Month: June 2013

070613 Vacation exercising suggestions

070613 Vacation exercising suggestions

Driving long distances on your vacation can take its toll on your body, so the natural thing to do is to offset this with exercise when you arrive at your hotel or campsite.

Hiking, jogging, or skipping rope is an effective method of maintaining your cardio endurance during the time you are away from your normal surroundings. If you don’t have the full amount of time to do it all at once, then hit it with high intensity for three to four ten minute spurts throughout the day. Just make sure you get your heart rate up to at least 75-80% of your maximum heart rate during these small bursts of effort. Follow these sessions with a brief cool down of the same exercise so your heart has a chance to readapt to normalcy.

To strength train, do bodyweight exercises such as pushups, squats, good mornings, squat thrusts, calf raises, and planks in all four of the different positions.

You can also take bands along in case you don’t feel like doing the bodyweight exercises. Use your imagination with these but always keep safety in mind because the elastic materials can cause a vicious injury if not used properly. And by that, I mean securely anchored so the free end does not snap back at the working length.

Being on vacation does not mean neglecting your physical fitness nor does it mean eating everything in sight. Be selective, and conservative, with your food and drink choices.

050613 How to get more fiber without resorting to eating stuff that tastes like cardboard

How to get more fiber without resorting to eating stuff that tastes like cardboard

Since we know that fiber is good for us it is now a matter of finding something we like to eat to get it. Most of us do not get the recommended twenty grams of fiber per day because we are not aware that it is necessary or we don’t like the foods that contain ample amounts of this healthy substance in our diet. After all, who wants to eat awful tasting stuff every day? The good news is you can actually get the fiber in your diet without eating tasteless stuff.

For instance, an avocado has 12 grams of fiber and with the good fat to go along with a great taste too. This is 33% more fiber than found in a cup of shredded wheat. However, avocados aren’t the only good tasting high fiber foods available. Others include apples at 3 grams each, blackberries, and raspberries with 8 grams and mangoes with 4 grams.

If you want to branch out then pick up some artichokes and or acorn squash with 6 grams per serving, black beans at 8 grams, or sweet potatoes with 5 grams of great taste.