Health & Fitness

Ways To Exercise As A Couple

Published by superadmin on 14th November 2022 | Leave a response

It’s hard to get everything done throughout the day and still have time for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you live in Louisiana or any other state, you’re probably rationing time between work, family and your own personal care. One way some people have solved the problem is to exercise as a couple or as a family. It actually can be a lot of fun. It can help create memories that will last a lifetime, while providing quality time and good habits for everyone.

Exercise doesn’t have to be aerobics, weightlifting, yoga or calisthenics.

Whether you’re with your partner or the whole family, a walk through the neighborhood or at the zoo, a nature reserve or park can provide both exercise and a time to bond. Family biking, hiking and even shooting hoops or playing ball can provide the family with the exercise they need, while making it fun. You don’t have to buy expensive equipment, either. Jump ropes and hula hoops can be quite inexpensive.

Build your own exercise program and get nutritional coaching, too.

We provide videos that can help you and your partner with exercise programs that are made for you. For less than a dime a day, you also get free meal plans with recipes and a grocery list. You can even spend more quality time and work together to create the meals on the weekend, so during the busy work week, all you have to do is heat and serve. You’ll keep each other on course and hold each other accountable at the same time.

It takes a real commitment.

If you’re working out as a couple, both parties have to be dedicated to the cause. Start by scheduling your workout throughout the week. Keep it at the same time every day. It takes real honesty and maybe even a penalty for not following through, like the partner that fails has to do a specific chore for the month. The chore should be something physical that lasts as long as your workout, so they can do it while the person who kept the commitment is exercising.

Your plan should include strength training, endurance training, flexibility and balance training. All of these are important. Don’t forget to warm up and cool down after the workout ends.
When you’re planning your workout, start by committing for a month or two of exercise and reevaluate when it ends. Making it a shorter term goal doesn’t make it look so overwhelming and is easier to maintain.
You don’t need weights for strength-building. You can use resistance bands or bodyweight workouts to achieve the same results. You can also modify some exercises to make them couple friendly, like doing squats in a back-to-back position with arms linked together.
Working out together improves not only the emotional bonding, but also boosts both parties sex drive, according to studies. You’ll look better, feel better and have more endurance during sex and get even more exercise in the process.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching

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How Alcohol Causes Weight Gain

Published by superadmin on 5th November 2022 | Leave a response

There’s a commercial on YouTube that shows a woman running, sweating and doing her best to burn calories. She comes to the end of the run and is greeted by a friend who offers her a beer. The commercial ends with the runner and friend enjoying the drink. That commercial infuriates me, because drinking alcohol cause weight gain, whether it’s beer or other types of alcoholic beverage.

Alcohol has many negative side effects.

Just like everything else, the occasional alcoholic beverage isn’t lethal. In fact, some types of alcohol can even have benefits. Some studies show that taken in moderation, it can improve immune functioning, provide heart healthy benefits and lower your risk of dementia. However, when used frequently or in excess, it can increase the risk of liver disease, diminish mental and physical performance and increase the risk of diabetes. It also is empty calories, in most cases and interferes with the fat burning process.

The calories from alcohol are burnt first.

When you combine alcohol with food, you’re more likely to store fat. The calories from alcohol are burned first and the calories from food is stored as fat. It also lowers testosterone levels and slows metabolism. If you’re female and past menopause, it’s even worse. It causes fat to build on the midsection. It’s visceral fat that crowds organs and causes health issues. It’s due to an increase of an enzyme called Aldh1a1, which is otherwise blocked by estrogen.

You’ll feel hungrier when you drink alcohol and be less active.

That’s a really bad combination if you’re trying to lose a few pounds. There are numerous studies showing alcohol increases hunger, but more recent animal studies show why it might happen. A study with mice indicated that when alcohol is consumed, it may flick a switch in the brain to put it into starvation mode. High levels of alcohol or continuous consumption increase cortisol levels, which lowers testosterone and causes fat to store around the belly.

Drinking alcohol leads to insulin spikes. Frequent insulin spikes can lead to insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. If you’re insulin resistant, it’s harder to lose weight, especially around the midsection.
If you’re trying to build muscle, avoid alcohol intake, since it lowers testosterone levels. Testosterone is important for building muscle tissue and the lower testosterone is, the harder it is to build.
Even one drink can slow metabolism, since drinking alcohol pauses fat burning, while elevating blood glucose levels. It takes an hour to process the alcohol, while other processes are put on pause.
Gram for gram, alcohol has more calories than protein and carbs. While fat has more calories per gram at 9, with alcohol coming in a 7, your body needs healthy fat for many functions, including burning fat.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching

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How To Increase Vitamin D In Your Diet

Published by superadmin on 28th October 2022 | Leave a response

Vitamin D is important for good health. It boosts the immune system. It’s been estimated that about half of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D. You can do safe sunning, which is short exposure to the sun to most of your body between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Some people want or need to avoid the sun, out of fear of skin cancer, while with others, it’s not always possible. In those situations, you need to ensure you get it from your diet.

The older you are, the more you need.

If your age is between one and seventy, you need 600 IU of vitamin D daily. Anyone over the age of seventy needs 100 IU more each day—800 IU. Too little vitamin D can cause weak muscles, osteoporosis, cancer and depression. If you have a severe shortage, it can cause death. Studies from the pandemic showed that 80% of the hospitalized patients with covid were vitamin D deficient. There are even studies that link obesity to lack of vitamin D, but it’s not determined whether obesity caused the deficit or the deficit caused the obesity.

Cod liver oil is high in vitamin D.

Not only is cod liver oil high in this vitamin, so are organ meats, like liver, from all animals. Fatty fish, like salmon, are also higher in vitamin D. Farmed salmon has a much lower amount of vitamins than wild salmon. Other animal products that are high include offal, which is a catch all phrase that means internal organs and entrails. It came from the German phrase off all, meaning the meat cast aside. It can include head cheese and French foie gras (duck liver). Poultry contains the highest amount. Speaking of poultry, eggs are a very important source of vitamin D.

Besides animal meats and eggs, there are other sources of vitamin D.

Mushrooms are one of those sources and the only source that doesn’t come from an animal. Mushrooms synthesize vitamin D when they’re exposed to UV rays, but it’s a different type of vitamin D. Unlike animals that produce D3, mushrooms produce D2. It’s helpful and can raise blood levels of vitamin D, but not as efficiently as vitamin D3. A cup of “spongies,” morels, has about 17% of the body’s daily requirement. Other sources of vitamin D are sources that have been fortified, like cereal, milk and orange juice.

If you select the meat or organs of animals that have been grass fed or pastured—in the case of poultry. The content of vitamin D is far higher than that of factory farms and even cage free.
Vitamin D really isn’t a vitamin but has a structure and functions more like a steroid hormone, like sex or adrenal hormones. It binds to the receptors of the cells and triggers specific actions.
If you want strong bones and teeth, most people understand they need calcium, but vitamin D is also important. It helps the body to absorb calcium and is important for preventing osteoporosis and maintaining good bone health.
Safe sunning is the easiest way to ensure you have adequate vitamin D. Depending on your complexion, it may be 5 to 15 minutes of unprotected sun exposure. While it’s the hottest part of the day, it’s also when the sun rays are safest.

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Healthy Staples To Always Have In The Kitchen

Published by superadmin on 21st October 2022 | Leave a response

Whether you’re stocking your shelves ahead or simply shopping for the week, there are healthy staples you should always have on hand. There are a lot of reasons you might not make it to the grocery store, and reasons you may need more food than usual, so having a backup stock of healthy food can be important.

Fresh, canned or frozen fruits and vegetables are important to keep in stock.

When it’s in season, fresh produce is often on sale or relatively inexpensive. At that time, the same was true of frozen fruits and vegetables. Either buying fresh produce and freezing it yourself or the frozen option, which may even be fresher than the fresh option, studies show they have the same nutritional value. The frozen may actually be healthier, since it’s picked at peak ripeness and immediately frozen. Canned fruit and vegetables don’t lag that far behind when it comes to nutrition and have a much longer shelf life.

Have s source of protein ready when you need it.

Whether you opt to stock up on dried or canned beans, lentils or other source of plant protein, they have a long shelf life and can be a convenient way to add protein to a meal. Test recipes by having a meatless Monday, which can also cut the grocery bill, and see which ones your family loves. Not only will you have a stock of one of the macronutrients, but you’ll also have the recipes ready that your family enjoys if you can’t get to the grocery or you need extra food for a group of people.

Keep eggs in your refrigerator and replenish your stock weekly.

You don’t have to save eggs for breakfast, you can eat them boiled and chopped in a salad for lunch or part of a healthy stir-fry. They’re an inexpensive source of protein that are jam-packed with nutrients. Even better, eggs can be refrigerated for up to five weeks. You can even freeze eggs for up to a year, but you have to separate the yolks from the whites or whisk them, but they keep for up to a year.

If you choose the option of stocking your cupboard or freezer with canned or frozen vegetables, always read the label to make sure they don’t have any additives, including added sugar or salt.
Keep nuts and seeds on hand to add to salads or use as snacks. You can even freeze them to extend the shelf life. Pecans can be frozen for up to two years.
Spices and herbs are another must for the kitchen. Cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and other spices offer additional benefits, like reducing inflammation, plus improve the flavor of the food.
It’s always a good option to have frozen meats, fish and poultry on hand. Don’t forget to mark the date you stored it or the date its shelf life ends and rotate so the oldest in the front.

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Are There Benefits To Buying Food Online

Published by superadmin on 14th October 2022 | Leave a response

You don’t have to live in Louisiana to know that the price of everything is going up, including food and gas. How can you save money? Shopping online for food can be one way. You can even shop online at your local grocer’s site. Online shopping can allow you to save time, too. You often have the option of pick-up, which saves time, or delivery. Depending on the price of gas, how far you are from the grocery and any charge for delivery, it may be cheaper to have food delivered to your home.

You’ll have access to food that is difficult to find in local groceries.

For a while, there was a shortage of many food items in brick and mortar stores, so online shopping became necessary for some items. However, limited demand for that product may also be the problem. The grocery has only so much area to display items, so it’s often devoted to more popular items. If an item doesn’t sell, unless it’s a non-food product, it also has a shelf life. As that shelf life gets closer, any items that don’t sell are often drastically reduced in price, sometimes lower than the cost, to get it off the shelves and not stock it again.

You can buy in bulk when you shop online and find items not offered in the local store.

It’s difficult to find any brick and mortar stores that offer bulk purchases. That’s not true of online shopping, even if you’re shopping online at your local store. If you have items with a longer shelf life that you use frequently or are making meals ahead and freezing, bulk shopping can save you money. Many local groceries may have online items available for pickup or delivery that they don’t offer in their store. Instead of stocking shelves, they get a daily delivery from a distribution center that services multiple stores in the area.

Are you an impulse shopper?

If you’re trying to lose weight and find you’re constantly drawn to the snack aisle in the store, even if you already ate supper, you probably should shop online for the items you need. Our nutritional programs of customized meal plans can help. We provide everything you need, from meal plans to recipes and even the grocery list. If you’re an impulse shopper, shopping for groceries online not only is easier, but it can also prevent some of those treats from ending up in your cart.

Online items may also be fresher, especially specialty items. If you’re shopping from a major outlet that has a high inventory turnover rate, it’s bound to be fresher. There’s a wider audience for the product.
You can save money when you shop online by comparing the sales at different stores. If you use several stores in your area, you can opt to shop at the one that offers the lowest price or divide your list between the stores for the lowest prices.
You’ll be able to budget better when you shop online. As you add items to your cart, you can watch the price increase. If you run out of money before you run out of items, you can decide which ones to remove from the cart far easier than it is in the checkout line in the store.
Rather than spending your family time at the grocery with the kids, you can shop when they’re asleep and enjoy other activities with them.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching

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How Journaling Can Help With Emotional Eating

Published by superadmin on 4th October 2022 | Leave a response

Do you grab for something crunchy, like potato chips or crunchy candy when you get angry or frustrated? If the answer is yes, then emotional eating may be part of the reason that sticking with a diet is so difficult for you. You’re literally “eating your feelings” and stuffing them down in an attempt get through the stress or find a solution. How do you solve the problem? One way that helps is journaling, it offers several benefits that can help you get a grasp on the problem, so it doesn’t continue to plague you.

Journaling makes you think.

Stress can scatter your thoughts and the first thing you want to do is feel better. Rather than focusing on feeling better, journaling makes you focus on what triggered the eating episode and desire to eat. Writing about the issue that caused the stress can help you get to the core issue that caused you to use food in the first place. You won’t necessarily realize that when you first write it, but reading what you wrote later, when your mind is clearer, can help you get to the bottom of the issue and what really sets you off on an eating binge.

If you’re busy writing, you aren’t eating.

If you make it a habit to reach for your journal when you feel like you want to eat due to an emotional situation, it gives you a chance to pause and rethink it or at least slows you down. If you’re writing, while you might also have a snack in hand, it takes time and that time can be enough for your stomach to send a message to the brain that it’s full. You focus more on the why and think about it, rather than just go through the motions of eating and avoiding the feelings.

Journaling can help you see a pattern and understand your feelings more thoroughly.

The act of journaling can be an emotional release, but it also helps you learn the pattern you’ve established with food and emotions. The more information you give, the easier it is to recognize the pattern. Eventually, you’ll learn to make more appropriate changes and learn new ways to deal with frustration, anger, sadness or stress. It’s far easier, when you understand your own feelings.

Journaling can be done on paper, in a notebook or on a digital device. Keep your journal private, so you’ll be more apt to include more personal emotions and be honest with your entries.
While there’s no right or wrong way to journal, putting a date at the top of the page can be important. It gives you an opportunity to look back on your feelings.
Don’t judge your thoughts before you write them down, there’s no right or wrong thought.
Journaling can help you discover the types of food you eat for emotional release. While you’re learning to deal with issues, you can find healthier foods that simulate those you’ve been eating. Instead of potato chips, get that crunch from celery.

For more information, contact us today at Wellness On A Dime Coaching

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Is There An Optimal Time Of Day To Workout?

Published by superadmin on 27th September 2022 | Leave a response

People are always looking at the best time of day to workout and when they get maximum results. Who wouldn’t want that? The answer is simple. The best time to workout is the best time for you and the time you’ll be able to do it on a regular basis. If you jump out of bed the first thing in the morning and are ready to go, you’re a good candidate for working out in the morning. Not everyone functions that well in the morning, so their optimal time may be later.

What time is best based on your energy level?

If you love the feeling of getting your energy flowing with a great workout, the first thing in the morning is perfect for you. Working out on an empty stomach, after your long nighttime fast while you slept, can help burn the fat that’s stored to use as energy. It also trains your body to burn stored fat. Also, people don’t begin to warm their muscles or function their best until noon or later. That makes working out at noon or after work is best.

Boost your endurance if you’re training for a marathon, or Ironman style event.

If your workout is for more than just good health, but leading up to an endurance style event, like the Ironman or a marathon, then working out later in the day may be the most beneficial for you. Your muscles are warmed and have maximum glycogen stored. It’s attained about two to three hours after a meal and keeps your body boosted with plenty of glycogen reserves to keep you functioning at your peak performance throughout your exercise time.

Are you pumping iron and building strength?

If you want to build muscles, especially if you’re NOT a morning person, move that morning workout to noon or later in the day. The extra time you spend up and moving increases the temperature in your body, which is lowered by sleep. You also will have more fuel from meals. Combine that with a higher body temperature and you’ll improve your performance.

Not everyone can workout at the time that’s best for a specific activity. Exercising regularly is more important than exercising at the perfect time for the activity.
To ensure you workout regularly, put your workout time on your schedule and keep it as you would any appointment. If your mornings are too rushed, schedule it for a time after work. If you often work overtime, get your workout done the first thing in the morning.
Some people love to workout at the end of the day to eliminate the stresses of the day. Others love getting their circulation going the first thing in the morning to clear their head and prepare for the day’s work.
No matter when you workout, always have a preworkout and post workout snack. It should be a combination of protein and carbohydrates, like apple slices and peanut butter.

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Do Nightshades Cause Inflammation?

Published by superadmin on 20th September 2022 | Leave a response

What are nightshades? This family of plants include a number of herbs, fruits and vegetables we often eat, but also some deadly members, like Belladonna, also known as the devil’s cherries. Are they good for us or unhealthy? There’s a belief that many cause inflammation. In fact, tomatoes were once considered poisonous. People did get sick and die when they ate them. However, it wasn’t the tomato that was the problem. It was the tin alloy dishes used for food storage that had high amounts of lead. The acid in the tomatoes caused the lead to leak into the food, causing lead poisoning. Is inflammation just another bad rap for members of the nightshade family?

What plants are nightshade plants.

You might be surprised at the food that’s in the nightshade family. In fact, you might eat at least one of them every day. It contains peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, tomatillos, goji berries, gooseberries, garden huckleberries and eggplant, just to name a few. The fruit some plants, like the tomato, and the root of others, like the potato are used. Most other parts of the plant contain toxins. Another member of the nightshade family is tobacco.

Like many plant species, members of the nightshade family have their own pesticides.

Members of the nightshade family contain solanine, which are alkaloids and natural pesticides. When consumed in large concentrations, it can cause digestive issues, such as nausea and diarrhea, but the amount in the produce eaten is normally too small to create a problem. You’ll find it more concentrated in leaves and stems, but the fruits, when green also have higher concentrations. Members of the nightshade family also contain lectins, which are also in legumes and grains. These can cause inflammation, especially when combined with solanine.

Should you avoid nightshades entirely or are they safe to eat?

For most people, the small amount of solanine isn’t a problem and even the lectins might not be. The problem is, for some folks they do create an inflammation. Both solanine and lectins are considered anti-nutrients. That means they interfere with the body’s ability to digest food. That can create two problems. The first is the reduction of nutrition available to the body. The second is the potential to interfere with the microbiome of the digestive tract. Feeding microorganisms makes them grow. Eating plants with lectins that interfere with digestion cause bacteria to grow linked with inflammation.

Eating too many foods high in lectins can cause digestive issues. It can cause leaky gut, which in turn creates body wide inflammation, causing issues like IBS, allergies, arthritis and other inflammatory issues.
Several studies show that gut inflammation, alkaloids and lectin may be connected. The alkaloids in potatoes made IBS worse, just as the spices from the nightshade family have. They increase intestinal permeability.
Not everyone has reactions to plants in the nightshade family if they eat food that’s table ready. Green tomatoes, the type that are hard and immature, have about 100 times the solanine as ripe tomatoes. Cooking tomatoes also reduces the toxins.
Peeling members of the nightshade family can reduce the lectin in them. Pressure cooking or fermenting the fruits and produce from nightshade also helps cut the lectin that may cause inflammation.

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The Importance Of Mental Fitness

Published by superadmin on 13th September 2022 | Leave a response

People who live in New York often say a lot of their problem comes from living in the big city. People who live in Louisiana, might blame the floods or other issues for their poor attitude. No matter where you live there are pros and cons. Your happiness all starts with you and your mental fitness. If you stay awake nights worrying about things you can’t control, the issues may be different depending on the location or the same, but regardless, you may not be causing the problem, but you are the one causing the stress. You can control your attitude, but it takes work.

Staying positive is not the same as some types of positive thinking.

Don’t mistake positive thinking for inaction. If you’re out of money but refuse to look for employment because you just know that money will magically appear, since you said a mantra to bring it that’s different from eliminating fear that blocks your thoughts. Being able to separate the fear out and focus on solutions is the key to solving problems.

Lack of good mental fitness affects your body, too.

When left uncontrolled, mind-numbing fear can cause high blood pressure from the chronic stress. Chronic stress leads to hormonal imbalances, shortened lifespan and premature aging and disease. Exercise can help eliminate the hormones of stress, so can meditation, deep breathing exercises and other forms of relaxation. The best way to control stress is improving your mental fitness and focusing first on find a solution and eliminating needless worrying that can stress you,

You don’t have to have a problem to feel out of control if you don’t have mental fitness.

Sometimes, mild stressors can create big problems. It doesn’t have to be much. It can be a barking dog, bad driver ahead of you or a cranky salesperson in a store. It all builds up if you let it. How do you get over these mild environmental problems and not let them build? By looking at them for what they are…merely minor nuisances. It’s been noted that chronic stress can increase the potential of death. Mild stress increased the risk of lethal heart disease and stroke by 29% and moderate stress increased it by 43%, while a lifestyle of high stress increased it by 94%.

Developing a positive attitude is just as important as exercising. In fact, it makes exercising easier. Exercising also reduces stress and can play a big role in reducing anxiety and depression.
Staying active and social is important. Studies show that having good friends and a healthy social life can extend your lifespan. Having fun and laughing is the best medicine for any condition.
Having an attitude of gratitude is important for good mental health. Instead of looking at what you don’t have, it’s important to appreciate what you do have.
Schedule time for yourself to improve your mental and physical health. During those hours schedule healthy activities and if you need to, some alone time for meditation, contemplation and relaxation.

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Is Honey Vegan?

Published by superadmin on 5th September 2022 | Leave a response

If you’re vegan, you avoid animal products, such as milk, eggs, meat and any products made from animals. Some vegans differentiate animal and insect products, allowing the second group, which includes honey. Others consume honey in their diet. So, what are the reasons for avoiding this sweet treat? Honey is viewed as non-vegan by some because it’s from a farming source. Just like other types of farming, it’s exploiting living entities, which are bees in this case.

How are bees exploited?

Farming is a commercial enterprise, which means the goal is to make a profit. Vegans often view the farmers as exploiting the work of the bees and use practices that aren’t considered ethical. For instance, bee farmers often replace the queen. While the queen does this naturally, usually in the spring, farmers do it before this occurs to keep up production. It takes time for the new queen to emerge and in the meantime, worker bees age and die and new ones aren’t created. By taking control of the process, farmers ensure a steady flow of honey.

Some vegans feel bee farming harms the health of the bees.

When bee farmers take the honey, they’re taking the bee’s food. Honey has all the essential nutrients and calories that bees need to survive. It’s filled with amino acids, natural antibiotics, carbs and antibiotics. Bees have to eat, so farmers replace that honey with high fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose. That can provide calories, but not all the benefits of honey. In fact, there’s scientific evidence that it may negatively affect the immune system and even cause change at the genetic level that diminishes their protection against pesticides.

If vegans don’t eat honey, what do they use as sweetener?

There are several plant based options, but none of them include the white granules often found in the cupboards of homes across America. Why? Sugar is from plants and fine to consume, up to the point of refinement, where the sugar is pushed through a massive filter that’s created from bone char—the burnt bones of animals. It removes not only the color, but also the nutrients in sugar. Instead of table sugar, vegans often use maple syrup, molasses, barley malt syrup, brown rice sugar or date syrup

Some vegans feel the hard work of bees is stolen by the farmers. Both of these things are believed as unethical by vegans. In order to take a stand, they avoid the consumption of honey.
Honey has many health benefits, which vary based on the diet of the bees. Wildflower honey, for instance, is often used to suppress coughs and help with seasonal allergies.
If you grow sage and have bees, their honey will most likely be good for digestion, if the bees harvest its nectar. The type of nectar bees collect also affects the taste, color and texture. Tupelo honey is extremely sweet and almost buttery in texture.
Whether you’re vegan or not, avoid giving infants 12 months or younger raw honey. Raw honey may have botulism spores or bacteria that won’t affect older children and adults but does affect babies because of their immature immune system.

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