optimal levels. Some of these toxins and waste are difficult for our bodies to remove and as these toxins accumulate your body begins to grow ill or tire easily.

Getting your energy back…

One of the ways to regain your energy is to allow your body to repair itself and you can help it along by getting rid of all the accumulated waste. This easily done with a detoxifying cleanse that flushes everything out of your system. You begin by drinking mostly fluids and eating only healthy, fresh foods. If it comes in a package don’t eat it. There are many cleansing programs on the market that can but to supplement your cleanse. Check the products labels of any cleansing programs and make sure that the ingredients are all natural. If you don’t know what a listed ingredient is don’t use it.

Before you reach for caffeine or a cola as a pick me up consider that your lack of energy may be caused by something as simple as an abundance of waste. A detoxifying cleanse is such a simple thing to do for your health and your energy.

 

 

5 Simple Stretching Exercises To Relieve Back Pain

As our bodies undergo day to day stress it takes a toll on our backs and stretching exercises to relieve back pain can help. Depending on the occupation that we hold, we either sit or stand for the better portion of our day. Poor posture of the spine can bring about pain and long term problems for our backs. Fixing our posture and stretching exercises to relieve back pain will help your back.

Another issue that we face is that we attempt to over compensate for lack of activity during the week and put ourselves through rigorous physical activity on the weekend. Exercise is highly recommended and even beneficial, however it can cause problems if you are not physically used to it. This can make your back and body able to be easily injured. Exercising during the week and also doing stretching exercises can prevent this from happening. The stress that our bodies go through during the weekday can be overcome by doing five stretching exercises to relieve back pain for 15-20 minutes a day. These stretching exercises to relieve back pain will require an elastic band that could be purchased at a local store.

back pain

Lower Back Stretch Start by sitting on the floor with your legs together and straight out in front of you. Put the exercise band around your feet and hold on to it with both hands. Then “climb towards your foot using the band to pull yourself. Continue this until you feel a stretch from your calves, spine and lower back. Hold the position for 8-10 seconds as you breathe normally.Repeat 3 times.

The Groin Stretch Lay on the floor face up with your legs in an almost split position. Bend your left leg at the knee and place your foot on the floor. Put the elastic band on your right foot and then pull gently with both of your arms. You should hold this position for 8-10 seconds and then repeat the exercise 3 times.Then switch to the other leg and do three times.

The Glute and External Rotator Stretch Laying on the ground face up, wrap the band around a toe and straighten your leg while holding on to the band. When your leg is extended twist your torso at the hip until your leg is on the ground while keeping your back as flat as you can. Then hold this position for 8-10 seconds and repeat 3 times. Switch to the other leg and repeat.

The Hamstring Stretch Start in the same position as the External Rotator Stretch. However, instead of twisting at the hip, lay straight with your leg straight up then pull your leg gently towards your head. This will stretch your hamstring and help to relieve tension on your back.

The Quad Stretch Lay face down on the floor and wrap the band around a toe then pull your leg towards your head. When you feel the stretch in your front thigh, hold the pose for 8 seconds and repeat twice more. Then switch to the other leg and do the same. These exercise will help with flexibility and strength but they are also wonderful stretching exercises to relieve back pain.

 

 

 

Making Exercise More Fun

Nothing beats waking up in the morning with the thought of going to the gym to lift weights or jog on the treadmill or some other form of exercise. After a hard days work, the gym is one place you don’t even want to think about. Sometimes, even the thought of exercising at home with your own equipment can be less than desirable.

Sometimes, just trying to get and stay motivated to exercise on a regular basis can be a challenge. No matter how you look at it, exercise can be downright boring and even tedious at times.

exercise

So, you may be wondering just how you can get the motivation you need to exercise on a regular basis. If you’ve been wondering what you can do to make exercise more fun, you’ll find some ideas below that just may help to make exercise more fun and a little bit easier.

First things first, you should exercise with a friend. You can challenge each other, help each other out, keep each other motivated and on track, make each other laugh or just make a game out of your exercise programs.

You can also try something different. If you go to the gym each and every day and use the same
piece of equipment or use the same piece of equipment at home, you should try mixing things up.
Reverse your routine or just change the order of your exercises.

Go to a city park that has playground equipment and use the slide, climb on the monkey bars, do pull-ups, hang from your knees, just let your imagination guide you. You don’t always need to follow a strict routine, just get out there and have fun working your muscles.

An outdoor circuit in the park is also something you can try. There are some parks that have circuit
courses set up with a planned course where all you have to do is walk or jog to each station and
then follow the instructions. If there isn’t a planned course, then you should do a combination
of jogging and walking, picking a distance of a couple hundred feet. Jog 100 feet then drop and
do a couple of push-ups, walk the next 100 feet and then drop to do sit ups.

You can also ride a bike around your neighborhood or hike on a hiking trail. A walk in the park or
around your neighborhood is also a great way to get some exercise. Doing yoga in the park or on
a beach is also a nice and relaxing way to exercise both your body and your mind.

Playing a competitive sport is also something you can try. A lot of cities have team activities such as softball, volleyball, tennis, soccer, and so on. These types of activities will not only provide you with good exercise but they will also help you to meet new people as well.

When you exercise, try to picture your muscles getting bigger. Research has shown that if you
focus all of your thoughts on the muscles that you are working, they will respond better. Try to watch them work with each repetition as your muscles contract and relax.

As you can tell, there are plenty of ways you can make exercise more fun and interesting. You don’t
need to follow the same routine day after day, as you can do many other things to get in some
exercise.

The important thing is that you should always try to incorporate exercise in any various form into
your everyday life and make these habits the kind of habits that will last a lifetime.

 

Run For Your Life ( Running Or Jogging Tips)

There are different reasons why people engage in running or jogging. Some run for health reasons, which means that they see running as a way to get physically fit. Others are more specific in their goals and motivations on hitting the road. There are runners who engage in the activity to lose that excess weight. Still, others see running as a means to release stress and tension.

There is another group of runners who enjoy this form of sport for the simple fact that they find it leisurely. Running can actually be a leisurely way of spending time with family and friends, or a way of meeting new acquaintances, and even starting new relationships. For the more serious, running is for sports and competition. To compete with other runners or joggers in a race gives them their natural high.

running

Whatever the reason may be, running and jogging are definitely beneficial to a person’s well-being. A person who is into regular jogging or engages in a running program is bound to be physically fit. Running burns fat and enables a person to lose more calories per minute as compared to other forms of cardiovascular exercise.

Running also helps prevent muscle and bone loss that naturally accompanies old age. The pressure that is created on the knees and legs during running actually help strenghten bones, muscles and ligaments —- provided that one runs in a proper manner. Regular daily tasks such as sitting in front of the computer the whole day weakens the bones unlike when one goes for a run. Regular, high-intensity exercises have been proven to encourage human growth hormone, keeping our internal anatomy from getting old fast while helping us to look young and vibrant.

The ability to resist illness is another benefit that can be attributed to running or jogging. Amazingly, it reduces the risk of heart stroke and breast cancer that doctors have made it a point to include regular running as a treatment option for those patients with early signs of osteoporosis, diabetes, and hypertension. The risk of heart attack is greatly reduced by running which lowers blood pressure and maintains the elasticity of arteries.

Running also aids in raising HDL or good cholesterol, reducing the risk of blood clotting, and promotes 50% of lung function that is usually not being used. Also, the immune system gets that needed boost from running by producing a higher concentration of lymphocytes or white blood cells that is crucial in fighting illnesses.

The list of the rewards you can get from running does not end with improved health but extends to psychological benefits as well.

As if the health benefits of having a regular jogging or running program is not enough, there are also mental or psychological advantages and rewards to be reaped from running such as building your self-esteem and self-confidence, gaining an effective tool for stress management, the attitude boost, and the runner’s high.

Running allows the person to have a sense of pride, empowerment and freedom due to the knowledge that his/her body is at its best and capable of climbing the uphill or clearing the obstacles on the way. The confidence-building and improved self-image goes hand-in-hand with losing weight. Running builds confidence like few other individual sports can. It allows the runner to defeat trial after trial, growing stronger and more sure of themselves with each stroke and stride.

It allows a runner to literally climb hills, overcome mountains, and clear obstacles. It provides a feeling of empowerment and freedom that comes with knowing that your legs and body are strong and capable. Confidence is even more a product of running for those who lose weight and gain a better self-image through running. Indeed, a day’s jogging can greatly reduce stress levels and tension.

In spite of the great benefits attributed to running and jogging, one must not overlook the fact that caution is needed in everything. Too much running may cause a person to lose a lot of fluids in the body more than what he/she takes in. This will result to dehydration. Dehydration will not only cause a runner to slow down but can also cause muscle spasms in the legs due to the depletion of essential electrolytes in the body. Muscle spasm is the involuntary contraction of a muscles in the legs that is which can last for a few seconds or may extend to several minutes, and is often very painful. Sometimes, it is called “charley horse.”

The muscle does not simply relax by a mere wishful thinking. Deep breathing and relaxation exercises may help the muscle to relax a bit. More often than not, people actually contract other muscles in response to the pain of a charley horse, which can make the duration of the muscle spasm longer. To counter dehydration, one must restore the proper balance of water in the body. Stay away from caffeine in coffee, sodas, and tea. Caffeine is a diuretic. It makes you urinate more frequently than you usually need to.

Before you engage in a running or jogging program, be sure to consult your doctor to check on the condition of your health, especially your heart. Make sure your limbs are properly stretched to avoid any muscle injuries. Drink lots of water or other fluids to avoid dehydration.