family secrets...

Happy Family Day!

Today's lovely, sunny day off has started with...

... lemon water
... a glorious green juice (curly kale, cucumber, celery, parsley, and a pear)
... yoga with Kathryn Budig on yogaglo.com
... 15 minutes of "time-out" (a.k.a. lying on my foam roller) (a.k.a. meditating)
... avo toast from Crazy Sexy Kitchen 

Avocado smooshed onto Ezekiel bread, topped with olive oil, sea salt and chili flakes.

...  and lots of mulling over my grandpa's way of life.
                                                                                                  
Decades ago, my grandpa figured out the secrets to health, longevity and living life well, and has been applying them religiously ever since. He'll be 84 in March and every time I hear about his recent escapades, they blow me away.

Despite the winter weather, he walks a minimum of 6km each and every single day. Then he rides his stationary bike for 30 minutes. Each and every single day. "It's the most boring 30 minutes of my day, but I do it, and then it's over". Exactly.


His tips for health are simple:

1. Never over eat, but eat everything in moderation. 
2. Exercise, always. End of story.
3. Be consistent with eating, sleeping, exercising, etc. 
4. Throw in the towel on all of the above once in awhile. On occasion, have a extravagant dinner and dance the night away (two weeks ago, he was dancing until 4am!) 

The key, of course, is to practice 1-3 regularly so that you can thoroughly enjoy 4 and not pay for it with your health. You have to work at it and you have to commit... but he's living proof that it's worth it!

My grandpa, Witek, on his 80th birthday.

So on this Family Day 2013, I am channeling the energy of my grandma yet again. :)

Be kind to yourself!
mxo

simple...

Happy Tuesday! My body is humming from another sweaty hot yoga class - what a perfect treat in the winter!

A few days ago, in the midst of an email discussion about health and happiness, my brilliant husband wrote this:

"the constant ability for humans to ignore the obvious solution staring them in the face never ceases to amaze!"

 
It's true! We do tend to ignore the obvious and we certainly don't want to hear it. Case in point:

Who wants to hear AGAIN that you should eat more vegetables, exercise and unplug?! It's just so booooring. But, alas, it's also true.

I get it. Trust me, I have looked in every nook and cranny for a magic solution but there isn't one. Health takes commitment; it takes hard work. But eventually, when you start feeling truly awesome, this hard work becomes fun! And the beautiful upside of all of this is that it's also simple - we can feel so much better just by taking small, itty bitty steps.

So, based on the Doc's prescription, what kind act can you do for yourself? What work can you put in towards your health? As for me, I need to ditch my computer!

Be kind to yourself.
mxo

wagons...

Here's the thing about wagons: they are notoriously difficult to stay on. Especially when they look like this:

No thank you!

Lord knows I've had a hard time staying on them. My usual strategy is to get on and speed so quickly that I go flying off. My wounded ego (and sometimes broken bones) then take awhile to heal before I get back on.

It's not a good stragedy. So I'm trying something new: go slow/ be kind (I couldn't decide which one to go with, so I'm going with both).

In my many years of yoga-ing and exercising and dieting and cleansing and otherwise being a happy, healthy yogi, I've come to learn this: the secret to success is to start slow, to incorporate your new goal into your life, because when you try to rework your life to meet your new goal, it often doesn't stick (this is why the vast majority of New Year's resolutions flop a couple of weeks later).

So when you're planning your New Years resolutions, I would suggest this: write your resolutions, then write your plan for how to arrive there. Break it down. Be detailed. Think of your resolutions as where you want to be in 12 months, your end goal and not where you must be immediately.

Example:

• I will go to the gym five times per week. Unless you're already going four times every week, I suggest this modification: I will go the gym five times per week by December. In January, I will start with one day a week and I'll find the time that works best for me (i.e. maybe you're a morning gym rat). In February, I'll go two times per week. Etc.

I say all of this to myself first and foremost because I need to hear read it.

I'll post my 2013 goals soon to keep myself accountable. Yikes!

Hope you're all having a Happy Happy Holly-day! And please indulge now. Live a little! That's what the holidays are for. January is for dealing with the aftermath. :)

Much, much love.
mxo

healthy on the cheap: thrive in 30

 

Truth: I have a bit of a crush on Brendan Brazier. He's a vegan Ironman, general health-atarian, and founder of the amazing Vega products.

He has also written many books like Thrive Diet,  Thrive Fitness, Whole Foods to Thrive, etc.

But here's why I'm writing about him on this Thrifty Thursday: Thrive in 30!

For absolutely free, you can access free videos of Brendan covering content from his Thrive books, such as:

• How to combat stress using whole, plant-based foods and
  high net-gain nutrition
• The whole food truth about protein, fats and carbs—
  and how balancing your diet will help you build a younger body
  
• How you can alkalize your body’s pH to combat disease,
  improve sleep and lose weight
• What superfoods to use to balance hormones,
  detoxify body or lower cholesterol
  
• How to identify common foods that cause unexplained, mystery illnesses
  
• How to use nutrition to strategically fuel your body so you’ll have greater endurance, maximize the return from your workouts and recover faster
  
• Why nutrition, exercise and sleep are the secret
  to empowered mental health
  
• Long-term strategies that will help you transform your health for life

It's pretty darn amazing, and it doesn't cost a penny. Not one.

What are you favourite healthy on the cheap tricks?

Happy tumbling & stumbling!
mxo

fitness friday...

Enough said.

Happy t&s,

mxo

divide and conquer

It's Wednesday... I think.

I have spent the last two and a half days hiding in the woods.

This was my view at breakfast yesterday whilst I ate my massive salad and rested my sore legs after our treacherous uphill run (my friend totally kicked my rump!):


It was nice to unplug.


Aside from eating massive salads, running, and Golden Girls marathons (you read that correctly), I also did quite a bit of reading. One of the best tidbits I stumbled across was the idea of divide and conquer.


In her book Your Best Body Now, Tosca Reno writes:

I break down each seemingly unsurpassable challenge
into little, manageable pieces that I can wrap my mind - and my solutions! - around.
It's so much easier to tackle a huge issue when you divide and conquer.

So simple, and yet so powerful.


For example,

• If you need to lose 100 pounds, don't get overwhelmed thinking about the entire 100lbs. Instead, think about the 3lbs you plan to lose this week.

• If you need to quit smoking, concentrate on not smoking this hour, this day, or this week.

• If you want to become more active, don't worry about all of the gym time you need to put in this month. Instead, just take the stairs every chance you get today.

The power of this is twofold:

1. Small tasks are far more manageable.

2. If you fall off the wagon, it's a lot easier to get back up again. Rather than feeling like you failed at the entire goal, you simply dust yourself off and attempt the next small step.

So, on this lovely spring Wednesday, think of a goal you'd really, really love to achieve. Now break it down into itty bitty pieces.... and tackle the first piece now.


Wake up with a plan for the day, and focus just on today...

I'll share a few of mine soon. :)

Happy t&s,
mxo

how active are you?

It's Fitness Friday Saturday... oops! :)

I read this article a few days ago and did my calculations... and then I nearly had a heart attack.



It appears I sit or lie (translation: am generally inactive) for almost 90% of my day.

90%!!!

Something tells me our bodies weren't designed for 90% inactivity. Perhaps that's one of the reasons a lot of us have such low energy and ache so much.


But as Oprah always says, once you know, you can't unknow...


... so here's my next 30-day challenge: a minimum of 15% activity per day.


That's only a 5% increase, but that roughly translates to 3.6 hours per day. With a full time job and a third of my time taken up by sleep, I'm going to have to get creative about this!


Stay tuned for updates.

How active are you? I dare you to do the quiz... like now!

Happy t & s!
mxo