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It's funny to me how dog owners are well programmed to walk their dogs daily, as a healthy routine for Fido, and because it's the right thing to do as a pet owner. Yet, a majority of our US population don't get the recommended amount of physical activity (aerobic or strength training) suggested by the CDC. It's great that we're so good to our dogs (about 40% of dog owners walk their dogs regularly) and I'm not sure why we don't translate that better into our own lives.
I think it is a matter of inertia, or momentum. If our day is done and we're "at rest", we tend to stay at rest and skip any exercise. Or if our mornings are consumed with getting the day started, and kids off to school and getting our own work underway, then it's easy to let another day go by without getting our blood pumping.
My remedy? Do something! I was away for a few days at a conference and I had to challenge my boundaries some to get in a workout. We were at a retreat center in the woods, so there was no fitness gym, and no tall stair towers for running the stairs... there were a lot of trails, though.
What I settled on were numerous walks in the woods, before the day started, and at break times and even one hike in the dark. It was a good challenge, and I got through rain and wind and slippery, wet leaves just fine. I even had the chance to see 8 turkeys and one blue heron that I scared up from their nighttime roosts. Very cool...
There is always something we can find to get our pulse up and to put in a daily workout. All we need to do is do it. So try getting creative for new way(s) to break a sweat, and grab a friend to go with you. I'm sure you'll be glad you did.
By the Way
I had posted last year that full-body active exercise is necessary to get our lymph system going. Our lymph glands need physical movement to 'pump' the lymphatic fluids throughout our bodies, to grab toxins and return them to our liver and kidneys for elimination. Don't miss the value of this vital function... all we need to do is get moving.
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It is great to have snacks handy for a pick-me-up between meals, or when feeling bogged down mid-afternoon. The tough thing is stocking healthy items, instead of sugary, fatty, empty calories.
Here are some awesome healthy snacks... these are prominent in our pantry, and maybe you would want to add some of these to your snacking routine:
- Raw almonds
- English walnuts
- Raw pumpkins seeds (aka, pepitas)
- Sunflower seeds (roasted or raw)
- Dried cranberries
- Dried tart cherries
- Raisins
- Dates (regular and Medjool)
- Banana chips
- Apricots
- Pop corn
- Popped sorghum
- Dark chocolate (the simpler the better)
- Carob chips
There are others, but these are prominent, ready snacks in our power pantry. Healthy snacking isn't the easiest thing to keep up with, but when we're intentional and creative, it goes a long way to stocking a healthy power pantry.
By the Way
Maybe you have favorite snack foods you'd like to share... if so, please leave a post in the comments section.
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We're past the 3/4 mark in 2015, and I hope it's been a great year for your health, your wellness lifestyle, and the contents of your pantry.
I thought it would be good to do a quick check up on how our pantries are faring... have we made some improvements to what we're shopping for and stocking in our fridge and pantry? I've noted great additions to our pantry this year: healthier chips (sweet potato chips made simply with sunflower oil and sea salt), healthier cereals (a great sorghum-based cereal with a bit of cane juice and chia seed; another is just crisped rice with sea salt and a bit of cane sugar; puffed millet as well), homemade guacamole almost every week. Our fridge has a selection of almond milks (and limited cow's milk any more) and some great kinds of hummus, and all sort of fresh veggies.
If you could use a boost on some healthy pantry suggestions and additions, consider this top 10 list of healthy food, which originally came out as a 2015 healthy food trend watch list. This is courtesy of www.everydayhealth.com :
2015 Healthy Food Trends
This is a great list! There are some in the top 10 I need to try out, like teff, and beet greens, and nut-based vegan cheese (that sounds interesting). Something like rutabagas bring back childhood memories, and maybe it's time to try them again.
So take a fresh look at your pantry, and see where you can step it up. There are still 2 months in 2015, which gives us plenty of time to try some new, unique foods, and make a solid addition to our power pantry.
By the Way
Don't overlook how far you have come... have you been trying to live by power pantry concepts this year, and stock your pantry accordingly? Think back to what was in your pantry a year ago, or 5 years ago... I know we have some crazy, unhealthy stuff that was a regular part of our diet and eating. Our selections are now healthier, and nutrient-dense, and that's been great for wellness for our whole family.
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Need a fundamental exercise to work your upper body, core (abs and lower back) as well as hips and thighs? And an exercise which will totally kick your butt if you take it seriously? Try doing some burpees. This exercise offers a foundation of both strength training for upper body and core, and generates significant aerobic effort as well.
Burpees have been a staple in the military, and in athletic programs at all levels, since before WWII. The exercise was originally developed in the 1930's by American physiologist Royal H. Burpee, as part of his PhD coursework. Burpees began as a simple and fast way to assess overall physical capability, and have been tormenting sports teams and athletes ever since.
To do a burpee, start by standing with your arms at your sides, do a full squat and put your palms on the floor, shoulder width apart, jump your legs back behind you (putting you into a pushup, or plank, position), then jump your legs right back into the squat position, and extend your legs to stand back up, ending where you started.
Go ahead and give it a try. If you're new to these and can grind out three burpees, I guarantee you will use muscles you haven't used in a long time, or maybe have never used. Crank out 10 burpees and you'll probably need to stop and catch your breath.
Living a wellness lifestyle should continually open new vistas which lead to new challenges, opportunities and growth. I had never heard of a burpee five years ago, and I'm just getting into the groove where I challenge myself to plow through five to 10 at a time, maybe more. Surprisingly, they do get easier the more you do...
By the Way
While I still think it's a big deal to do 20 burpees at a time, and I need a good recovery break afterward, I was really shocked to learn that the world record of burpees performed in 24 hours was set by Cameron Dorn in 2014... he did 10,105 burpees in 24 hours... whew!
To read all about Burpees, check out the Wikipedia article here:
Burpees.
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There is great value in questioning. Questioning the way things are, why they are that way, and definitely asking where circumstance could be if things were different. Have we sincerely questioned ourselves lately? I'm not great at it, but I do make it a point to keep my horizons open by questioning myself.
Here are a few questions that I think give great direction and focus in life. Maybe these resonate with where you are on your wellness journey:
- What can I do? (Instead of beating ourselves up for what isn't happening, and where we've given up or dropped the ball...)
- How can I help? (Journeying together with others is a great way for us to grow, and to stay in the game ourselves; tuning in to where others are and how you may be a resource enriches our own journey as much as the person we may end up helping)
- Where am I headed? (While it's good to find contentment right where we are, there is also significant value in asking where we're going... what will things look like a year from now? How about five years from now?
- Why am I stuck? (We all get stuck at some point... and where we've gotten stuck may feel like a tar pit that we'll never escape. But that's often a mental exaggeration, and the truth is once we pick ourselves up and get moving again, a path opens up to us.)
The reality is that the way forward is simple...it's right in front of us if we'll just engage. The best way to engage our minds in any process is to ask great questions. Give it a try by starting with some of the questions above. Maybe you'll reap the benefits of good questions like I have.
By the Way
Possibly the best question of all is this:
- What do I notice? (The best progress in a power pantry lifestyle can come from this question. When we honestly ask ourselves what is different, especially after some change or catalyst has taken hold (like we're in the midst of a detox cleanse and we experience physical improvements), we can evaluate what things are beneficial, and which drag us into poor health and even suffering.)
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I'm a fan of fall. What a great time to experience the slow, gentle let-down from summer that gets us into winter. From tremendous fall colors in the fields and trees, to crisp temperatures overnight that lead to the first frost. Eventually we turn the clocks back and try to relax into the holidays.
With all that fall has to offer, one of my favorite things about it is apple season. I know apples are available from all over the world now, any time of year, but I still think of fall as apple-picking time.
Do you have a favorite apple? Mine are Macintosh. Long before there were hundreds of apple varieties world-wide, there were the apples you would get from your own trees, or the farm down the road, and you were lucky to have a dozen or so apple varieties to choose from.
It turns out our family is celebrating an appreciation of apples this week. Prices in our area are down to about $0.79/pound most places, and the selection is great. So today, Jen was making apple butter, bringing the wonderful fall smells of clove and cinnamon into our kitchen, along with the sweet tartness of the cooking apples.
And with that cooking in the background, one of our kids asked for stewed apples for breakfast. Easy enough, so I cut up a half-dozen or so apples and cooked them down for a half hour or so... mmmmm... no sugar needed. Maybe just a little cinnamon.
Don't miss apple time. Wherever you find yourself, get to a farm stand, or a great produce aisle you can trust, and see what interesting apples you can purchase and enjoy. It's a wonderful part of fall, and power pantry choices.
By the Way
While there are nearly 100 varieties of apples grown in the US, there are only 15 which make up almost 90% of the market. The US Apple Association has great information on these varieties, and a lot more: Most Popular US Apples
And there is much more to be learned about apples. Check out this list from Wikipedia on apple varieties from all over the world: Apple Cultivars
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A wellness lifestyle requires a commitment to go against the grain. Maybe it's family history, or peer pressure, or just the drag of age, poor eating and lethargy that keeps us from the commitment we need. And maybe all it takes is a spark to ignite the flame already inside us. Enter the Spartan Races. I posted last year about mud runs, and how the Spartan Races are a top quality obstacle race nation-wide, and now world-wide. Well... I think the Spartan Race has made it onto my list.
I've been thinking about signing up for a 3 mile ("Sprint") Spartan Race for months, and I live under the conviction that anything worth doing, is worth doing with others. So I emailed my brother today to float the idea of training for a summer 2016 Spartan Race in eastern PA, and lo and behold, we've got an event to prepare for.
Not only is he into the idea, it looks like my sister-in-law, niece, nephew, and some of their family friends may be joining in to build a team with us. How cool is that?! I'm already excited, and it's a full 9 months away!
Spartan races are classy for what they are (an obstacle course mud run). You test your mental and physical limits. You hone your tenacity and perseverance. And ultimately, you find out what you're really made of. Spartan races are gritty and transformative. A lot like a power pantry lifestyle.
So it's game on for July 2016 Spartan Race in Palmerton, PA. Not sure who all will be there from our clan, but we'll be there. How about you? What is your gritty, resilient, passionate goal? Maybe it's food choices, or getting out for a walk each day, or training for your first 5k. Whatever goal is in front of you, don't wait another day. Make a call to look for a buddy. Write down steps to get you from here to there. Start doing something positive with your wellness today. Commit. You know you can do it - it's just a decision away.
By the Way
There is an incredible amount of inspiration available on the www.Spartan.com website. Check out the videos section to get a real taste of what these obstacle races require of you. And there are Nutrition and Training tabs as well, so you can focus your effort for great results.
Whether you plan to dive into Spartan training or not, the Spartan.com website has tremendous materials for your wellness journey.
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I love having some tried and true, versatile power pantry items on hand. I think of pantry staples like raw almonds, apple cider vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, raw honey, brown rice, and oats. Yes, humble, stick-to-your-ribs, great-for-breakfast oats. Maybe oats are worth a closer look.
If you've never thought much about the available kinds of oats, here are some basics. The oats we buy at a grocery store are usually available in four types: groats, steel cut oats, rolled oats (or 'old-fashioned' oats), and quick, or instant, oats. Check out what Wikipedia and the Whole Grain Council have to say about oats...
Groats are simply the whole oat kernel with the hull removed. The head of grain hasn't been cut or pressed or rolled. Steel cut oats, the healthiest of the processed oats, are simply cut into two to three pieces by processing blades, but that's all- no other mechanical manipulation is done. Because of this, steel cut oats retain much of the oat bran, which is lost in more mechanical processing used with other oats.
To get rolled oats, the groat is steamed to make it more tender, and then it is rolled in a coarse roller, and finally toasted a bit to stabilize it. Rolled oats will cook more quickly, and make more of a porridge consistency. Quick oats will cook the quickest of all because they are rolled more finely than old-fashioned oats. Quick oats yield an even creamier texture because of the finer processing.
Which is the best? As always, the one processed the least will give you the greatest benefit, so that's probably the steel cut variety. Don't get me wrong, all oats are a healthy choice, it's just that steel cut oats would retain the most nutritional content because they aren't steamed or toasted.
So give oats another look. I enjoy a great bowl of oatmeal or muesli (uncooked or only slightly cooked oats) most days of the week, and I like throwing in a variety of good additions like raisins, dates, walnuts, raw almonds, chia seeds, ground flax, or even berries. Oats are a great way to start the day because of their low glycemic index and high fiber content which will keep you feeling full longer into your day.
By the Way
Oats are seen as a healthy addition to our nutritional choices for a couple of reasons. Besides being a great source of thiamine, iron and dietary fiber, oats are the only source of avenanthramides, an antioxidant which helps protect the circulatory system from arteriosclerosis.
What I settled on were numerous walks in the woods, before the day started, and at break times and even one hike in the dark. It was a good challenge, and I got through rain and wind and slippery, wet leaves just fine. I even had the chance to see 8 turkeys and one blue heron that I scared up from their nighttime roosts. Very cool...
