20
(surprising) ways to get healthier, calmer, stronger & happier!
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Start small by making these simple life changes.
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One
piece of advice experts love to give to anyone contemplating a major life
change is: "Take baby steps." They know that trying to
improve your life in one go makes it difficult to succeed -- and any minor
slip-up, be it a decadent dessert, a week of skipping the gym or a
friend's forgotten birthday, can send you into a spiral of
self-flagellation. By focusing instead on meeting one simple goal at a
time, you might find that you've dropped a size, deepened your
relationships, improved your 5k time -- or that you simply smile more
often.
Be a health
ambassador. Reach
out to others -- your mother, aunts, sisters and friends -- who might not
be proactive about getting necessary screening tests like mammograms,
colonoscopies and Pap smears. Log on to the National Women's Health
Information Center at 4woman.gov/screeningcharts
for a list of tests and when to get them.
Organize a soup
exchange. Get
together with a group of friends and swap your favorite winter warmers.
"Soup is simple to prepare and can easily metamorphose -- just serve
it over brown rice on another day," says Lori Reamer, director of
nutrition at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires Health Resort in Lenox, Mass.
What's more, soup's flavors often improve over a couple of days, so when
you reheat the leftovers, your concoction may taste even more delicious.
Follow the two-bite
principle,
suggests Linda Spangle, M.A., R.N., author of Life is Hard, Food is Easy (LifeLine
Press, 2003). "Have two bites of anything you want [that's
unhealthful] and then pass on it." Those first nibbles have the most
flavor and give you the most pleasure -- and you'll often find they're
enough to satisfy a craving.
Breathe right.
Take five minutes to energize yourself with this simple aromatherapeutic
breathing technique from Maria and Kent Burden, co-authors of Yin Yang
Fitness: The Whole Package of Health (Amberwood Press, 2003): Hold your
favorite tea bag (dry, not brewed) near your nose (try autumnal flavors
like cinnamon, apple spice, ginger or a peppermint blend), then inhale
through your nose for a count of four, holding your breath for a count of
eight, and finally exhaling for a count of four. Repeat 10 times. You'll
feel instantly more revved.
Visualize success,
advises John R. Martinez, M.P.T., vice president of physical therapy for
Plus One Physical Therapy in New York City. Before, say, giving a
presentation, take three minutes to visualize things turning out
wonderfully. "A calm feeling will come over you that prepares you and
sets your body in the right tone," Martinez explains.
Rearrange your desk
--
it will save time and will establish a visual path for the workflow
through your office, says Julie Morgenstern, a professional organizer and
author of Making Work Work: New Strategies for Surviving and Thriving at
the Office (Simon & Schuster, 2004). Create three areas:
"In," "In Process" and "Out." The In area
should be at the corner of your desk closest to the door and should
contain only things that are brand-new. Once you've started work on
something, it goes into the In Process area (the largest in the system),
which should be within arm's reach. The farthest end of your desk is the
Out area; this includes letters and packages to mail or interoffice.
Taking just half an hour to create this simple system will help you stay
calm and in control, Morgenstern says.
Schedule a fitness
wake-up call. Make
a pact with a friend to phone each other for your a.m. workouts, suggests
Kim Onnen, program director and fitness instructor at Heartland Spa in
Gilman, Ill. It may be just the extra push you need to get out of bed and
into your workout clothes. Use the same idea to lure your workaholic
friend out of the office and into the Spinning class you both love.
Admit when you
don't know. We're
constantly pressured to have answers to and opinions about everything,
says Mike George, author of 1,001 Ways to Relax (Chronicle Books, 2003).
Such pressure can make us painfully conscious of the gaps in our
knowledge. Accept your blind spots, and realize that knowledge is not the
most important thing -- wisdom is, and often this is best gained by asking
questions, listening and engaging others.
Mix up a seasonal
smoothie,
suggests Cynthia Sass, R.D., a Tampa, Fla.-based spokesperson for the
American Dietetic Association and co-author of Your Diet is Driving Me
Crazy (Marlowe & Co., 2004). In a blender, pulse 1/2 cup of
unsweetened canned pumpkin, 8 ounces of skim milk or soy milk, a few
sprinkles of spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice mix,
and 1-2 packets of an artificial sweetener (e.g., Splenda). This pumpkin
smoothie packs beta carotene, fiber and calcium -- for about 150 calories
and no fat if you use skim milk (about 4 grams of fat for soy milk).
Choose creative
calcium sources. An
8-ounce serving of fortified soy milk, 16 ounces of fortified orange juice
and one Luna bar give you close to the 1,000 milligrams of bone-building
calcium recommended daily. The mineral also eases PMS symptoms and
improves sleep, says Carol L. Otis, M.D., a Portland, Ore.-based sports-
medicine doctor and co-author of The Athletic Woman's Survival Guide
(Human Kinetics, 2000).
Declare an
e-mail-free zone for an hour,
Morgenstern suggests. "For many businesspeople, e-mail has become a
terrible addiction that interrupts their thinking and their ability to
concentrate," she says. "If you instead spend the first hour of
your day doing your most critical task, you will feel a sense of
accomplishment."
Know your breasts.
When doing a breast self-exam, says Ellen Mahoney, M.D., a breast surgeon
in Arcata, Calif., and a member of LLuminari, a network of health and
wellness professionals, "I ask women to imagine what the lump would
look like if the skin weren't in the way -- butter, gravel, Bubble Wrap?
If the breasts feel the same all over, it's just the way they're made. The
only area to be concerned about is the one [area or lump] that's different
from the rest." But even if you feel something odd, don't panic.
Watch it and if it doesn't go away after two menstrual cycles, see your
doctor for a physical exam and ask about a mammogram or ultrasound. Don't
let it go if your physician dismisses your concern, either; you're the
world's best expert when it comes to your breasts, stresses Mahoney.
Select a stretch of
the day. Write the
stretch on a Post-it note that you place on your keyboard; then do the
stretch for 20-30 seconds (no bouncing) every time you think of it (aim
for two or three times a day), says physical therapist Martinez. Stretch
these five areas to get you through your first workweek: wrists, neck,
shoulders, calves, back.
Indulge in flower
power. Besides
adding a nice decorating touch, keeping a mixed bouquet in your office may
help improve memory, learning and concentration, according to Alan Hirsch,
M.D., the neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and
Research Foundation in Chicago.
Create a "get
to do" list.
On every to-do list you create, alternate tasks to accomplish with ways to
reward yourself, says Alice Domar, Ph.D., director of the Mind/Body Center
for Women's Health at Boston IVF. So if No. 1 on your list is
"laundry," No. 2 could be "call best friend"; if No. 3
is "post office," No. 4 might be "enjoy some chocolate,
guilt-free."
Offer specific help.
"With any crisis, people often don't know what to say," says
breast-cancer surgeon Mahoney. If you have a friend who has health
problems, has lost a loved one, or is going through a particularly rough
time, try this approach: Say, "I'm sorry you're facing this,"
and rather than just asking if there's anything you can do to help, follow
up with concrete assistance. Call and offer to take your friend's kids to
the movies, for example, or bring dinner over one night.
B energized.
Kathleen Fry, M.D., a gynecologist and homeopath in Scottsdale, Ariz., and
a member of the American Holistic Medical Association, advises her
patients taking birth-control pills to supplement with a B-vitamin-complex
formula that includes B6. Oral contraceptives interfere with the
absorption of B vitamins, which may make you feel sluggish, depressed or
tired, she explains.
Say no at least
half the time you're asked to do something you don't want to do (but
feel like you should). "Saying no to someone else is saying yes to
yourself," Domar says.
Follow the 10
percent per week rule.
Working out at too intense a pace or for too long increases your chances
of injury, but it also can wreak havoc on your digestive system, causing
constipation, diarrhea or even vomiting, says Cynthia Yoshida, M.D., of
Charlottesville, Va. To keep your gastrointestinal system (and your
joints) happy and running smoothly, aim to increase your workout time and
resistance by no more than 10 percent per week.
Stop a snack
attack. Eliminate
a taste trigger to a snack you can't stop nibbling by eating something
that is the exact opposite, says Spangle. For instance, if you're craving
something sweet, sip something tart, such as water with lemon in it, or
nosh on a dill pickle. When chips or nuts are tempting, reach for an apple
or a piece of cheese to counter the salty, crunchy taste trigger.
-By Tricia O'Brien
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