Fitness & Wellness

Staying in shape can be difficult for busy people, but it’s those same people that will benefit from it most. Maintaining a crowded schedule requires extra energy, which you’ll have if you workout regularly. Busy people often are under stress, another reason is that the busier you are, the more important it is to exercise. Exercise is a stress buster. It burns off the hormones of stress and replaces them with ones that make you feel good.

Put your workout on your schedule, like a doctor’s appointment.

While it’s not a doctor’s appointment, it can help reduce the number of appointments you’ll need with your healthcare provider by improving your overall health. The logic is simple, when you make the time, you don’t have to find the time. Instead of waiting until the end of the day to fit in your workout or when you have spare time, which is never, your workout is already on your calendar. It makes your health and workout a top priority.

Workout the first thing in the morning.

Schedule your workout before the first phone call, getting the kids dressed for school or even taking your morning shower. You’ll have fewer distractions and can cross it off your to-do list immediately. Exercise helps clear the mind and boosts circulation, when you do go to work or start on the day’s tasks, you’ll be more focused and have increased cognition to make the day run smoother. It also starts your day with a metabolic boost.

Work smarter and maximize your benefits.

Having a program that is customized and based on your goals helps you see results faster. Faster results are a huge motivator. If you’re a busy person, many of these workouts don’t require as much time. Circuit training, kettlebell training and HIIT—high intensity interval training—can reduce the amount of time you spend at each session, giving you more benefits in less time. It’s all about how intense the workout is and whether it’s steady-state or modified to adjust the intensity levels throughout the workout.

• If you’re in a pinch and can’t maintain your normal workout schedule, you can break it up into smaller sessions. You could do several 10 to 15-minute sessions throughout the day, take a walk at lunch to add extra steps or exercise at night while watching TV or movies.
• If you have a group you always meet with after work, switch that meeting from the coffee shop or bar to the gym. Make your social time fitness time.
• Some people simply hate working out and find reasons to avoid it. If that describes you, time isn’t a problem. You simply don’t like it. Find something active that you do enjoy, such as dancing or basketball, and do it. Alternate between gym sessions and your new favorite exercise.
• Get even more benefits from your workout by supplementing it with healthy eating habits. One small step that can make a big difference is cutting out food with added sugar and highly processed food.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness

Changing your diet to a healthier one is important for both your health and to help you lose weight, but what foods are best? In Winter Haven, FL, you hear all sorts of stories of crazy diets and stories of super foods that magically make you thinner. Unfortunately, there is no one magical food. While some foods will help boost weight loss, that food has to be part of a healthy diet if you want to be successful.

First, let’s look at food you need to avoid.

Just by cutting certain foods out of your diet, you’ll boost your chances of success. Whether it’s a sugary food or sugary beverage, eliminating foods with added sugar should be the first step. That includes energy drinks and alcohol. Don’t replace those with foods that use a sugar substitute. It will put inches on your waistline. Most people know that pastries, baked goods, foods high in refined carbs, like white bread, processed meat and deep-fried foods should be eliminated.

Fruits and vegetables make the top spot in the list.

Fresh fruits like bananas, apples and melons or leafy green vegetables like spinach increase weight loss. Both are high in fiber. Avocados not only are high in fiber and nutrients, but they also contain healthy fat, which keeps you feeling full longer. It also is loaded with nutrients, antioxidants and even a significant amount of protein, which keeps you feeling fuller longer. Crucifers such as cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, as well as all other vegetables that aren’t starchy, like potatoes, can boost weight loss efforts.

Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids or lean protein are excellent choices.

Choosing food high in lean protein, such as fatty fish or poultry, will help you shed extra pounds by filling you up and not out. That fatty fish, like salmon or tuna, can also help shave off the pounds, since they’re high in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 can boost your metabolic rate and improve your ability to burn more calories. They also are anti-inflammatory and can decrease insulin resistance, both of which boost your efforts to lose weight.

• Refined wheat bread is highly processed and doesn’t contain nutrients or fiber, which keeps you feeling full. Opt for whole grains in your diet. They are also sources of vitamin B complex, zinc and more.
• Choosing protein and a carb for a snack before and after a tough workout can help build muscles. Whether you choose peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt and fruit or cheese and apples, it will help recovery and weight loss.
• Drink extra water. Water has no calories but fills you up. Studies show that if you drink an 8 ounce glass of water before a meal, you’ll eat less and lose more weight.
• Combine that healthy diet with regular exercise to get the maximum benefit. The more muscle tissue you build, the easier it is to lose weight.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness

It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes, we see people have all the signs that they’re working out too much. Yes, no matter how healthy exercise is, you can take it too far. Check your workout schedule. Are you working out for hours every day? Are you doing strength training for your whole body seven days a week? That can be a good indicator.

What are the dangers of over-exercising?

Over-exercising can be counterproductive. In fact, that’s also one of the signs. If you’re putting in more time in the gym and really exercising, but aren’t seeing the results, you might need to cut back on workout time. Working out too much taxes the body. It doesn’t give the muscles a chance to heal the small microtears, which build muscle tissue. It takes 48-hours or longer for those to heal, so you need to give the muscle groups a rest. If you want to do strength training daily, alternate muscle groups you work.

You might be getting colds and flu more frequently.

When you workout too much, it can affect your immune system. Even though exercise burns off the hormones of stress, strenuous exercise, particularly if it’s done too frequently or for too long, can actually cause stress. While the muscle repairs, your immune system isn’t efficient. It can take up to 72 hours for the immune system to return to normal. That’s while the body is healing the microtears in the muscle that cause the muscle to grow. Overtraining can lead to a less efficient immune system.

Your body will tell you what you need to know.

If you’re finding you’re always exhausted or feel exhausted more quickly when you’re physically active, you might be working out too much. Recovery also takes longer after a workout. You simply don’t do as well as before and start losing ground. The harder and longer you workout, the worse it gets. Chronic fatigue, longer recovery time, anxiety, anger, depression and confusion are all signs you may be working out too much.

• Alternating your strength-building workout by working different parts of the body on different days or alternating aerobic, strength-building, flexibility and balance workouts can help.
• Exercise helps you fall asleep quicker, so if you find you suddenly have insomnia, you might be working out too much. You can still workout daily, just make alternate days a recovery workout.
• You’ll feel tired sooner, indicating you’re losing ground from working out too much, but you also may be losing muscle mass and increasing the amount of body fat you have.
• Your heart rate can tell you when you need rest. If your resting heart rate is normally 50 beats a minute, but it jumps to 80 beats a minute regularly, you might have stressed your body too much with too much exercise.

For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness

If you’re going through scientific journals trying to find the definition of superfood, you’ll have a tough time. It’s not an official term, but one used by writers, lay nutritional bloggers and others to offer a clearer mental picture of the quality of a specific food. It describes a food that’s high in nutrients and offers an extraordinary number of health benefits. It’s been used to describe many types of food from the exotic like goji berries, to the more mundane, like beets.

Sometimes, it’s just Madison Avenue promoting food.

Marketing is important, even for natural foods. While an advertising agency may have come up with the idea that a particular food is a superfood, it doesn’t mean the claim is empty. Superfoods have high nutritional content, especially when you compare it to the number of calories it contains and the ad agency drew your attention to the fact. Superfoods contain enzymes, phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals and healthy fat. They often offer the body multiple health benefits and/or healing properties. Always do your own research.

Most foods called superfoods are whole foods.

Throughout history, man has lived off the land. Many of the foods considered superfoods today have been around, in one form or another, as long as man or longer. Ancient grains are one example. Acai berries, chia seeds, mulberries and spirulina are a few better known ones. You may already know about others like lucuma fruit—gold of the Incas, sacha inchi and maca, which are growing in popularity for their health and nutritional benefits.

Easier options to find are healthy options that should be part of your diet.

You don’t have to go to the jungle of the Amazon to find superfoods. They may be grown in your garden or on a farm close to you. Beets, for example, have been labeled a superfood. Nuts and seeds are high in nutrients and healthy fat, so some call them superfoods. Kefir and other fermented foods provide probiotic benefits and other nutrients. Olive oil, mushrooms, salmon, salmon and sweet potatoes often get the honor of being called superfoods, just as green leafy vegetables, green tea, berries, eggs and legumes do.

Superfoods also include spices and herbs. Garlic, turmeric and ginger are all included in that group. Don’t forget many of the healing herbs that have been used for centuries, like holy basil and thyme.

If you’re trying to decide whether your favorite fruit, vegetable or organic animal product is a superfood, just google it. In most cases, at least one site will call it that. It’s because most whole foods provide a wealth of nutrients.

One ancient additive that’s considered a superfood is nutritional yeast, which is often used in vegan recipes to give a cheesy flavor. It’s high in B vitamins and the best source of B12, riboflavin.

One reason amla—the Indian gooseberry—is considered a superfood, is its ability to retain a high vitamin C content even when it’s dried. It has 20 times more vitamin C than oranges and is an anti-aging food in powder form that you can add to drinks.