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Weight Loss Exercise

5 Healthy Habits

It is time to talk about healthy habits.When you vow to improve your health you don’t have to instantly become a gym-addict or stop eating everything you love. It really comes down to incorporating healthy habits into your daily routine. Here are five habits that will set you off on a new healthy path.

5 Healthy Habits

Health Habit 1 –Drink More Water – Drinking water is the first great healthy habit, will improve your health for so many reasons! For one, if you’re trying to lose weight then it’s a lot easier if you drink water: (a) because it’ll stop you drinking sugary, calorie-laden drinks and (b) because we often mistake dehydration for hunger, causing us to overeat.

5 Healthy Habits

Healthy Habits

Experts recommend that you should be drinking eight glasses of water a day. This may sound difficult, but it really isn’t. Start by getting into the habit of drinking a full glass of water as soon as you wake up in the morning. It’ll help you feel more awake and more hydrated after the long night’s sleep. And it’ll get you off on the right foot for drinking enough water throughout the day.

Health Habit 2 –Get Enough Sleep – These days, very few of us actually get the sleep we need. When you don’t get enough sleep, you’re more prone to stress, unhealthy snacking, and turning to caffeine to keep you alert! This really isn’t good for your health.

We’re all different when it comes to how many hours of sleep we need each night. Adults need less and less sleep the older they get. The magic number for you probably lies somewhere in between seven and ten hours a night. Experts also agree that having a routine is crucial when it comes to getting enough sleep. Try to go to bed at the same time every night. Then, if it only happens every now and again, you won’t feel so many negative effects of a late night. This healthy habit will make you a lot more effective all the time.

Health Habit 3 –Walk More – If you really want to improve your health then start walking every day. A walk doesn’t just help you get more exercise, it’s also good for the soul. When you walk you’re getting fresh air and spending time away from the usual stresses of everyday life. The healthy habit of walking gives you time to think, and time to clear your head of anything that’s bothering you.

There are a few ways to get more walks into your daily routine. One idea is to go for a 30 minute walk on your lunch break each day. Or you could start walking short distances (under 2 miles) where you’d normally drive. You could even start taking stairs instead of elevators. Anything that boosts the physical activity you’re doing each day will help!

Health Habit 4 -Stretch Try starting each day with a real stretching session. Stretching feels good, and is an excellent way to wake yourself up in the morning by getting your blood flowing. The Mayo Clinic states that stretching can also help to improve your athletic ability and reduce the risk of injury when you exercise. You could take this one step further and incorporate yoga stretches into your routine. You’ll find that your posture improves, you feel more healthy, and focusing becomes easier.

Health Habit 5 –Relax – No matter how much you exercise or watch your diet, you won’t truly improve your health until you learn how to relax! Getting stressed, anxious and angry about things only lowers your immune system and makes you more vulnerable to a whole range of health complications (both physical and mental). Learn to take some time for you. Try getting regular massages, attending a yoga class, learning how to meditate, or unwinding with regular relaxing baths.

Building Healthy Habits into your life

We all have habits and ways of living a good and effective life as well as habits that will hold us back. It is important to always look at our exercise, lifestyle, eating, drinking, resting, and even the people that we do things with to decide what we should be doing or not. Start by incorporating these healthy habits and then find more.

5 Healthy Habits

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Weight Loss Exercise

How to Stay Fit While Traveling

We all travel and I am always asking myself how to stay fit while traveling. Well trainer Jon Gallo has written this great article full of tips and I hope you find these travel fitness tips as great as I did

How to Stay Fit While Traveling

How to Stay Fit While Traveling

How to Stay Fit While Traveling – By Jon Gallo

Many fitness enthusiasts find it difficult to follow their normal exercise plan while traveling. Unfamiliar environments, tightly-scheduled business meetings, or lack of exercise equipment may hamper even a fitness fanatic’s best intentions for staying fit while on the road. Jon Gallo is a certified fitness trainer. When planning your next business trip or vacation, he offers the following tips for putting together an exercise program that travels with you.

If you’ve worked hard to establish a good fitness routine, going on a business trip doesn’t have to mean your healthy habits will be derailed. Here are some tips on how to stay fit while traveling. You can keep your momentum and endorphins flowing and maintain your fitness level when traveling. How? For one thing, keep moving. “Drink a minimum of eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day. Airport food, sitting on a plane, jet lag – all contribute to bloat. The best way to fight it is to stay hydrated,” says Jon Gallo.

  • Use good body mechanics when you lift your suitcases up to the check-in counter.
  • Lift from your knees, not your back.
  • Be aware of your posture as you carry your bags.
  • Even though you’ve left behind your daily routine, try to eat three meals a day, maintain a balanced diet and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.

How to Stay Fit While Traveling – Eating Tips

If you’re going to eat a high-fat meal, eat a smaller portion, or order an appetizer instead of a main course. Split desserts with a friend. Rest. If your schedule is shot and you’re not sleeping enough at night, take cat naps whenever you get the chance.  Stretch in the morning and evening, especially if you’ve been sitting all day. If you will be drinking alcohol at business mixers, drink a lot of water between events.  Pack snacks: bananas and apples, yogurt, protein bars. You can make meal replacement shakes in your room. You don’t need a blender, just a container with a tight fitting lid, large enough to shake the contents.

How to Stay Fit While Traveling – Workout Tips

To know how to stay fit while traveling it is critical to have a  workout plan. To find out if your gym reciprocates its membership with a gym where you’ll be traveling, log onto the International Physical Fitness Association’s Web site, http://www.ipfa.us/, or ask at your home health club before you leave town. Jon Gallo says that, “Three to five days off from a strength routine can give your muscles a rest. But you wouldn’t want to go a week or more without serious exercise and a short respite for your biceps doesn’t mean you should ever let your cardio workout go.”

  • Ask your travel agent about hotels that offer fully equipped gyms, pools, and/or other fitness facilities.
  • Bring along a CD or Ipod with your favorite music and work out in the privacy of your hotel room.
  • Pack a jump rope for a go-anywhere aerobic session. Invest in “travel weights” -inflatable weights that can be filled with water or sand when training, folded and stored while on the road.
  • Plan active recreation during vacations -check out the local golf course, riding stable, and so on.
  • When site-seeing, forget the tour bus and walk. You’ll not only see more, but you’ll be sneaking in some extra activity.

For more fitness options, place in your luggage a Resist-A-Tube or any of the home exercise tubing, a stability ball, jump rope or exercise video. ”If you like classes, make your own class in your room,” offers Jon Gallo. If you work with a personal trainer, ask him or her to design an exercise plan before you leave town. When you’re sitting on a plane or in a conference room, take deep breaths occasionally, tighten your stomach muscles, then relax.

How to Stay Fit While Traveling – On Transportation

Travelers need to periodically flex and stretch the hamstrings and hip flexors, the muscle at the upper part of the leg that connects into the pelvis. For women who spend the day in high heels, a walk around the room toe-up, heel-down will stretch the calf muscles. Or, do toe raises by putting the heels on the floor and stepping up onto a telephone book. “Men often complain of being cramped when traveling,” states Gallo. “They need to stretch their lower back and legs.” He recommends the cat stretch. Get up on your hands and knees, arch your back for 15 seconds, then release. Repeat.

Jon Gallo points out that the more comfortable you are with operating fitness machinery at your home gym, the easier it will be to set up unfamiliar equipment when you’re on the road. And consider Thera-Bands, which you can buy online and at most sporting goods stores. Thera-Bands are heavy-duty elastic tubing, graded by color according to elasticity and tightness that you can use in resistance exercises. They are easy to pack and you can do a complete maintenance workout with them.

FIT FLYING

Air travel may be fast and convenient, but for many of us, it can be uncomfortable and restrictive due to cramped cabins and sardine-like seating. The following tips can help you make the most of your next airplane trip by helping you stay flexible and fit while you fly.

  • DEEP BREATHING is an instant-relaxer and can be done anywhere at any time. Try taking 4-5 deep, cleansing breaths several times during your flight.
  • RELAX YOUR SHOULDERS by bending forward slightly, hands on knees and “rolling” your shoulders in a circular motion 5 or 6 times. Repeat the “roll” in the opposite direction, then finish up by “shrugging” your shoulders up and down 5 times.
  • RELAX YOUR BACK by reaching overhead, holding elbows, and bending side to side. Repeat 5 times in each direction.
  • STRETCH YOUR LEGS by alternately lifting your knees toward your chest and bringing your body toward your knee to the count of eight.
  • RELEASE YOUR FEET by “drawing” the alphabet with one foot then the other.

These are great How to Stay Fit While Traveling tips that I hope that you can use this summer.

How to Stay Fit While Traveling

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