healthy-eating

I’m back from my vacation, and what an adventure it was.

And in addition to being great, I found it completely amazing how physically exhausting a vacation can be (tour bus pick-up at 6:30 a.m., plane rides, bus rides, and scary car episodes with a French taxi driver who insisted on taking all the Corsican island curves — which, did I mention, are only one lane — at 100 kilometers an hour by looking BACK at me so that I could confirm that yes, the island was beautiful, and yes, I was completely relaxed … just not right at that moment).

Yes, you can have it all, really!

How you eat, think and exercise dramatically affects your mood. You can break the cycle of unhealthy habits and learn to have it all.

I consider myself a very “healthy” person. I eat well and walk and stretch every day. I challenge my balance to make sure I still can. I look both ways before crossing the street. But even with this preventative mindset, I still manage to end up wounded every month like clockwork. Don’t worry. It’s nothing my body isn’t designed to handle. And it is a wound borne by half of the people on the planet at about the same frequency.

By The FIRM Master Instructor Kirsten Palmer

Have you heard the awful rumor that clothing manufacturers use “vanity sizing”?  It turns out it’s true. They’ve adjusted their sizes to fit our expanding waistlines. What that means for you is that, without changing your weight or measurements at all, you might suddenly fit into a size 8 when you never could before. Or, you could have gained five or so pounds, but not notice it (or want to notice it) because you can still buy the same size clothes.

Confused about what good nutrition is?

You shouldn’t be — we know what works and what doesn’t.

In a moment, I will share five simple tips to help you optimize your nutrition and achieve vibrant health, but first let me clear up a few misconceptions.

For me, the best part of camping isn’t the rugged hiking trails, swimming in a pristine lake or sleeping under the stars — it’s the food. It’s easy to get caught up in a junk-food rut when packing for a camping trip — potato chips, overprocessed hot dogs and preservative-laden packaged foods. But planning campfire meals that are better for you is easier than you might think.

Acne rates are rising — contradicting the belief that this condition is caused by genes.

Eight million people see the dermatologist every year for acne, and millions more rely on infomercial products hawked by celebrities or over-the-counter products that total $100 million in sales every year. Clearly, this problem, like so many chronic diseases in the 21st century, is increasing. Why?

Have you ever exercised a bit harder because you had ice cream the night before? Ever justified making a poor dietary decision (dessert/second helping/third cocktail) by thinking, “I’ll work out twice tomorrow,” or “It’s OK, I ran 10 miles today”?

One of the biggest things you can do to support and encourage responsibly raised food is to vote with your wallet. You may be patronizing CSAs and farmers’ markets for local produce, buying organic brands from your supermarket, and studying nutrition labels for evils like high fructose corn syrup and artificial preservatives. But if you’re eating in restaurants blissfully ignorant of where the food on your plate comes from, then you might be undermining your efforts.

It takes about 60 days for a human to form a long-term habit, studies have shown. So why do so many Americans fail on their diet and exercise plans? They don’t give it two weeks, much less four. We are an instant-gratification society that wants quick results or forget it!