Five Unexpected Steps to Better Health

"So many things to do and not enough time to do them all!" goes the familiar lament. And yet our physical health is vital to having the energy and stamina to eventually do all the things we feel are most critical. Besides, having an extra 10 years of healthy life can improve the odds tremendously in accomplishing such things that call for our regular attention. So how do we add yet another activity, another time-consuming To-Do item on our already too-long list of things screaming for our attention? Some answers may lie in some of the following unexpected health-promoting activities.

1. Car Crunches and Telephone Toe Lifts

Isometrics is the name of the time-saving muscle-toning game. Call me weird, but most places I drive, I’m subtly, unbeknownst to anyone in or outside the car, doing car crunches. Car crunches? Yes, car crunches. I have two car crunching methods.

One: I suck in my gut as I tighten my abs, then release. I repeat this process until I can’t anymore or it’s time to park and exit the car. These crunches are usually fast with no particular number of reps or sets.

Two: I simply tighten my abs without sucking in. But here, instead of fast repetitions, I hold it. I sometimes press around at my abs with the fingers of my non-driving hand to ensure I’m keeping them tightened enough or to target particular abdominal quadrants as I hold it. Then I release and repeat over and over and over and over again.

And I have to say that in a relatively short amount of time, I have felt a difference in the hardness and in depth of the contours of the six pack that is forming underneath some excess reserve I’m still working on removing.

Telephone Toe Lifts (and even car crunches) can really be best understood as a metaphor for making use of the little moments wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. As I talk on the phone, if standing, I’ll often lift up to my tip toes, tightening my calves or shift to one foot to increase the weight on each calf.

The possibilities are almost endless. Think about the things you can flex as you brush you teeth or do dishes or mow the lawn. Be creative. But each moment you incorporate isometric exercises into your daily routine, you will be that much closer to a healthier, more toned life.

2. Eat before you shop

If you eat first, and I mean a full meal, fewer things will “call” to your hungry stomach as you wonder the sugary and buttery halls of super market junk food.

Bring a shopping list and fight the urge to go isle by isle shopping. Got to the exact location of the items on your list, avoiding the meandering, “I’ll find it eventually” technique of filling your basket (you’ll find your bank account sending you love letter too!)

You see, if you can control the circumstances of shopping, you will largely control what makes it into your cart. What’s in your cart will determine what’s on your shelves at home late at night as you’re watching that late-night movie and you start almost instinctively searching the house for munchies.

Yogurt, almonds and dried fruit take a distant back seat at those times when competing for your attention are chocolate bars, Ding Dongs, cookies, chips and ice cream. Self check your groceries where possible too. The candy racks in the traditional checkout lines will do you in every time!

If all you have is good food available, you will likely both snack less often, and when you do snack, you will actually be putting things into your body that will do it good. Or at least much less harm than if you go shopping on an empty stomach, meander isle by isle through the store to “see what you need” and pick up a few extra items off the candy rack in the checkout line as you wait your turn to pay for the junk your body will pay for again later on. (if you choose to ignore this step, increase the intensity and frequency of step #1)

3. Get a good blender

 

My wife and I used a cheapo $30 blender from Target of somewhere for years until we finally broke down and bought a Jamba Juice-quality high-powered blender for about $400. I know … ouch! But we love it! And I believe it will end up being one of the best investments we have ever made in our long-term health.

Every day, with very few exceptions, we drink a smoothie chock full of all kinds of goodies. Stock your freezer with small bags of frozen goodies like blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, mango and strawberries. Freeze your own fruit too (cut them into small pieces as needed for convenience of use), like bananas, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, kiwi, and grapes. Some fruit won’t need to be frozen if they are eaten fast enough to avoid spoiling. Apples, oranges and peaches or plums might fall into this category.

Then go to town! Experiment with different combinations. Add yogurt. Try different juices. We like cranberry-raspberry juice and grape juice best. But we have used orange juice, apple juice, blueberry juice, mango-orange juice, mango-peach juice and other types of unique juice blends. But always use 100% juices. Otherwise, you will be adding unnecessary processed sugars to your otherwise-healthy elixir of delicious healthiness. I always add blueberries because of their high powered nutrient content, but have fun coming up with new combos of tasty glasses of goodness!

4. Put spinach in the blender with your blueberries and yogurt

No, really! The thing is, not all foods are created equal (and neither are all veggies), and discrimination is highly recommended here. Ounce for ounce, spinach is perhaps the richest in its health-promoting goodness. You can’t skimp on your veggie intake, and what better way than to make 100% of your blended spinach dose bioavailable? For most foods we eat, our bodies only absorb a relatively small percent of the vitamins, nutrients, minerals, and phyto and micro nutrients they potentially provide. The amount of those things our bodies actually absorb is referred to as its bioavailability. Our $400 baby can blend at a speed that breaks down the spinach so that it is 100% bioavailable. We also throw in a few baby carrots. Play with the ratios. You don’t need much spinach or very many carrots, especially given the bioavailability with a powerful blender. Besides, if it tastes like medicine, the $400 will be wasted anyway.

5. Play with your kids

There’s just no way around it. Any responsible weight loss or health improvement advice MUST include cardiovascular exercise.

But here are some time-saving ways to get the cardio help your heart absolutely must have without expensive gym memberships or having to purchase large, bulky, personal home gym equipment or joint-stressing running regimens, making it as easy as possible:

Play tag with your child or (a crazy idea here!) your spouse or significant other or BFF.

Jog or briskly walk along side your small child riding her scooter.

Walk or ride your bike to work where feasible. I mean, you have to go to work anyway, so why not make the trip a life-extending one?!

Hand-in-hand with a loved one (spouse, child, parent, relative, friend, neighbor), take a brisk walk around the block several times (depending on the size of your block and condition of your neighborhood, of course). The brisk walk should keep your heart rate elevated for at least 10 minutes, but preferably 25 or 30 minutes. Much more if you can (assuming your doctor has cleared you for such things).

Learn to dance (Ballroom, tap, ballet, belly-dancing, break dancing, shuffling, whatever makes you move your body and exercises your ticker!).

Take up a sport. Sometimes team involvement keeps us moving because we feel committed to others. This helps keep us cardiovascularly healthy even when we start to feel a little burned out. You get the added social benefit of joining a team too.

Well, there you have it. With the exception of the last one, these are likely fairly unexpected ways of improving your health and promoting longevity and reducing the risk of a host of diseases. So good luck, be healthy, live long and prosper!