The Best Workout Tools for Every Fitness Lifestyle

The road to peak physical fitness is not one you have to walk alone! There are tons of resources that can help you on your fitness journey. Here are some exercise boosters that’ll get you in the zone and keep you there. 
 

Get In Gear!

Foam Roller

A great addition to your workout tool belt, a foam roller will help ease muscle tightness and improve circulation. Runners can use it during cool down to optimize recovery, and regular foam-rolling will break down knots in muscles that can otherwise limit range of motion. Careful not to overdo it!

Resistance Bands

Resistance bands can be substituted for just about any exercise you would do with weights (bicep curls and butterfly press, for example) or to modify an exercise like side lunges. Best part? Resistance bands aren’t bulky or hard to handle.

Pillars of Support

Chiropractic

Not only can regular chiropractic care help boost your physical performance and prevent and manage injury, it also improves the health of your nervous system. Combined with exercise, chiropractic can help alleviate aches and pains, improve overall body function and encourage your muscles to heal post workout! Win-Win-Win!

Meditation

Experts recommend a quick meditation session before working out; it can help you focus your breathing, reduce your heart rate and decrease other signs of stress. It can also help you stretch and relax your muscles prior—a great way to prep for physical activity.

Massage

Recovery is a huge part of the fitness process; after all, tired muscles don’t work as well and are prone to injury. A thorough deep-tissue massage can relax your muscles, decrease tension, lower blood pressure and improve your range of motion.

Please be sure to discuss any additions to or changes in your exercise routine with your physician.

Why You Should Consider Homemade Baby Food

Many things have been changing in the baby world: Cloth diapers, baby-wearing, attachment parenting and homemade baby food have recently become all the rage. As advocates of organic, whole foods and natural diets, we love the idea of making your own baby food. 
 

The Truth about Commercial Baby Food

Most adults were once fed out of cute little jars with a grinning, toothless baby on the label. But what our moms didn’t know is that many of these commercial baby food companies add in a ton of water, sugar, salt and corn syrup—which depletes the nutrients. Even worse are the added thickening agents like flours and chemically modified starches.

A study published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest reported that in many cases your child is only getting 20 to 30 percent of the nutrients found in the fresh, whole version of the fruit or vegetable. For example, Gerber’s Bananas with Tapioca provides only 28 percent of the riboflavin, vitamin B6 and potassium per ounce than that of its natural counterpart.

Processed Baby Food & Allergies

Reuters Health just revealed a study out of the United Kingdom that correlated fresh, unprocessed baby foods with a decreased risk of food allergies. By analyzing the food diaries maintained by the parents of 1,140 infants, researchers found that the babies without food allergies were mainly fed fruits, vegetables, poultry and fish.

Considering that 1 in every 13 children in the United States has a food allergy, this is a huge finding. In 2008, the CDC reported an 18 percent increase in food allergy amongst Americans from 1997 to 2007. Could all the processed foods Americans ingest be directly related to the increasing rate of food allergies?

How to Safely Make Baby Food

Homemade food for your little bundle of joy may be much easier than you think. There are many whole foods out there that can easily be mashed up on the spot for a great meal. Try bananas, avocado, squash or sweet potato. You can also use a blender or small grinder to chop or puree veggies like cooked peas or carrots, greens, asparagus or broccoli and fruits like mangoes, pears, peaches or apricots.
Foodsafety.gov reminds parents to never feed your child raw, unpasteurized milk, honey, home-canned food or outdated canned food. Some other tips include:

• Wash your hands and all equipment thoroughly
• Wash all fruits and vegetables
• To avoid cross-contamination, use separate cutting boards for produce and meats
• Be sure to cook all meats thoroughly
• Don’t store prepared meat, poultry or fish in the fridge for more than 24 hours; 48 hours for fruits and veggies
• Frozen food must reach an internal temperature of 165 °F before serving
• Do not defrost baby foods in water or leave them at room temperature to thaw

Remember, choosing organic means you’re avoiding loads of pesticides. Also, please follow your pediatrician’s recommendations for introducing foods to your child.

Over 40? 7 Exercises to Boost Your Youth

Exercise your body as you age—and experience numerous health benefits! You’ll reduce your likelihood of age-related diseases, including heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure and diabetes . Staying active can be low-cost and even free—but it’s invaluable to your overall health.
Here are seven low-impact workouts you can do to keep your body nimble, strong and vibrant:

Yoga—an ancient art founded in India around the sixth century BCE

As a gentle form of exercise, yoga helps you manage stress, boost your energy levels and aids in a good night’s rest. Yoga doesn’t have to be intimidating—there are many simple yoga poses you can explore to increase your flexibility and keep you in peak shape.

Stand-up Paddleboarding—an offshoot of surfing!

Being on a board in the water is just pleasant. You can vary your workout from light and relaxing to more vigorous, based on your individual fitness level. You’re in the driver seat—uh, we mean—on the board paddling.

Strength Training—it’s not just for Arnold

You can ease into strength training by starting out with lighter weights, from one to five pounds, gradually increasing your muscle mass and strength so you can incorporate a more dynamic workout later on—if you choose. Experts say muscle mass naturally diminishes as we age. So building strength is important, especially after 40.

Pilates—Joseph Pilates overcame childhood frailty to become a gymnast and skier!

Pilates is a full-body workout that gives anyone increased flexibility and strength. It’s ideal for those over 40 because it limits stress on the muscles and is a far cry from the “no pain, no gain” theory.

Tai Chi—originally a martial art

Tai chi is on the opposite end of extreme—and that’s the draw for those over 40. Tai chi has been proclaimed to be a gentle form of exercise with proven benefits, like stress relief, reduced blood pressure, improved mental focus and increased balance. Experts recommend starting tai chi workouts with an experienced trainer.

Corrective Training—it’s not boot camp!

This is a great form of exercise for joint pain, posture development or muscle imbalances. The exercise is practiced widely by personal trainers. Movements include squats, lunges, pushing and pulling, rotation and bends.

Cardio—it’s also great for your heart!

We can’t leave out cardio, one of the most widely-practiced, enjoyable activities performed by adults over 40 already. Cardio workouts include running, cycling, swimming, hiking and walking.
As you grow wiser, it’s important you reach for the ceiling in challenging yoga poses, for the dumbbells to promote strength or for your hiking boots to build cardiovascular endurance. Physical activity, at least 3-5 times a week helps develop an alert mind and a strong body that is less prone to injury, especially in adults over 40. Grab a water bottle for your weekend workout!

How to Curb Sugar Cravings

Culturally speaking, women are the ones with the sweet tooth—and there might actually be some truth to that. A 2004 study showed that women may crave sweets more often than men due to the female hormone estradiol. This hormone is an important part of reproductive and sexual function—which also might explain why some women report sugar cravings around the time of their period or during menopause or perimenopause (pre-menopause).
Other reported causes of sugar cravings could be due to a sluggish or overloaded adrenal gland, a yeast infection, an underactive thyroid gland, an imbalance of beneficial gut bacteria and stress.
Of course, eating healthy can help alleviate many of these issues—and there are also other ways to help curb your cravings.

Use the Salty Sweet Visualization Exercise

Sounds silly—but try this: When you find yourself faced with the temptation to eat something sugary that you’d rather not and your willpower is waning, imagine that you’ve poured salt all over it. For real! Let’s say you’re full but can’t stop eyeballing that plate of cookies on the counter; take a moment and visualize yourself shaking salt all over a cookie and then taking salty bite after salty bite. Experts say this works because, believe it or not, humans have a natural aversion to overly salted foods. This trick works well for a lot of people!

Avoid Processed Foods

Research has shown that sugar lights up the food-reward network in the brain more than fat. This means that high-sugar foods may cause the body to crave more food—and more sweet foods. This is not unlike addictions to drugs like cocaine; the brain becomes wired to crave more and more. Many processed foods contain high levels of sugar among other undesirable ingredients. The more you can avoid these foods, the less likely you are to crave them.

Eat More Fermented Foods and Probiotics

Some experts consider adding fermented foods and probiotics into the diet to be one of the best ways to reduce sugar cravings. Fermented foods, fermented liquids and probiotics will help restore a balance in your healthy gut bacteria. (There are millions of microbes in your stomach and intestines. If you have bad gut bacteria/microbes, they can actually influence your cravings through nerve pathways linked between your stomach and brain. Crazy, huh?)
Pickles, sauerkraut, Korean kimchi, miso soup, kombucha tea and live cultured yogurt, like Kefir, are great options. If you’d rather supplement or aren’t getting enough of these foods, select a probiotic that is dairy-free with 5 billion microorganisms per capsule especially containing Lactobacilli, Bifidobacteria, and Streptococcus thermophiles.

Keep Your Blood Sugar Stable

Sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t keep their blood sugar stable. This instability can cause a lack of energy, an increase in cravings, mood swings, memory issues and imbalanced hormones. To balance your blood sugar eat foods low on the glycemic index (veggies, berries, nuts and seeds), eat several small meals throughout the day, make sure to get protein with every meal, don’t skip breakfast and ditch the sodas.