December 2, 2015
Winter is here!!!
Well the coldest season is upon us and how tempting it is to cozy up and get warm with something comforting and pleasant. It's much harder to stay current with your goals in winter than any other season. Psychologically most of us have that hibernation gene which makes it harder to get motivated and be active. But our bodies kind of have the defensive from cold mechanism too, creating some "extra padding" so it's crucial not to let it get its way and fight the natural desire for stagnation at this time. There are so many winter sports! Walking when the weather is tolerable is part of it, too. And of course if you go to the gym, then your routines won't be changed too much, just by the factor that you need to pick yourself up and go.
I would suggest getting more citruses than you normally consume and use them more often this time of the year. And also, I wrote about properties and health benefits of ginger the other day, that stuff combined with green tea, cinnamon and citruses will give you the energy boost in a natural way and will keep you up and awake and ready to do what you need to during the day. And if you feel like your battery is running low, you can always refresh a cup :-) Minimum calories and maximum vitamins and awakeness guaranteed! Not to mention that it's a good precaution against colds during this season.
I like winter. A lot of great things happen in winter that I'm looking forward to the whole year. Let's enjoy the season and the happy moments it brings and not forget to stay active so we can enjoy all the goodies and not feel guilty about having them because we know we are working hard and can have some treats once in a while! :-)
November 18, 2015
Get Motivated
It's a cold late fall morning. So warm in bed and so unpleasant to get out from under the covers. If there's no where you need to be, why get up at all right? You're already thinking of some pizza you can microwave and selecting a favorite show in your mind.... Pause it! No don't get rid of the idea, nothing is forbidden about that. But pause it for a second. You're given a brand new day. What you're going to make of it is entirely up to you. Going to bed with a stomachache and possibly headache from looking at the screen and not moving much all day is not the best way to spend it. You know how you want to spend it. Ok, so make it your reward. Hold off on that pizza (maybe you'll add some veggies to it on the way) and Netflix isn't going anywhere. This is how you will relax if you still want it by the time you deserve it. And yes, you need to deserve it!
Your body woke up and it needs something active. Your brain needs some food as well. Work on some project. Get hungry. Don't just stuff yourself because you're bored and cold and chewing seems to help. Of course it does, it is moving! Think of how much warmer you would be if you decided to do that for all of you. And you know what? Look outside. Unless you see walls of rain or a blizzard with a storm warning, get yourself up, get dressed and go breathe some fresh air! It will only do you good!!! Yeah walking just because isn't always fun. Invent a reason. GET MOTIVATED! Even if it's a walk to the store to get some ice-cream you'll have after your pizza (yep, I said ice-cream, there are actually some benefits to having that once in a while, just like chocolate, you'll get to read about those in our future blogs), it'll still be a walk with a purpose and maybe on the way something catches your eye and you want to go along the park and watch the dance of falling multicolored leaves or listen to the busy birds around.
Find things that you like. If you have a dog, getting yourself outside is a necessity whether you want it or not and even if you don't feel like it or forgot, your cute poochie won't let you forget and is not jumping eagerly all around you. But if you don't have a dog, you can find a million other things. For me personally, if you're interested, it's walking itself, seeing stuff around me and if it's the same route I take every day, I try to see what's changed and of course, well you guessed it, taking photos :-) This makes any walk filled with purpose and I never feel like I'm wasting time when I could be doing something else, I know I'm doing it for my body and my mind because it relaxes me and also all the beauty around me doesn't get skipped that day that I decided to get up and get myself out there and take that walk or else I would have missed it because nothing stays the same and I wouldn't be happy with myself if I did.
Find your own favorite things. Get a gym buddy to hold you accountable and go to the gym together, you get to chat, maybe even have some lunch later but you get to deserve it. In simple math ways, you get to spend the calories you're then planning on filling. And trust me, once you've done something good for your body like that, you may want to keep doing it so those veggies start looking better and better :-) Even if you do go with your frozen pizza, even that will go better for you since your metabolism will be higher from being active.
Follow our Instagram page @theactivechoice for photos which will motivate you. And let us know what active thing you have done for yourself today! :-)
Winter is here!!!
Well the coldest season is upon us and how tempting it is to cozy up and get warm with something comforting and pleasant. It's much harder to stay current with your goals in winter than any other season. Psychologically most of us have that hibernation gene which makes it harder to get motivated and be active. But our bodies kind of have the defensive from cold mechanism too, creating some "extra padding" so it's crucial not to let it get its way and fight the natural desire for stagnation at this time. There are so many winter sports! Walking when the weather is tolerable is part of it, too. And of course if you go to the gym, then your routines won't be changed too much, just by the factor that you need to pick yourself up and go.
I would suggest getting more citruses than you normally consume and use them more often this time of the year. And also, I wrote about properties and health benefits of ginger the other day, that stuff combined with green tea, cinnamon and citruses will give you the energy boost in a natural way and will keep you up and awake and ready to do what you need to during the day. And if you feel like your battery is running low, you can always refresh a cup :-) Minimum calories and maximum vitamins and awakeness guaranteed! Not to mention that it's a good precaution against colds during this season.
I like winter. A lot of great things happen in winter that I'm looking forward to the whole year. Let's enjoy the season and the happy moments it brings and not forget to stay active so we can enjoy all the goodies and not feel guilty about having them because we know we are working hard and can have some treats once in a while! :-)
November 18, 2015
Get Motivated
It's a cold late fall morning. So warm in bed and so unpleasant to get out from under the covers. If there's no where you need to be, why get up at all right? You're already thinking of some pizza you can microwave and selecting a favorite show in your mind.... Pause it! No don't get rid of the idea, nothing is forbidden about that. But pause it for a second. You're given a brand new day. What you're going to make of it is entirely up to you. Going to bed with a stomachache and possibly headache from looking at the screen and not moving much all day is not the best way to spend it. You know how you want to spend it. Ok, so make it your reward. Hold off on that pizza (maybe you'll add some veggies to it on the way) and Netflix isn't going anywhere. This is how you will relax if you still want it by the time you deserve it. And yes, you need to deserve it!
Your body woke up and it needs something active. Your brain needs some food as well. Work on some project. Get hungry. Don't just stuff yourself because you're bored and cold and chewing seems to help. Of course it does, it is moving! Think of how much warmer you would be if you decided to do that for all of you. And you know what? Look outside. Unless you see walls of rain or a blizzard with a storm warning, get yourself up, get dressed and go breathe some fresh air! It will only do you good!!! Yeah walking just because isn't always fun. Invent a reason. GET MOTIVATED! Even if it's a walk to the store to get some ice-cream you'll have after your pizza (yep, I said ice-cream, there are actually some benefits to having that once in a while, just like chocolate, you'll get to read about those in our future blogs), it'll still be a walk with a purpose and maybe on the way something catches your eye and you want to go along the park and watch the dance of falling multicolored leaves or listen to the busy birds around.
Find things that you like. If you have a dog, getting yourself outside is a necessity whether you want it or not and even if you don't feel like it or forgot, your cute poochie won't let you forget and is not jumping eagerly all around you. But if you don't have a dog, you can find a million other things. For me personally, if you're interested, it's walking itself, seeing stuff around me and if it's the same route I take every day, I try to see what's changed and of course, well you guessed it, taking photos :-) This makes any walk filled with purpose and I never feel like I'm wasting time when I could be doing something else, I know I'm doing it for my body and my mind because it relaxes me and also all the beauty around me doesn't get skipped that day that I decided to get up and get myself out there and take that walk or else I would have missed it because nothing stays the same and I wouldn't be happy with myself if I did.
Find your own favorite things. Get a gym buddy to hold you accountable and go to the gym together, you get to chat, maybe even have some lunch later but you get to deserve it. In simple math ways, you get to spend the calories you're then planning on filling. And trust me, once you've done something good for your body like that, you may want to keep doing it so those veggies start looking better and better :-) Even if you do go with your frozen pizza, even that will go better for you since your metabolism will be higher from being active.
 |
| Colors of the changing fall that you don't want to miss out on admiring! |
Follow our Instagram page @theactivechoice for photos which will motivate you. And let us know what active thing you have done for yourself today! :-)
November 9, 2015
Why Eat Healthy
Healthy eating is often associated with rabbit food or
something completely inedible that crazy health fanatics eat just try to get down and
most of us go, Ah yeah yeah but it’s not for me, not today anyways. Maybe I’ll
start on Monday. Or the first of the month. Or hey New Year’s is just around
the corner so let me “live” and enjoy it till then, and then I
will begin. Who said healthy eating must be a complete and dramatic
change with nothing tasty ever? A lot of it comes with perception, I
suppose. My husband and I believe that if it’s good for us, it’s tasty.
Not
always our favorite choices, mind you! But we eat it and it’s tasty and
most
importantly, it’s good for us, so if it’s good enough for our bodies,
it’s good
enough for our taste buds.
Breaking it down further, we actually “enjoy” our food, for
what? A few seconds? Try eating something right now. Anything. Chew slowly and
look how long it takes before you swallow. That’s it, that’s all the time you
get to enjoy it. And do you know that depending on what you eat, some foods
stay in your body for days, months and even years? Remember when you were 14 and had
that really cool looking almost plastic desert? (Might be plastic as well for
all we know). Well the good news is that your metabolism was high enough for
you to forget about it. The not so good news is that your body is probably still
processing parts of it.
Healthy
eating is about food that is good for the body, foods that are filled
with needed vitamins and elements that are essential for our
bodies to function the right way. If you eat a watermelon, it’ll be out
of your
system within the next 24 hours completely. No, you don’t need to live
on
watermelons. But try to think about your body and the lasting effect of
what you are eating and not just
about the momentary pleasure in your mouth.
That said, healthy food doesn’t
need to not be tasty!! It doesn’t need to be hideous either. The more attractive
food is to you, the more perceived pleasure you’ll receive eating it, and ultimately
that’s the very thing you’re trying to satisfy eating what tastes good to you -
to get that kind of pleasure! If you spent some time being creative about your
meals, making it interesting for you, it will be much more pleasant to eat it and
enjoy it. Being conscious of what you’re eating and also as a huge bonus,
enjoying the fact that it’s really good for you can go a long way in helping you with your diet goals.
In this blog I’ll be giving
you some examples of the meals I come up with which are healthy, easy to make
and they all taste good (trust me, they are!). Please follow if you find it
interesting, and feel free to comment!! We would love to see you try out some
of our meals, tag us @theactivechoice on Instagram and use our #TheActiveChoice
hashtag for a chance to be featured on our page! Healthy eating is our active
choice, join us!! :-)
Elen
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