Day One

Day 1:

Health is a combination of several things, but we're going to work on two of the main aspects: Nutrition and Exercise (or physical fitness).


NUTRITION

Add a Green Smoothie to your daily routine IN PLACE OF your normal breakfast.

Whatever you eat for breakfast, whether it's a bagel, a fast food breakfast sandwich, or nothing at all, you're going to make a switch.  Once you taste the smoothie, this will be easy.  It's convincing yourself to give it that first try that will be hard.  So let's make a deal.  We'll start with a nice fruity flavorful green smoothie.  You will TRUST ME and TRY IT OUT!  It looks daunting but it's actually quite tasty.  Then over the next days and weeks you'll gradually start adding a higher ratio of greens to fruits.  So below is the recipe for a very fruity, sweet version of this green smoothie.  It's time to break out the blender!


Ingredients:

1 Apple
1 Banana
1 Handful of Green Grapes
1 Handful of Frozen Pineapple Chunks
1-2 Stalks of Kale (with stems removed)
1 Small Handful of Spinach
3-4 Ice Cubes

Blend all ingredients WELL.  This may take up to 2 full minutes at a high speed.  If the consistency it too think for your taste, add a small amount of water.  If it is not sweet enough for you, add one pitted date, but TRY it first because it is very sweet.  Over time gradually alter the ingredients until you're at half fruit and half greens.

As you can see, this is actually quite a bit of food, so DON'T drink this in addition to your normal breakfast, but rather REPLACE it!  That being said, if you don't normally eat breakfast, DO add this to your routine in the morning.  This way when it comes time for lunch, your body will not be starving and you will likely eat less.  Also, your body will not reserve as much fat to get through that fasting period of time during the mornings.


EXERCISE

Every healthy lifestyle includes some amount of exercise.  That have to mean hitting the treadmill or taking an aerobics class.  It simply means MOVING!  That could be gardening, going on a bike ride, building a dog house, whatever!  So it may help to motivate yourself by finding a new hobby that involves physical labor.  That means getting up off your duff and getting active.  One neat option is to volunteer!  You could start working with a soup kitchen or helping to clean an elderly persons home.  It could even be something you could do for someone you know.  Perhaps your mom, dad, aunt or uncle could use a little help around the house.  Or maybe you know someone who's recently had a baby.  Volunteering has the extra bonus that it makes you feel good!
If you simply can't think of anything, just start out with what we talked about in my last blog entry: ban the microwave and start cooking your meals from scratch!  If you already cook but opt for pre-cut fruits & veggies, start chopping!  You can also begin doing extra trips to the mailbox or increasing the amount or frequency of any other daily routine.  We will get into some more challenging exercises further down the road, but again, it's important that you start slowly and build up.

Also, try adding some stretches (see below) to your daily routine.
These would be best during the mornings but will work any time.  Just make sure you're consistent to do it the same time every day.  This will help to form a habit (more on habits coming soon).

Important Rules for Stretching:
1) Never bounce!  Slowly work to your limit and hold for 30 seconds and then release.
2) Never stretch to pain!  When you feel pain it means you are over stretching your muscles which can cause damage and a great deal of soreness.  If you're not sure how far to go to get an effective stretch you can go to the point where you start feeling the first inkling of pain, and then quickly back off until the pain is gone and hold there.  However, most people have a natural sense of what their limit is and can stretch to their level of comfort and achieve the perfect stretch, so do what works best for you as long as you never hold your stretch in a spot that causes pain.
3) Trust your instincts!  If something tells you that a certain stretch is not good for you, don't do it!  For example, if you feel off balance while bending to touch you toes alter the stretch by either doing it next to a chair you hold for support, or simply do it while sitting down.  If you have an old injury that gets aggravated by certain movements, alter the stretch to make it work for you.  Try not to compare to what anyone else can do. You know yourself.  Do what works for you!


Some stretching suggestions are:
Toe Touch.  While standing bend over to touch your toes (or knees if you can't make it that far)
The Sky Is the Limit.  Stretch your arms to the sky as high as they will go (you can even go to tip toe if you have the balance)
Side Bend.  With legs spread apart and toes facing forward, reach one hand down your thigh towards your calf or foot (depending on how far you can go) and reach the other hand up over your head.  If you have trouble balancing, hold onto the back of a chair placed in front of you with the hand that would go over the head.  Alternate sides.
Butterfly.  Sit with feet together and knees splayed to either side and practice a "butterfly" stretch.

We will add some yoga poses soon to incorporate breathing exercises while you stretch.