Warm ups

September issue of Women's Health -- check out a fall fashion guide in this issue too!

Time to get those muscles moving. Ease into your workouts.
The importance of stretching and easing into a workout is key to preventing injuries. Also, to help you perform your best.

If you don't stretch before your workout, your muscles won't be warmed up and ready to go, and psychologically it can make you feel more out of shape and be frustrated. To avoid that feeing, spend 10 to 20 minutes stretching.

In the September issue of Women's Health, a short blurb explains that Australian researchers discover that warm-ups help increase the contraction speed of muscles, helping them prepare for action.

Warm-ups usually will mimic something you'll do in your planned workout. If you want to run, spend a few minutes walking at a brisk pace, then take the next minute or so jogging at a comfortable speed -- a speed where you aren't winded.

A warm-up lasting at least five minutes is great, but don't go too long.

Re-setting your goals

I was having a hard time deciding what I should write for my next post, even though there are millions of things out there to write about.

In an email I got a day or two ago, "The Well Daily" they describe how to re-vamp your goals.

Make your goal a visual one, draw or write something out. Make your goal visible to yourself, to keep you motivated. If you have one BIG goal first, such as losing weight --

• Make little goals along the way. Make a goal to adjust the way you eat, simply by cutting out or adding more fruits and veggies. DON'T tell yourself you'll lose 10 pounds in one week..you'll get stressed out and probably end up gaining 10 pounds.
• What is your overall goal? The outcome? How do you feel about this? What is your projected time frame? Is it realistic? be sure to ask yourself these questions, and realize the real meaning of your question. If you want to lose 20 pounds and weigh 115, try not to get stuck on a number of HOW much you want to weigh, but your health. Do you want to be healthy and in shape? or are you just concerned about a certain number on the scale. 
• Constantly check back at where you are on your timeline. Make a check list if it helps. Even if it's a daily check list, anything to help you stay on track.

These mini goals you set before reaching the final goal will help you stay closer to your final goal and keep you motivated. It'll keep your end goal in sight and realistic. Your vision will now become a reality! 

P.S. Get a cute notebook to keep notes in, it'll make it more fun to write 

Obesity in Hawai'i

Luckily for our lovely state, we're ranked #49 on the most obese states, at 21.8 percent of people being obese, which puts us behind Colorado, according to an article posted by the Huffington Post.

I guess what could help that is people are all out and about at the beach and running around outside, gotta keep that figure in shape right? Let's keep that up. Though there is a problem of obesity in the nation, we can all help by promoting healthy eating, as well as knowing why we should put and shouldn't put certain things in our bodies.

Easy ways to avoid bad eating habits:

1.) Don't drink your calories: We all love a coffee, smoothie or milkshake on occasion -- or everyday. That's where it adds up...especially the sugar. Too much sugar will make us fat.  Drinking our calories is like drinking more than our days intake of sugar. It's easy to drink up to 400 calories, as well as non nutritious ingredients. To be safe, make your own drinks, you'll know what's in it, and you can alter it without feeling like you're getting on a worker's nerves.

2.) Eat to refuel, not because you're bored: Another big thing, eating because you are bored, and it gives you something to do. Eating is fun! It just is, tasting and enjoying the flavors of different foods. But hey, make sure you're eating to refuel your body, not beacuse you're upset, sad or even happy and think you need a reward. To curb sugar cravings (sugar is like a drug), eat snacks throughout the day, like apples and peanut butter, but of course not a ton of peanut butter. Have several almonds. Make sure these snacks are candy bars, or a bag of Cheetos.

3.) Eat breakfast: Some of us may not be fans of breakfast, but try to grab something, even if it's small. It'll get your metabolism up and running in the morning and keep you from wanting to over eat at lunch. Don't pick something like a donut, or a scone, save that for another day. Eat something with substance. A breakfast burrito on a whole wheat tortilla with some eggs and spinach, or make a kale smoothie. Google some recipe's for some health breakfast ideas, and create a daily plan for what you'd like to eat in the morning, lunch and night. Or just plan breakfast if the rest is too much to think about.

Little things here and there will help you stay healthy, all it takes is the first step to research information and try it out.

Cutting out calories

Cutting out calories is easy. Eat a few less bites, get a smaller portion than you usually would. Either way, you'll lose some pounds, how easy is that? So you can still eat the things you love, but cut out some part of your daily diet.

Although, still eating a whole foods diet, full of vegetables, right amounts and combinations of fruits and proteins, will keep your weight in check, as well as your health.

If you're someone who likes drinks, Starbucks Frappuccino's, Jamba Juice Smoothies, or a green tea latte, try to alter the recipe a little bit. Get nonfat or coconut milk, and skip the whip cream and caramel drizzle. Those little treats like that can add 50 or more calories to your daily diet.

Be smart about what you eat and drink, be conscious about it and cut out things that are unnecessary and keep your diet healthy!

Find a goal, a solid one and work towards it.

what is ONE serving???

One serving actually might be a lot less than you think. One serving of certain things you may get at restaurants usually are way out of control, and not even close to being one portion.

For french fries, one portion is really only about nine or so fries. And we all know how fast that go down.

A serving of fruit would be one apple or orange, half a banana, or one cup of melon or fresh berries. Women can enjoy two fruit servings a day and three vegetable. So pick the ones you're sure to like! Keep track and control of what you eat, it'll help you easily cut back and shed those pounds. Sometimes seeing what you consume every day written down can do wonders.

Not meat on the other hand, even less of that is one serving. Only one ounce of meat is one serving, but women can enjoy a good four to eight servings of meat. If you're a protein lover, here's your chance to dive in! Men can actually increase their protein consumption to seven or 12 servings.

Dairy, try to stay away from it I think, well as much as you can, but if you're a milk fan, women can indulge in two to three servings daily. A serving of milk would be one cup, or half cup cottage cheese. Of course there are more options to dairy, but that's just general.

Make your workout the best!

Sometimes exercising can be a drag, or something you don’t feel like doing, because you’re too comfortable watching your favorite TV show, or just don’t feel like it.

As much as it is a physical and diet challenge, it’s also a mental one. Mentally it can be harder to work out because of a myriad of reasons. Either, you’re not comfortable in the clothes you have to work out in, you don’t like the gym, or it’s been a long time since you’ve last worked out, or you’re just not in the mood. Whatever it may be, sometimes overcoming the mental challenge is the hardest part. Like my mom has told me before, putting your shoes on can be the toughest part of a workout.

So, to get past the putting your shoes on part, talk to yourself, psyche yourself out if you have to. Ask yourself, “how do I feel after I work out?” “Do I like how I feel about myself currently?” “How can I change this?” Even, ask yourself why do you eat certain foods that you know aren’t good for you?

Grab a friend or family member your feel comfortable with to make it more exciting, of even if you feel like it’s better to experience getting back into working out by yourself, that’s fine too. Pick some songs that will pump you up and get you back out there.

Making it Fun:

Sometimes playing sports is a great way to have fun and not think about working out. You won’t think about how long or far you’ve been running, or how many sets you have left to do, you’ll just be playing around. 

Of course, if you can, record the Olympics, get a motivational push! 

Feldenkrais for your eyes

Today, I went with my mom to the Still and Moving Center, which offers Keiki Hula, Ariel classes, Nia, Pilates and much more. We signed up for the Feldenkrais class, to learn how to naturally improve your vision with certain body movements.

Feldenkrais Method is a learning method, it's educational. It reconnects your body to its natural abilities to move. It increases mental awareness and thought and movement is a focus. It's quite an interesting class. It helps to relax the whole body and align it and make you feel good about yourself.

The movements that we worked on in the classes today consisted a lot of eye stretching, and twists in the body. The repetition of each movement made the mind think and become aware of how we use our eyes and how tight those muscles get. Not only the eye muscles, but how the shoulder and neck stress affects our eyesight.

The eyes, neck, back and body feel extremely relaxed and loosened up. It's a amazing feeling and if the chance is there to take the class, take it at least once to experience a bit of eyesight improvement after the class. Over time it'll be amazing!

Helping your diet---on your own

Often times we look outside ourselves to feel better about our appearance, work life, or even home life. We look for what I call, "fixers." Things, events, drinks, food etc. that temporarily fix how we feel.

Interesting enough, feeling better about yourself (really, anything in life) will always start with you.
Don't be afraid to dig deep and realize why are you eating or drinking that? Why are you going to this place? Do you really want to go or eat that? It's OK to admit that eating three fudge brownies and it'll help you feel better during the day.

Try for about a week to eliminate dairy, and gluten from your diet, just to see how you feel.
Also, try to eliminate the white carbs (white rice, bread, pastas) etc. and observe how your body reacts. Honestly, it'll be DIFFICULT to do at first and you'll begin craving those items, but after the first few days it'll subside.

Also, want to lose a few pounds? Don't drink your calories -- if you want something that tastes good, try some Tazo Passion Tea, or Green Tea.

Not eating those last few bites or not adding that salt and butter to your popcorn, can cut back on your caloric intake and help the overall health of your body.