STRETCH & REST CARE for the wellness warrior |
It’s no secret that exercise is good for your heart. It shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s also healthy for your brain. It’s all about good blood flow. Exercise gets the blood pumping head to toe but moving your body is only the first step. Your blood has to be full of the right cocktail to fuel your brain. You can get your groove on all day but if you are stuffing your face with greasy burgers and cake then don't expect to be thinking like Einstein at work. Paying attention to a few key areas daily- Movement, Meditation, and Nutrition- is all it takes to be on your A-game and boost your brain power. Seems to simple but it’s true. The best part, you have total control. We’ve already shared in previous blog posts how much Physical Activity and Meditation you need daily to improve your mood, attention, memory, and energy levels along with the low down on how to get started. So let’s talk about food. Specifically, clean eating, and the nutrients your brain needs to work like a finely tuned machine. CLEAN EATING involves:
You may be wondering how in the world you are going to fit this clean eating business into your day... First, you have to plan ahead so you grab the right foods when you get busy. Next try one of these 5 simple suggestions for going clean without the overwhelm: *The Smoothie Solution: Start your day with a Protein Shake. Tips to Build a Balanced Shake:
GREEN SHAKE RECIPES: Kale Shake Take 1 handful of kale (stems and all) 8 ounces of water 1 handful of frozen fruit or blueberries 1 banana (optional) Blend all ingredients until smooth. Green Protein Smoothie 1 serving Vanilla Protein Powder 9 ounces Almond Milk 1 handful Baby Spinach ½ cup Honeydew Melon Blend all ingredients until smooth. *The Mediterranean Diet Plan: Research has shown that the traditional Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease. What’s that? Better BLOOD FLOW? That’s perfect for your brain! It’s also associated with reduced risk of cancer, Parkinson’s (brain disease) and Alzheimer’s disease (brain disease). Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner. This eating plan is basically full of the top 12 Super Foods. You would eat primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts. Plus limit your red meat to no more than a few times a month while eating fish and poultry at least twice a week. Replace that creamy, yummy butter (you can do it) with healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil and use herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods. Add some red wine (in moderation- of course), eat your meals with family or friends, and get daily exercise. Pretty much covers all the bases for having a sharp, healthy brain. You can Google recipes if this plan floats your boat- they are everywhere. Better yet, take a trip to the Mediterranean for some taste testing! *Grab Green on the Go: Green juice is everywhere now. You can drink your veggies if you are low on time. You can also add green super food powders to your smoothie or water. One scoop of powder will give you probiotics for your gut, chlorella, blue green algae, digestive enzymes, spirulina, wheat grass, flax seed and all kinds of veggies for decreasing inflammation and improving gut health. It’s great for when you are traveling. No excuses not to eat your veggies. *Shop Local: Worried about the cost of going organic? Try shopping at your local Farmer’s Market. The prices are usually more affordable. Even though they don’t say organic, they are typically the same quality. It’s just expensive for small farms to get that fancy organic label. A lot of cities now have home delivery services to get local fruits, veggies and meat directly from the farm to your table. Hopefully these ideas help you feel like it’s more doable to start eating clean today! Go ahead and give your brain it’s daily dose of movement, meditation, and clean eating (with Super Foods) so you can tap into your full potential! And say goodbye to brain fog forever. Pick one suggestion and test it out. Let us know how much better you feel, think and perform in the comments below. Happy Clean Eating! Mollie & Ender P.S. Download this FREE Healthy Traveler Packing List for immune boosting nutrition & exercise resources that'll help you be a well-rested travel warrior. Good for year-round self-care & to prep for your next trip.
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It seems like everyone is doing it. You keep hearing it's the #1 success tip shared by the most famous athletes, business leaders, and entertainers. Kobe, Oprah, Madonna all do it. They use it to help their focus, creativity, and resilience. It improves their ability to be proactive vs. reactive, have a positive mindset, and get in the flow. It's free, so what do you have to lose?
You finally find time to sit still and close your eyes. You take a deep breath. You are going to get in the Z O N E. Instead of feeling relaxed though, you start to feel anxious. You notice you need to scratch your nose. You remind yourself need to fold the laundry. You hear the neighbor next door. O-M-G goes off in your head. How long do you have to do this? You open your eyes and tell yourself that must have been like 15 minutes. You look at the clock. 3 minutes has passed. What the h...? You decide this must not be for you. It’s too painful. It takes too much discipline. You don’t have what it takes after all. Honestly, if you can watch a movie, you can meditate. It’s a form of mindfulness. Mindfulness is being present, aware, and learning to appreciate everything around you. Meditation is exercise for your mind. You are training your attention muscle. There are many ways to do it. We want to show you how painless it can be to start a daily practice. The research on meditation is vast and the health benefits are numerous. It's been researched extensively. Just 10 minutes a day can sharpen your thinking and decrease your blood pressure! It’s so worth giving it another shot. Additional benefits of having a daily meditation practice:
That list is pretty awesome for one form of mind exercise. It can be confusing to get started because there are many ways to meditate and we tend to try too much when we start a new exercise or activity. To create a new habit, it’s best to connect it to something you already do and if possible, enjoy. That’s why we’ve made a video for you on how you can start your meditation practice with your pet since you’re cuddling with them daily anyway (hopefully). Here are some basics to know followed by the video to help you get going today: How do you do it? Find a comfortable position to sit or lay down. Eyes open or closed. Choose something to focus on (your focal point). Your breath is one of the simplest ways to start as a focal point. When you mind wanders, you return your focus to the breath. There are many types of meditation such as laughing meditation, walking meditation, or meditating with mantras (positive words or affirmations you say over and over). You can even meditate with your pet. What should you feel? Calm, centered, relaxed. What should you do? Watch and enjoy the show going on in your mind. Meditation is sometimes described like the state you are in when you are watching a movie. When you are at the movie you just enjoy the show without effort. If your mind wanders, come back to the show (in your mind). When to do it? Anytime, although it’s easy for the day to get away from you so most people recommend meditating in the morning. Set an alarm and do it anytime it fits in your day. How long? 10 to 30 minutes. Start small even for 1-2 minutes and build your tolerance. Remember, it’s exercise. You wouldn’t expect to run a marathon on your first day of training, especially if you’ve never run before. Don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself to sit still for an hour on your first attempt. Take baby steps. How often? Daily is best for a healthy brain and all the benefits it can provide you. Where? Anywhere. When you are starting out, it will be easier in a comfortable, calm environment with fewer distractions. Check out the apps recommended below that you can use anywhere. THE CATCH: Meditating is a simple exercise for a healthy brain but the tricky part is that your mind will always wander. The more you practice, the less it wanders, and the easier it is for you to return to your focal point. Your goal is to not judge yourself when it wanders. Dr. Ron Siegel likens this skill to potty training a puppy. When you’re cute, sweet, cuddly puppy is in training, you don’t scold or shame it when it poops or pees in places it shouldn’t. When you are learning to meditate, your brain will poop and pee when it’s not supposed to by losing focus from time to time. When this happens, don’t get stuck on it, just let it roll by, accept it’s going to happen and refocus when you notice it happening. Don’t tell yourself stories that you suck at this or can’t do it. It’s totally NORMAL. THE GOOD NEWS: Just the intention to meditate lights up the areas of the brain that we are targeting with this exercise, i.e. there is no perfect way of doing it! GETTING STARTED VIDEO: In this video, Ender teaches you how to start your meditation practice with your pet. Your focal point will be on your breath and your pet. Your pet will receive all the health benefits along with you. Take a few minutes and join Ender and one of our dogs, Teddie, doing a simple meditation: Meditation with your Pet from Mollie Miller on Vimeo.
Meditation Apps:
It's time to turn on your brain with daily meditation. It’s like a muscle- you've gotta use it or lose it. We'd love to know if you tried the pet meditation in the video or if you have your own favorite way to meditate. Please share with us in the comments below. XO, Mollie & Ender (& Teddie) P.S. If you're worn out, burned out, or just in need of a time out, our free 3 Day Rest Adventure is for you. Say Yes To Rest Let’s pretend for a moment you are a detective. How would you behave? You would most likely be calm, present, and observant. You wouldn’t be thinking about your past or future. You would be so focused that things would slow down as you are aware of everything going on in your surroundings. You are looking for clues and totally in the moment. That’s a lot like practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness is moment to moment awareness without judgment. You are intentionally training your mind to be present with your experiences. You can start with something as simple as your breathing, a particular emotion you are feeling or during an activity you are involved in such as eating. The practice of mindfulness helps us get into alignment, calmness, clarity and improves our emotional regulation so we can be productive, focused and ready to work/learn/communicate better. It improves optimism, a healthy stress response and a positive attitude by increasing activity in our left prefrontal cortex of our brain. You don't need any work out equipment or a gym membership to do it. You were born with everything you need. You just need to practice being intentional about bringing it into your daily activities. The key is consistency. Do you make regular visits to yourself? Rumi One of the easiest ways to start your mindfulness practice is to sit with your eyes closed and breathe for 3-5 minutes. Stay focused on your breath and when you get distracted just return your focus to your breathing. This simple activity will improve your happy hormones and produce chemicals to help you relax. Not sure you can sit still? You can practice being mindful when you are moving or doing activities you already do each day. How? Become aware of what you are hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling during any activity- exercising, driving, cleaning, cooking, or drinking your coffee or tea each morning. You can do mindful walking by noticing each step or become aware of the nature around you as you walk. Look at the blue sky, listen to the birds chirping, feel the wind on your skin. Mindful eating is simple to do as well. Pay attention to the colors and smells of your food and to the crunchiness, creaminess and flavor of what you are eating. Put your fork down between bites and take 3 breaths. Pause to check in with your belly. Are you full? Are you thirsty? Is this food satisfying to you? How does the food affect your mood and energy? Enjoying what you are doing while you are doing it is also a form of mindfulness. Are you enjoying what you are eating? Where you are exercising? Who you are talking to? If you are still struggling to get calm and present, find a green space to start your mindfulness practice as it has been proven to help you focus and relax. Keep your eyes open and take deep belly breaths. Try some mindful walking as mentioned before. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long to see results. You can start with as little as 10 minutes a day and will notice your ability to focus, make decisions and control your emotions has improved. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to make regular visits to yourself. I challenge you to make it a daily practice to be a Joy Detective. How much joy can you find around you each day? Lot’s of Joy, Mollie P.S. Want more fitness tips for your mind & body? Click here to take a FREE Fit Quiz + get bonus tips to boost your score! Oops, you did it again! You said YES too many times. You took on too much.
You are completely overwhelmed and don’t know what to start first on your massive to-do list. You feel that panic coming on as you realize it’s happened again… You’ve got Monkey Mind! We’ve all been there. It happens a lot during the holiday season in the fall. It’s common in the summer when you are juggling your daily responsibilities with family and travel. It might be related to a new work project that is taking over your life making it difficult to fit in your personal responsibilities. It’s gonna happen from time to time. Do you know how to get control of it? Here is my favorite remedy for Monkey Mind: Eliminate the NUTS in your life. NUTS are those “Nagging Unfinished Tasks” that you constantly think about and make you feel overwhelmed. They not only clutter your space but your mind. Here is a simple way to get rid of them: 1. Make a list of anything that bothers you, worries you or that you are simply tolerating. What is nagging at you and on your mind all the time? It can be a task on your to do list or something in your life that you know is constantly sucking your energy. Write it ALL down on paper: -the messy laundry room that is driving you crazy every time you walk into it -your desire to start a new exercise program -your craving for a moment alone to take a bath -those boundaries that you know you need to set with that needy friend who calls you daily -the pile of mail you need to sort through It can be something very simple or a bigger goal/desire or something you have wanted to do or stop doing for a long time. 2. Next, it’s time to start to eliminating the NUTS in your life. Choose the NUT that bothers you the most and work on it until completed. If it is a huge NUT then break it down into 20 minute pieces and prioritize doing the most time consuming one first to completion. 3. Once you have knocked out one of your NUTS, move on to the next most bothersome one. Notice how much better you feel. When you mark tasks off of your to do list, you actually release dopamine- one of the 4 feel good hormones! 4. Continue to eliminate your NUTS until you have worked through your list. Although be aware – the list might keep growing. It’s normal for that to happen but you now have a strategy on how to deal with these tasks so they don’t overwhelm you. Anytime you start to feel “Monkey Mind” creeping in, take a time out and purge the NUTS onto the list so you can get them out of your head and start cracking away at them, one at a time. Years ago, when I first did this exercise, I made a long list. By getting it all on paper, I realized I was spending time on smaller tasks and ignoring the bigger, more stressful ones. My biggest NUT was that I couldn’t walk my dogs without my arm getting pulled off. This was an everyday frustration that was stressing me out but I was ignoring it. I was hurting my body as one of my dogs was almost 80 pounds and beginning to show fear around other dogs. The more stressed I got, the worse the issue was getting as the dogs fed off my energy. Making the list, gave me clarity that I needed to make this a priority and I found it very freeing to just focus on one thing. I took the time to find a dog trainer that would come to our home and we had 3 lessons that changed our lives. Ultimately, I learned how to be the leader in a way that worked for the 80 pounder. Learning these new skills decreased a daily stressor for all of us and improved the quality of my life and my relationship with my dogs. I'm pretty sure I would have kept ignoring this issue if I hadn't done this exercise because it recommends you address the most bothersome not the most important task on your list. That was a different way for me to prioritize things but it worked. Decreasing the NUTS in your life, will also refuel your battery. Think of your body and mind as a battery. We only have so much energy for all the things we have to do every day. By focusing on this one issue with my dogs, I actually got a lot more done on my to-do list and NUTS started falling off the list without much effort. I started taking action without even realizing it because I had more energy and my mind was free from overwhelm. Another bonus of this stress busting exercise: If you focus on eliminating NUTS for just 20 minutes a day, you will eventually be doing more of what you love each day. So here’s to taking back control of your mind (and life)! Give it a try- tackle one of those NUTS on your list and let me know how it made you feel. Get to crackin'! Mollie |
Mollie Miller, PT
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Core Power Health & Fitness, Inc. does not provide medical advice. Consult a licensed physician prior to beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Copyright © 2015 Core Power Health & Fitness Inc.
Core Power Health & Fitness, Inc. does not provide medical advice. Consult a licensed physician prior to beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Copyright © 2015 Core Power Health & Fitness Inc.