In a culinary rut?

Trying to overhaul your eating strategies and it’s EPIC FAIL time after time, because you have no time?

Check out this fantastic post on time and money-saving kitchen tricks to save your culinary – and even dietary – neck. It’s by Kristen Swensson over at Cheap Healthy Good, one of my favorite food blogs. 

Also check out her “you might also like” links at the end of the post.

Got some time or money-chopping tips for Velocity readers? Leave a comment and let us have ‘em!

Stay strong

We all know what a shot in the arm a good workout can be for your mood, and now recent results of a series of studies published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology says that working out outdoors in a naturally green setting is an even greater boon for your mental health, and also improves self-esteem. 

In a group of studies,  U.K. researchers put 1252 people in outdoor, naturally green settings and had them perform physical activity while they measured the intensity, the exposure and duration of the exercise, and also analyzed subjects’ gender, age group, subjects’ starting health status and the habitat in which they worked out.

The result: those who went green with their workouts got big benefits almost immediately during exercise. Both men and women showed the same amount of benefits in the same time period. For self-esteem, the young reaped the biggest boost, and for mood change, the young and old age ranges. Those dealing with mental illness showed one of the highest improvement responses in self-esteem of all subjects.

But wait, there’s more: add in a water feature, and both the self-esteem and mood responses increase.

If you can catch a river, stream, LAKE, pond or puddle along your run, walk, hike or ride – toss in some tall, wavy grass, or just a well-tended lawn into the mix, your environs will go the distance to deliver more of what you  already know is a good thing.

I’ve got more to say about outoor workouts, so stay tuned.

Stay strong…and get out there!

Carrots, apples, brussel sprouts…oh, my.

Fruits and veggies hold a holy grail-like place in our diets. We mean to get them, we know we should, but we largely don’t (and no, iceberg lettuce and potato chips don’t count). The USDA says we need at least five servings each day, preferably between five and nine servings. Why? Truth is, our bodies really need the antioxidants fruits and veggies pack to combat those darned free radicals that are ever-present in the environment – even in our bodies – that destroy cell walls and even our DNA. Increased risk of cancer, higher cholesterol and damage to joint cartilage are just a few nasty manfestations of free radical damage to our bodies.

How:

Eat more meals at home (or FROM home). Recent studies show that women who eat out more than five times a week consume an average of 300 calories more per day, and less-healthy foods than those who gnoshed more often at/from home. Take a look at the produce section of local grocery stores – I’ve seen a plentitude of fabulous fruits/veggies already cut, washed and bagged for no-prep cooking and easy salad assembly.

Go for color. Fruits/veggies with rich hues are not only beauties to behold, they’re even prettier once inside you: antioxidants abound in the natural deep greens of spinach, reds and oranges of peppers and beautiful blues/reds/purples of berries and grapes.

Try one new fruit or veggie each week. If you resolve to branch out, it’s another goal reached every week! Check out fruitsveggiesmorematters.org for great prep and storage tips, what’s-in-season lists and tons of cool recipes. While you’re at it, re-acquaint yourself with the USDA’s new food pyramid so you’ll know your stuff for healthy – and frugal – shopping when you hit the produce section.

Stay strong!

I want to do this.

I hope I can do this…

Setting goals that can change your life is easy. Accomplishing them…not so much.

Are you setting the right goals to advance your health this year, and are you on track to reach those goals? If you can’t get started or are already seeing those big new year’s health and fitness plans slip away, take some action now. First, check your list and make sure that your goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable and Track-able (more on this in an upcoming post). Next: this week, I’m sharing six SMART, high-impact goals to add to your list that can equal big health benefits. Stop by each day for the skinny, add them, then attack that list. You CAN do this!

1.) Snooze to Lose: Sleep – we make it the most negotiable thing in our lives – there’s always a reason to chunk into it. You may not be a teenager anymore, but it’s time to stop short-changing yourself and make sleep a priority again.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average woman gets just six hours a night. Recent studies have reported that women who slept five hours or less a night were 32% more likely to experience significant weight gain and 15% more likely to become obese than those who slept seven hours. Also, studies have suggested that sleeping less may negatively affect basal metabolic rate (BMR), the body’s rate of calorie burn while at rest. This is a monkey wrench you don’t need thrown into your weight-loss plans. Also important is that lack of sleep can cause increased release of cortisol, the stress hormone that raises blood pressure and blood sugar (which may harm those with diabetes).

How: Aim for seven, preferably eight hours, and get into a routine. Establish a new bedtime and stick to it. If you have to be up at 6 a.m., iron-clad lights out is 10 p.m.. To get into the habit, count back another hour (9:00) and start relaxing your mind and body, then hit the sack with that relaxed body a half-hour before sleep time (9:30). This way, your body “comes down” from the day gradually, and uninterrupted sleep is more likely to be yours at the time you need. Rinse and repeat for two, preferably three weeks (21 days) and it should become a habit.

Stay strong!