6 Simple Actions to Take TODAY Toward a Healthier You: Number Two

My husband's heart attack back in February of 2019 was our wake up call that we had to make changes in our lives to improve our health and to be examples for our children of the impact our choices make on our health.  I've found that the simplest of changes can have big results.  This is the second blog post of a six part series sharing six SIMPLE action steps you can take TODAY towards a healthier you.

The second healthy choice we've been making since my husband's heart attack is to MOVE MORE.  In today's world, it is so easy to go through an entire day and really not move very much.  A lot of communication is accomplished through text and e-mail - even when you're all in your house!  We can go grocery shopping without getting out of our car.  We can pick-up dinner through the drive-thru.

My husband and I both wear watches that track out movement.  There are days that he may not be feeling his best or that I have a lot of meetings.  At the end of the day, we're shocked out at how few steps we have taken!

What can you do to add steps to your day?

• Park in the farthest parking spot from the front door (Classic idea, but it works!)
• Skip e-mail, text or picking up the phone - get up and communicate in person
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Walk around your office building on your break instead of checking your social media
• Put on some music while you load the dishes or make dinner and DANCE!
• March in place while you watch TV or just during the commercials
• When shopping take an extra lap around the mall or the outside aisles of the grocery store
• Walk around the field/court/parking lot during your child's sports practice
• Go for a quick walk around the block while dinner is in the oven

I have found that there's not always going to be time for a sweat dripping high intensity workout, but I can always find time to add some movement to my day.  A little something is better than nothing!

This sounds easy, but I always say that the hardest part of adding movement to your day is standing up to get started.  Remember - if you don't get up and get moving, nothing is going to change.  You can do it!

6 Simple Actions to Take TODAY Toward a Healthier You: Number One

My husband's heart attack was one heck of a wake up call that it was time to analyze the choices I was making when it came to my health.  For the past nine years I've been running and going to Zumba and lifting weights and cooking healthy foods, but nine years is a long time and I had started to drift a little.  Plus, life changes a lot in nine years.  My old basket of tricks was not working like they used to. 

On a positive note - It's been eight months since his heart attack and while I'm still anxious about whether or not another heart attack will sneak up on us and my stress level feels through the roof most of the time and I'm so incredibly tired all of the time, I'm proud of myself that I've maintained a focus of making healthy choices. I guess after a heart attack, how could it not?

If you are reading this than I imagine that you, too, are juggling many balls in the air.  You know those juggling routines where someone starts to juggle three balls and then someone throws in a fourth and a fifth and a sixth?  You watch amazed at how the juggler is able to keep so many balls in the air.  At the same time, you're wondering what's going to happen when the next ball is tossed in.  What will be the juggler's limit?  That's how I feel.  I'm working very hard to keep all of my balls in the air.  If one more ball is tossed in or if one ball goes out of sync, it's going to be all over.

So how do I keep my healthy choices ball in sync with all of the other balls that I'm juggling?  Answering this question forced me to pause and analyze how things were going - what habits needed to be added, what habits needed to be tossed our and what habits need to be tweaked a little bit.

Since February, I've been telling people - begging people -  to let our wake up call be your wake up call.  Over the next week, I want to share with you seven simple things that I am doing in my crazy life to continue to make my health a priority.  So here we go with number one . . .

Meal Planning is VITAL to my being successful in making healthy food choice.  

Meal planning is a simple task.  It can take as much or as little time as you want it to, but the benefits of meal planning are HUGE!  You will feel more in control rather than wandering aimlessly through the grocery store so you are more likely to make healthy choices.  You're stress level will be greatly decreased because what you're serving for dinner is one less worry.  You'll be more likely to stick to your food budget and waste less food because everything you put in your shopping cart will have a purpose.

I normally get my meal planning done during a break at work.

I've been planning my family's meals for years.  Having a plan in place helped me avoid last minute trips through the drive-thru or picking up a pizza on my way home.  Meal planning is actually one of my favorite things to do.  Looking through old cookbooks, cooking magazines and Pinterest to find delicious recipes to try.  Coming home and cooking was a way for me to relax after a busy day.  At this stage in life, however, that feeling of relaxing went out the window and meals have been adding to my stress.  So I still plan our meals every week, but I've made two key changes:

1) Cook two meals over the weekend to last me the entire week.  Seeing as I am currently often out of the house for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I need to have things to grab out of the fridge and throw in my lunchbox.  I still have the joy of looking up new recipes to try.  Instead of trying them on my family, I just make them for myself.  On the weekend, I cook my two meals and then divide them into containers for the week.  For example, this weekend I made Chicken Vegetable Soup, a Barbecue Beef Roast and six baked potatoes.  Luckily for me, I don't get tired of eating the sane thing multiple times in one week!  And selfishly, I can prepare meals that I like, but that would send my family running from the table.

I couldn't live without my crockpot!  This is simply three chicken breasts,

peppers, onion and a jar of spaghetti sauce.  YUM!!

2) Introduced my family to OYO Nights (aka On Your Own!).  Between my daughter working and  going to school, my husband managing his multiple medical appointments, tests and therapies and my working three jobs it got nearly impossible for me to cook for us as we are never at home all at the same time or by the time dinner was ready it was 10PM.  I love cooking for my family!  It's one way that I express my love for them.  But in this season of craziness, I realized that cooking for my family every single night of the week is not a reality.  Now when I write out my menu for the week, there will be several OYO nights.  I make sure that the kitchen is stocked with the ingredients that they need to make a dinner that they will like, but after that it is up to them.

These may seem like two simple ideas, but I'll tell you - it took me several weeks to figure how to juggle healthy meal planning, healthy meal prep and this season of crazy schedules.  Since I made these changes, I feel so much more relaxed and I have time to make additional healthy choices which had been dropped from my juggling act.

One thing you can do for your health is take a little bit of time to plan out what you're going to eat over the next few days.  That time you spend will have great benefits in the long run!

Happy planning!!

Words of wisdom from my dad!  

Observations from Behind the Cash Register: A Little Bit of THIS can Save You a lot of THAT

How is my bill over $100 every time I come in here?  I only came in here because . . .

I had no idea what I was making for dinner.

I forgot to buy the broth and noodles.

I didn't think about what I would pack for my kids lunches this week.

We needed kitty litter.

I hear these comments all the time from guests who come through my line at work.  People who haven't planned ahead and needed to pop in for one thing and end up with a cart full of snacks, a couple of shirts, a board game and a lamp. They needed a $2 box of butter and left feeling upset, worried or guilty after placing a charge of $120 on their credit card because they don't get paid until Friday and it's Tuesday evening.

I want to grab them by the shoulders, look them square in the eyes and say - IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!  A little bit of PLANNING can save you A LOT of TIME, MONEY and STRESS!

PLAN MY WEEK
Every Saturday morning I spend about 30 minutes looking at the week ahead - sitting at home, sitting in the bleachers at basketball practice or sitting in the car outside of the store.  What are we going to eat?  When am I going to go to the grocery store?  How much money do I have to spend?  Is there anything special going on - a potluck at work?  a friend's birthday?  30 minutes.  That's all. Then I grab my list and head to the store.  Most of the time at that point I'm done.  Of course there are times that I forget to put something on the list or the store doesn't have exactly what I need or we run out of milk mid-week.  But for the most part, I don't need to return to the store until the following Saturday.

PLAN MY ROUTE
When I do have to run into the store for something, I purposefully plan my route.  If I need milk, i head straight for the milk.  If I need a birthday card, I head straight for the cards.  By being purposeful I avoid wandering through the store and picking up random items that I don't need and are not in my budget.

With this little bit of planning, I am saving a lot of . . .

TIME
A "quick trip" into the store is never truly a quick trip.  It is robbing me of time that I can be doing something else.  Time with my family.  Time for me!  And think of how much time is wasted if I'm are making 3-4 "quick trips" a week.  That is a lot of time!

MONEY
Every time I step into the store I am tempted to put something extra in my cart whether I am going into the grocery or a big-box store.  The Oreos from the large colorful display.  The shirts that just went on clearance.  The holiday decorations that I passed by last time, but just HAVE to have for my desk.  It all adds up and often quicker than I expect.

STRESS
Two of the biggest stressors in my life are time and money.  I feel like I never have enough of either and I can't figure out how to manage them.  Anything that I can do to help keep my stress and finances under control is high on my priority list.When I'm working, it breaks my heart to see the guests who are breaking up their purchases between multiple credit cards based on how close they are to the credit limit.  Or the guest who has to put several things back because there is not enough money in their account to cover the purchase.  I feel sad for the tired kids who are being dragged through the store at 10PM being yelled at by their stressed out parents because the parent didn't buy stuff for lunches. 

IT'S A NO-BRAINER 
I've been taking time to plan my week for a couple of years now.  I am happier.  My family is eating healthier.  We have fewer arguments.  We are all on the same page (most of the time!).  We do much better at sticking to our budget.

There are weeks that I don't make planning a priority and I feel it.  I'm stressed.  I'm grouchy.  I'm rushing around.  We're eating take out.

To me it's a no-brainer - making that planning time every Saturday morning a priority makes for a happier, healthier family.  It can also make a happier, healthier YOU!

Don't Give Up! 3 Tips to Keeping Your New Year's Resolution

It's about this time of the year that people start bailing on their New Year's Resolutions.  In fact, according to the University of Scranton's research, only 8% of people who make a resolution actually keep it.  Before you throw out your goal, your hopes, your dreams for a new and different year, take a second to read this . . .

I started every year as one of the 92% who never keep their resolutions.  The new year would kick-off and I'd feel motivated and enthusiastic.  This was the year that I was going to make drastic changes in my life.  Eat healthier.  Lose weight.  Help others.  Get organized.  Make my bed everyday.  Never yell at my kids again.  By the end of January real life would creep in and I'd stumble and then fall flat on my face.  Forget that resolution!  I'd be mad at myself for a few days, but then life would go on and I'd forget about any desire to improve myself.

The streak ended in 2010.  That year I was one of those 8%.  I kept my New Year's Resolution and my life would never be the same.  I resolved to complete a 5k.  Coming from someone who had never run even the shortest of distances that was a pretty daring goal to set.  Amazingly, on April 10, 2010 I completed my first 5k.  Since then I have set and kept my New Year's Resolutions every year.  How does that happen?  I do three simple things.

1. I set SMART Resolutions.  

My resolutions were always vague and unrealistic.  I will be healthier this year!  What exactly does that mean?  I will not yell at my kids this year.  Really?  You don't think they're going to push you to your limits at least once in the next 12 hours let alone 12 months?  I will lose 50 pounds this year.  Is that possible?  Yes - for some people.  But I know myself.  The minute the scale shows a gain I will feel defeated and bow out.  

In 2010, my resolution was a SMART one.  I will run a 5k this year.  It's specific.  You can read that sentence and know exactly what I'm aiming to do with no explanation.  It's measurable.  I either complete 3.1 miles or I don't.  It's achievable.  3.1 miles isn't that far (Though at the time it felt like I was asking myself to run around the world!).  I could accomplish that without killing myself.  It's realistic.  Looking at my life at the time and the training needed to achieve this goal, I felt that I could handle it.  I also had several friends who ran and were great examples to me that I could do this.  It's timely.  I had one year to complete it.  Or once I picked a race - until April 10th.  

2. I Share my Resolutions with others.

Sharing your Resolutions with others allows them to cheer you on when times get tough, celebrate with you and hold you accountable.  When I keep things to myself, negative self-talk fills my mind. "You can't do this."  "You're crazy."  "You know you're going to fail."  I have a small group of trusted friends and family whom I share EVERYTHING with about my resolutions.  They've listened to me whine.  They've jumped up and down with me to celebrate victories.  They've caught me sneaking into the Break Room tip toeing towards the vending machines and called me out on it, 

Back in 2010, I told everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - about my goal of completing a 5k.  That is actually what kept me going.  There were several times during my training that I wanted to quit and one key moment when the race first started that I was ready to head to the car.  Each time I thought of how many people I had told (Why had I posted my goal on Facebook?!?) and how embarrassing it would be to have to say that I quit.  

3. I Stick to it even when I fall.

This is probably the MOST important.  No one is perfect.  Life is not always fair.  There are going to be mountains to climb and valleys to cross.  When I mess up or miss a step, the key is for me to pick myself up and keep going.  Even if that means going back and starting again.  

When I was training for that first 5k, I had a string of three weeks when I couldn't get the training in on Tuesdays.  I was ready to give up.  My mom asked me why I would quit after already putting so much time and heart into training.  The only answer I could come up with was the missing check marks on the paper.  I had messed up "the plan" and now I was off schedule.  When my mom pointed out the ridiculousness of quitting because of a few missing check marks, I knew that couldn't quit.  Who really cares that I had missed three Tuesdays?  No one!

So what if you didn't reach 10,000 steps for the past two days.  Your child was sick.  You had a big report to complete at work.  That doesn't justify quitting.

So you ate an entire pizza after a really bad day.  What happened to you really stinks and deserved a pity party, but now you start fresh and get back on track with that clean eating.

So you paid your gas bill a day late.  Hey, everything else has been paid on time and you are doing a great job.  Next month, you'll get that bill paid on time.

Whenever we stumble there is a key moment when we literally ask ourselves - am I going to quit or am I going to stick to it?  The easy answer is to say I quit and fall back into old habits.  The hard answer.  The brave answer.  The smart answer is to push on.

So here we are nearing the end of January.  Did you tell yourself this year would be different and have found that it's not?  Have you been struggling to keep your resolution and have been thinking of giving up?  Maybe you never even made one because, "Why bother?  You know you won't keep it."

It's never too late to set a goal.  January 1 is only a date on the calendar.  You can make a New Year's Resolution on January 1st, January 22nd or even May 3rd.  It's all about you and how you want to live your life.  What decisions do you want to make?  How do you feel about your life right now?  If you want to change than you can do that starting today.

If you are ready to give up, I urge you to hang in there.  Look at your resolution.  Is it SMART?  If not - you can adjust it.  Have you shared your goal with anyone?  If not, call or text someone right now and ask for support.  Do you need to dig in your heels and stick to it even if you've already fallen?  You can do it!!

It's been seven years since I first kept my New Year's Resolution.  I still make a couple every year and I still follow these three steps.  If I can do it, I know that you can, too!

An ALPHABET WORKOUT for my Kids

I have to confess that my taking a few weeks off of nagging . . . I mean encouraging . . . my kids to exercise while they got used to the school year has turned into four months.  That's horrible.  I could add that I received a promotion at work which required more of my time and energy.  And my daughter has been swamped with homework (I have to point out my immense pride in her academics!) literally spending hours each night sitting at her desk.  Oh yeah - and then there were the holidays.

No.  None of those are good excuses.  But it happened and now we will move on.

That is much easier said than done when you are talking about my fourteen year-old.  I just know that she is going to end up being a hostage negotiator or a defense attorney.  She has the ability to debate and negotiate until I am ready to rip my hair out.  These past few weeks I have started strong with my quest to get her to join me at that gym, but have ended up throwing my hands in the air and heading out the door with my son in tow eager to continue training for the upcoming tennis season, leaving my daughter at home to lay in bed or sit at her desk.

Not tonight.  I came prepared for the battle with something I knew (ok - hoped) would be easy, quick and fun enough to make her want to give it a try.

I presented her with an ABC Workout.  I took the alphabet and assigned each letter an activity (I made this one easy enough that I knew she could complete it without too much trouble taking into consideration that she hadn't seriously exercised in several months.).  All we had to do was spell our names, middle names included.  Easy???  Absolutely!

After putting our dinner in the oven, the three of us put on an extra layer and headed out to our backyard on this 40 degree January evening.  I grabbed the equipment we have in the house - a set of five and eight pound weights, our 10 pound kettlebell and a jumprope - for us to use, but we could have easily done this with no equipment at all.

And . . . .

We had a great time!  It only took us 20 minutes to each spell our name.  I broke a bit of a sweat, but not much.  The important thing to me was that my daughter completed it and enjoyed it.  We all laughed as we realized that my son ended up doing a TON of jumping jacks and that running up to the top of the driveway in the dark is kind of scary.

ABC Workout!

When we were done, my daughter commented that I should leave her the sheet with the exercises and she could do it on her own.  She then rattled off the names of her favorite musicians and bands whom she could do the workout to spell their names.  YES!!!

The great thing about this workout is that you can adapt it to fit the fitness level and age of your kids (or you!) making it as hard or easy as you want.  And you can easily change it up by assigning the exercises to different letters or spelling out different words or sentences.  In the future, I'll suggest that my kids and I spell out more than just one thing or use this workout in conjunction with something else like running.

Here is the list that we used tonight (but I can't stress enough that you can use whatever exercises YOU want!):

A = 15 kettlebell swings               N = 20 jumping jacks
B = 10 squats                                O = 10 squats
C = 10 lunges (5 per leg)              P = 20 high knees (10 per knee)
D = 20 high knees (10 per knee)  Q = 15 kettlebell swings
E = 12 bicep curls                         R = 12 bicep curls
F = 12 shoulder presses                S = 12 shoulder presses
G = 12 tricep presses                    T = 12 tricep presses
H = 10 mountain climbers            U = 10 mountain climbers
I = 20 weighted ab twists              V = 20 weighted ab twists
J = Run up & down the driveway W = 20 jumping jacks
K = 20 jumping jacks                   X = 20 jumping jacks
L = 20 jump ropes                        Y = 30 second wall sit
M = 30 second plank                    Z = 10 squats

Hopefully this is the first night of getting my daughter moving again.  I always say that the hard part about exercising isn't starting - it's starting again (and sometimes again and again).  This time I plan to make getting back on track as easy as ABC!

It was His Idea!

On my way home from work this afternoon I made up my mind to go to either my Praise Moves or Zumba class.  I had left work on time so there was plenty of time to make dinner for my family before hopping back in the car.

When I walked in the front door, I found my son sitting at his desk finishing his homework.  He'd been hard at work since he got home from school, he said, which had been nearly two hours before my arrival.  As I was putting dinner in the oven, he came out of his room and plopped down on the couch.  He grabbed his video game controller and fired up a game of football.

If I leave, I thought, he is going to sit here all night playing game after game until he heads to bed.

"Hey J," I called into the Family Room.  "Want to go out and catch ball after we eat?"

"Sure Mom!"

After dinner we went outside to toss the football.

"Want to try one of the reps we did at my Muscle Monday class?"

Eye rolling.

"Come on.  It will be fun!" I said walking to edge of the backyard.  He reluctantly followed me.

"We'll do three burpees and then lunge walk to the other side of the yard.  Three burpees and lunge walk back.  We'll do that twice.  Go!"

We finished our reps and returned to tossing the football while chatting.

"Want to try one of the warm-ups from my tennis camp?"  my son asked out of the blue.

My inner response: Are you kidding?!?!?  YES!!  I'd LOVE to!!  Let's go!!  Whoop!  Whoop!  {jumping up and down while rapidly clapping}

My outer response: Sure.

"Run down and back across the yard.  Do three push-ups.  Run down and back.  Two push-ups.  Run down and back.  One push-up.  Run down and back."

After completing the warm-up and catching our breath, we returned to tossing the football.

Walking to the far side of our yard, my son spoke up again.  "Let's try this.  If I get the football into the hoop, we head inside.  If I miss, we do another one of your reps."

Sounded good to me!  It was a crazy shot that I didn't think he would make . . . ever!

He missed his first shot.
We did 10 squats and one suicide.

He missed his second shot.
We did 12 split squats per leg and 12 calf raises.

He missed his third shot.
We ran another suicide.

He missed his fourth shot.
We did a 30-second plank.

He made his fifth shot!

We headed inside - sweaty, covered in grass and laughing!  What made the night so great for me was that even though I  got the ball rolling, my son ran with it.  It was his idea to keep going with the reps and to add in the crazy football hoop throw.

This is one of those nights for me to reflect back on when I think that my desire for our family be healthy is falling on deaf ears.  When I'm feeling frustrated that change is not happening fast enough.  A moment in time to acknowledge that my kids are listening and grasping the concept that being active is fun and not a chore.  My plan is working!

Photo Credit - Ellie Jenkins

 

High Triglycerides . . . Winning the Battle

Back in October I shared with you that my 15 year-old son's monthly blood work revealed that his triglycerides were high.  YIKES!  The doctor told us that if the triglycerides continued to elevate, my son would have to go off a medication he was taking that was really helping him. 

Well . . . we were back at the doctor's this week and . . . his triglycerides are DOWN!!!  YAY!!  I am so proud of JJ.  We didn't discuss it endlessly and we purposefully did not nag him, but we have seen him making healthier choices over the past month.

We have been pushing ourselves as a family to go to the gym more often, which has been great for him AND the rest of us.  Basketball season has started so his activity level has increased dramatically.  No more hours on the couch after school for this kid! 

I have continued to strive to cook cleaner serving more fresh fruits and vegetables.  I would love to be able to tell you that my son has been cleaning his plate, but that is not always the case.   He'll chow on his favorites - corn, carrots, green beans (that was something new I learned about JJ.  He likes fresh green beans!), apple slices and bananas.  Not so much others, especially vegetables.  When I make casseroles or crockpot meals, I like to think that maybe some of the nutrients from the vegetables that are left piled on his plate has rubbed off on the meat or noodles that he inhaled with no problem.  Wishful thinking I know, but let me hold on to that crazy thought! 

The Battle of the Bulge continues for our family, but we have made a step in the right direction!  A great motivator to push us forward and encourage us to be ready for the next challenge that comes our way.