What is your resolution for 2013?

Do you always make those resolutions and after a few days, your resolutions go down the drain?  If you answered yes, then you are like most of us.  Here is my advice to you: Don’t make a New Years resolution.  By making a resolution, you are placing too much pressure on yourself.

Here is my philosophy…when you are ready to make that resolution, you can do it at anytime of the year…it doesn’t need to be New Years.

When we set goals for ourselves during other times of the year, those goals seem more achievable.  Therefore, a success.

So, don’t beat yourself up.  Enjoy the holiday and make the resolution when you are good and ready.

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Exercise, Anyone? It’s NEVER Too Late To Start!

Ask any expert – exercise is great for you! It has so many health benefits, like controlling your weight, giving you increased energy, heart health, stamina, flexibility, higher metabolism, releasing endorphins to feel good mentally… the list could keep going.

If you are not currently a devotee of exercise, you might be feeling that you are too old, too overweight, too out of shape to start. Wrong!  It is never too late to start exercising. Even people with special health considerations can find ways to exercise!

(Please check with your doctor before beginning any new exercise routines.)

5 Tips for Starting To Exercise – No matter what point you are starting from!

1.     Start Slow.  A common error is to get fired up with exercise commitment and enthusiasm and over-do it in a big way the first time or two. This can lead to excessive soreness, actual injury, and feeling very overwhelmed with the belief you have to be an Olympian the very first week.  Gradually add exercise to your life. As you build up your fitness levels, you can increase the length of time, number of times a week, and intensity to be whatever works for you. Starting slow is a great way to ease into the idea.

2.     Low Impact.  Choosing ways to exercise that are low impact can really help you when you are starting out. Walking, swimming, and cycling can all give you a great workout for many muscle groups without putting you in a lot of injury risk.

3.     Simple. Don’t make it complicated. You don’t have to figure out sets and reps and machines, you can just find something you enjoy doing that keeps you active and moving more than before. As you get used to being more active, you can try new ways to exercise – or not! Stick with what you like and what works for you, because liking exercise is a huge factor in continuing to do it. And continuing to do it is the point!

4.     Be Creative. Exercise doesn’t have to mean “going to the gym.”  If you love to shop, walk each level of the mall an extra 15 minutes before hitting the stores.  Exercise is all about moving more, particularly when you are starting out. Try out some sports like golf or tennis. Take your dog for longer walks – you’ll both enjoy it! 

If your fitness or health won’t allow you to get out and about, look into chair exercising.  A fitness band (long, stretchy, latex band) can be a great exercise tool to work out various muscle groups, and is often used by physical therapists for regaining strength. It allows you to adjust the tension and resistance as your own fitness increases, and can be used sitting, standing, or even in bed lying down. It can help with strength, flexibility, and toning.

5.     Faster than you think! Just adding 30 minutes of moderate exercise three times a week can make a dramatic difference in your health. If that is too much for you to contemplate, don’t focus on that right now. Start with 10 minutes a day and then gradually increase your time and frequency as you being to enjoy it and see improvements in your fitness.  Any exercise you get beyond what you are currently doing is a good thing!

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Losing Weight After Your Baby is Born - Ideas and Strategies

If the arrival of your new little bundle of joy has left you with an unwanted bundle of extra pounds, don’t despair. With the right mindset, and the right strategy, you will be back to your ideal weight sooner than you think!

Babies are such a joy… but also require lots of energy, time, and work! Not many moms can instantly revert to what life was like prior to baby coming along, and that includes pre-pregnancy weight and often exercise routines as well.  You aren’t getting as much sleep, you may be breastfeeding, you are recovering from birth and your hormones are in flux.

Think about what you just went through; 9 months of growing a life, your body changing, giving birth.

1.  Be Patient.  You didn’t gain all the weight at once, and you won’t lose it all at once, either.   Set some realistic goals – maybe losing a pound a week, and 30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week – and focus on one day at a time.

2.  Baby Steps.  Your life is full of change, and it may be a while before a new routine is established that you can count on. So take small steps where you can to regain your health and lose extra pounds, and don’t spend energy lamenting what you can’t do right now.

3. Be Realistic.  A new baby is a lot of work. You need rest, you need exercise, you need healthy meals. Ask for help to make sure your own health doesn’t get pushed to the back of the line.

Here are some great ideas for helping you lose the extra baby weight (even if your “baby” is now a teenager… never to late to start!)

·      Plan regular meals. I know – I hear the hysterical laughter out there. The words “plan” and “regular” aren’t often associated with babies. But you can have salad ingredients washed, chopped and ready to go, microwave steam bags of veggies in your freezer, fresh fruit on hand, and some healthy dairy snacks like yogurt and string cheese to be sure you are always able to eat regular and healthy meals and snacks. That helps your energy levels and metabolism. Don’t forget the protein!

·      Be creative with exercise.  You may not be able to work out the same ways you used to (for a while anyway), but that doesn’t mean you can’t exercise!

o   As soon as you have clearance from your doctor, you can start taking long walks around your neighborhood with the baby.

o   Use the baby as part of your weight resistance! Pick him up and put him down to do waist bends, or arm exercise (keeping the baby safe and secure at all times of course!)

o   Go up and down your stairs more times than you have to just for the exercise, or make extra trips to and from the laundry room.

o   If your baby likes to be walked around for soothing, figure out a pattern in your home that makes a track, or walk around your driveway. Buy a pedometer to count your steps!

o   Use grocery shopping to do some speed walking through the store with the baby securely in a stroller, in a sling you are wearing, or in his baby seat secured to the cart.

o   Use the grocery bags to do some arm curls in and out of the car, and into the house.

o   The mall makes an ideal place to go walking with a baby; no time restraints, perfect for the stroller, a built-in track impervious to weather, and it gets you out of the house for some real life activity.

·      Watch your diet. Many of us indulge while pregnant, but now is the time to put that behind you (particularly since the extra pounds may be behind you as a reminder!) Cut out the high fat, high calorie treats and eat a rainbow of healthy colors each day. It will help you have more energy to care for the baby as a bonus to losing the extra pounds faster!

·      Find something you enjoy!  It is much easier to exercise regularly if you are doing things you enjoy, and the great news is there are a lot of “Mommy and Baby” classes out there for yoga, or stroller walking groups to give you socialization and support.

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Keep a positive outlook. You have a wonderful new baby, and you should celebrate the victories in life. Focus on the things you are doing right for your health, and the pounds you have lost already. Buy a new outfit that fits you as you are now, and one for the next level of weight loss that is closer to your goal.

No matter how many post-baby pounds you would like to lose, feel good about who you are right now!  Goals are a lot easier to reach when you have the right frame of mind.  

Anxiety: A Major Health Hazard

When it comes to your health, anxiety is a major menace. Anxiety can feel debilitating all on its own, but it becomes even more hazardous because of how many other aspects of your health it can impact.

Anxiety can lead to health problems, or can make existing problems much worse. In some cases, having a health issue and worrying about it can then bring anxiety into the mix, but very often anxiety comes first and then leads to physical health issues. A recent study showed that people with anxiety were up to twice as likely to develop a physical illness too.

Anxiety is commonly linked to health issues such as:

·      

    High blood pressure

·      Heart attacks

·      Fertility problems

·      Autoimmune conditions like lupus

·      Skin disorders

·      Allergies

·      Migraine headaches

Anxiety can have serious impact on heart health. In fact, a study of people with heart ailments showed that those who also suffered anxiety were much more likely to suffer a heart attack and die than those who had a more relaxed attitude about their condition and did not suffer anxiety.

Anxious people are also more likely to self-medicate with prescription and over the counter medications, alcohol and food, leading to addictions, side effects, and obesity that can all aggravate the health conditions they also suffer.

How do you know if you have anxiety? You need to speak with your doctor, because anxiety has such a huge range of symptoms and can impact so many different parts of your mind, mood, physical health, emotions and feelings. Some symptoms (and there are many, many more) include:

·      Classic “panic attacks” and physical reactions like hives, hyperventilating, etc.

·      Constant worrying and a sense of dread.

·      Physical ailments of all sorts that don’t seem related to anything – lots of aching, pains, fatigue that aren’t the result of actual physical activity.

·      Feeling on edge and overwhelmed, sad and depressed, for weeks at a time.

·      Fear of things out of proportion to reality (can be specific, like fear of being in an elevator or fear of spiders, or more general and vague.)

·      Feeling hot or icy tingles in face, hands and feet.

·      Flushing, blushing, or blanching (turning pale) at random times but also related to times of feeling anxious.

·      Ringing in ears, feeling of muted hearing, stuck in a tunnel.

·      Avoiding normal activities out of fear, sadness or depression.

·      Tightness in your chest, breathing difficulty (*Always talk to a Dr. or head to the ER for anything that may be a heart attack symptom – be safe, not sorry.)

·      Sleeping more or less than normal, change in dream patterns.

·      Eating more or less than normal, especially craving sugars.

·      Gaining or losing weight that seems out of proportion to your eating.

·      Loss of interest in normal social activities, avoiding being around people, feeling persecuted or that people are staring at you or judging you.

·      Having signs of anxiety and then developing physical symptoms like high blood pressure, chest pain, skin rashes, etc.

Any of these – and so many more – can tell you that anxiety may be plaguing your life, or the life of someone you know. Seeking medical help is really important for many forms of anxiety, and it is important that you tell your doctor if you feel you have anxiety in addition to other health issues. It may impact the form of treatment(s) you receive.

Anxiety can strike anyone, and at any time. It can often be linked to an illness, a major life event, a change in seasons, or the holidays, but can just appear with no particular links.

Some things you can do to help yourself (do not avoid seeking professional treatment, but many of these can help you feel better with mild anxiety, and indeed even without anxiety!):

·      Exercise.  Letting your body sweat, work, and burn off tension all while releasing endorphins can be a powerful cure for many ailments.

·      Examine your diet for culprits. Caffeine, sugar, chocolate, white carbs and for many, alcohol can all aggravate anxiety. 

·      Mood foods. In addition to looking at what you shouldn’t be eating, focus on what you should be, with food great for mood. Dark green leafy veggies, dark orange veggies, dark red cherries, berries, soy, nuts, avocados, garlic, active culture yogurts, legumes, bright colored citrus fruits. Eating small, regular meals is also a good plan to keep your system firing normally.

·      Mantra and meditation.  It can be very helpful to meditate and/or repeat a mantra in your day, something uplifting that reminds you that you are in control and can be happy and whole.

·      Break the day up. Don’t try to visualize your entire day, which can be overwhelming for anyone. Break it into smaller increments, even down to minutes, to manage the moments without anxiety.

·      Turn your attention. Keeping busy and active can help you beat anxiety, because you aren’t sitting around focusing on it. Take time out to read a book, watch a silly movie, call a light-hearted friend who will help you laugh.

·      Acupuncture and massage.  Acupuncture can help you balance your systems and relieve mental anxiety, as well as some of the physical pain or complaints you may be suffering. A good massage therapist can also help relieve stress and have an impact on physical pain and even things like blood pressure.

·      Get professional help. Taking that step is important, because often anxiety can be rooted in things we need help overcoming, from physical sources or purely in your mind.

Anxiety is a difficult enemy because it can be so vague, and you can feel so uncertain about what is happening and where it is coming from. Fear that a doctor won’t understand or believe you, or just fear of seeking help in general, is a big enemy in getting well. Don’t suffer. Seek help, and help yourself (or those you love) in any ways that you can! 

Check out my website at All Natural Detox Solutions.

Stop Following Your Ex on Facebook! It’s Time To Move On

Facebook is perhaps the greatest social connection tool to ever strike multiple generations of people… and perhaps one of the worst temptations to follow and stalk people for those of us who are otherwise fairly normal.

Facebook plays an interesting role in the course of a romantic relationship. You meet. You may share some commonalities in your friend lists – or you probably will if you date for very long.  Your friends are so excited when your little status changes to, “In a relationship” and they all hit the Like Button.

And then, the downfall. You change your status back to, “Single” and you are crushed, angry, embarrassed, angry, sad, angry… all of that anger leads to you doing some private investigating on what your ex is up to, when did they change their own status, can you see what common friends are saying, are you blocked from the ex and from anyone else?  Heaven forbid, does your ex already have a new relationship status up?

You start checking for things all the time. It can consume you. There you are, late at night, trolling for secrets. Then you start checking things during the day, at work, from your phone at lunch. You might be driven to ask mutual friends to report back to you on what is going on.

Four letter words might have been flying around during the breakup and the Facebook stalking. Now I have one for you. Stop.

Really.  What is the best thing you can hope for? That you find out a dirty little secret and feel justified in all the snooping, stalking, and crazy obsessive behavior? Or that you find out your ex is lonely and miserable too?

You broke up and it is over, so let it be over (another four letter word by the way) and just move on. 

Ways To Move On… Without Stalking your Ex on Facebook

·      Start a little “Moving On” journal, not online so there is no danger of being hacked, and destroy the pages as part of the healing.

In it:

o   Write a funny status update about your ex, like how awful it was they split their pants at work today and weren’t wearing clean undies.

o   Write down the most hurtful things about the relationship, how and why it ended.

o   Write down the most positive things about the relationship, what it brought you (if anything) and any lessons you learned.

o   Write a status update of how you’ve moved on and all the fabulous things you are up to in life (make it your dream list) and imagine your ex reading about it.

o   Then write a goodbye to the relationship, telling it you have to move on.

o   REMEMBER: this is all for healing, not designed to get out or be read.

·      Let your friends know you aren’t interested in wallowing in the dirt or gossip surrounding your ex. You can show this by not being interested in the gossip if it is brought up, never instigating it, and even telling your friends, “Hey, I’m moving on now.”

·      Do NOT look up your ex, ever. Facebook should be about friends, not problems. Don’t look up anyone you think might be dating your ex, either. You shouldn’t want the ex doing that to you. It is just not good for your mental or physical health.

·      If you have to, drop people from your friend list and make a clean break. If you keep mutual friends (you might have been friends before the relationship started) then take the high road at all times. People will get the message and probably admire you for it. If not? You don’t need them.

·      Do something new. Take a class, buy a new outfit, get a haircut. Focus on new things, not old.

·      Work out. You’ll burn energy in a positive way, keep your fitness or improve it if you haven’t been working out, and you’ll be happier than sitting around stalking updates or trying to find pictures of your ex doing things.

·      Eat right. It might be tempting to sit with a box of donuts in front of the computer stalking… but think about how you’d look if the video camera was broadcasting that scene. Forget about Facebook while you grill some chicken and make homemade soup and salad to go with it.

·      Really let it go. The breakup, the stalking on Facebook, the drama. You have to find inner calm, make peace with the end of a relationship.

If you have to, stay off of Facebook for a while.  Your friends will understand. Or only go on for a few minutes to look through your newsfeed and post one update about your own day, but don’t get on when you have lots of time on your hands… you know where it might lead.

They say living well is the best revenge. Rather than stalking your ex on Facebook, focus your efforts and energy on living well – eat right, exercise, make some goals, meditate, anything that helps you feel whole and positive - and hold your head high as you march away from the past, leaving it in the past, where it all belongs.

Because the beautiful thing about endings… it means a beginning is just around the next corner.  But not if you are around the bend stalking your ex on Facebook!