Staying Healthy on Vacation

***Spring break is coming up next week for us, so this will be the only post for the next two weeks. *** (I know you will miss me, but try to handle it.)  How can we stay healthy on vacation?  It is so easy to eat too much and be too lazy, true?  I say the answer is to make a plan for the opposite.  What if you lost 5 pounds on vacation instead of gaining 10?  You would be 15 pounds better off!  What if you built muscle instead of lost it? Decide now to exercise some each day.  You will feel better!  Going to a cabin with your family?  Take time out to take a walk each morning and find the beauty in God's world.

by Dan, freedigitalphotos.net

Cool!  That sounds like a healthy start to our day, physically and spiritually. 

The other challenge on vacation is the food.  Many times on vacation we can't control how food is prepared.  We can control how much we eat, however.  How about if you really want something rich that you love, have a taste!  Is that all you really wanted?  Sometimes it is, just to taste.  If it is too hard for you to just have a taste, tell yourself you can have more later if you want.  Sometimes the craving will go away.  Sometimes not. If not, ask yourself, is it really hunger?  If it is, eat something healthy first, then if you still want it, have a little more.  I think God made good food for us to enjoy.  He also wants us to learn to be self-disciplined and make good choices.  So enjoy and be thankful, but maybe do it a little less than you would have otherwise.  We really do eat too much food.  (What a blessing that we have that problem!)  Your body really needs much less than most people think.  I realized that when I started counting calories.  I really do not need as much as I had been eating!  We are actually healthier when we eat less.  According to a study done at Harvard Medical School, scientists believe that calorie restriction actually slows down the aging process.  (They believe exercise does this also! :-) Check out this article if you want to learn more about that:

Eat Less To Live Longer: Calorie Restriction Linked To Long Healthy Lives

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070920122209.htm

So, to sum it up:

Have a great spring! 

 Eat less, move more, thank God, and be happy.

Sounds like a great plan. 

Making your health a priority

Why am I writing about making health a priority?  ---Personal experience of not making it a priority! Last week I did wonderfully.  This week, on Monday I was crazy busy from 5 am when I got up to teach my scripture class to picking up 5 kids in our carpool to take to high school, to helping my daughter in homeschool, to doing a week's worth of laundry, to etc. etc. you get the idea. That day as I went to bed I realized I never read my scriptures (even though I took care of that before I went to sleep), I didn't exercise, I ate horribly and I never even took a shower! ewww maybe you didn't need to know that part.  You get the idea.  Why did I neglect all those things that make me happy?  Why did I fall off the bandwagon (probably into the horses' excrement? :-)) --- That smiley face has a double chin.  Not a good sign.

The Blue Spoon Group--purpose? to make you smile.

I listened to an article this week from my church's magazine, the Ensign, about a lady with 6 kids that was having a tough time having the time to read the scriptures everyday.  She read the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:40-42) and was inspired about what God was trying to tell her from that story.  She said,

I have since adjusted my priorities. Instead of saying, “If I have time I will read my scriptures,” I now say, “I will read my scriptures and then accomplish what I can.” In time, peace returned to my life because I knew I was doing the things that Heavenly Father wanted me to do first.

It is easy to be like Martha when there are many things—often good things—that need our time, but I now find I am able to accomplish so much more because my mind is focused on Heavenly Father’s will and His purposes for me. I know that if I continue to put the Lord first, He will bless me with strength, peace, and joy.

Kristine Nelson, Arizona, USA

http://lds.org/ensign/2011/02/questions-and-answers?lang=eng

 

Way to go Kristine!  We can apply this principle to making time to exercise and choosing to eat healthily.  Barbara Winder, a leader in my church's women's organization, recommened that we select what we neglect so we don't neglect what we select.  One more time.  Select what you neglect so you don't neglect what you select.  We do not have time for all things.  Make choices about what is most important to you and then the other less important stuff can wait.  A famous lady I know (my Mom) told me once, "The dishes will wait for you.  Hold that baby." Make choices about what is best for you.  Ask for God's help to figure out what that is.  I hope that one of those is making your health a priority.  Said by that same famous lady,"You are worth it." 

Sprint to the end!

In a little over two months will be our party at the cabin!  Can you say you are healthier?  Let's sprint to the end!  I am going to lose 10 pounds between now and then.  That is about one pound per week. Totally accomplish-able!  Anyone want to join me?  I usually do not like to do pound goals, but I need a reason to stop eating almond M&Ms (my favorite.)  I am also going to take my measurements and plan on losing at least an inch.  That will be an inch off the sum of all my measurements.

Practising my happy smile for when I have lost those 10 pounds. Taken by my friend Elizabeth (she is 4).

 I would also like to set up some exercise buddies.  For example, I would like someone to speed walk with me two days a week at 8 am.  Cross-country skiing has ended and the pool is closing for all of April.  Yikes!  I need to find some alternatives.  Having a friend to go with helps us go when we might not otherwise go.  It is also fun to talk with a friend.  Who lives in your area that you could make a plan with?  Get out in that great weather this week and get some sunshine!  (Get some vitamin D while you are at it.  You make it from sunlight.)

Muscles: Move it or Lose it!

Did you know if you don't use a muscle it will get smaller or "atrophy"? Atrophy is a decrease in muscle mass. It can be caused by disease or accidents, but for most of us it is caused by lack of use. Take my sweet Grandmother for example. She decided to spend the last years of her life sitting in her front room chair. Because she chose to not move much, it became difficult for her muscles to even help her get up. Some of that is from the aging process. Some of that was simply from disuse.

Thankfully, most of us can reverse muscle atrophy in most cases through use. Having enough muscle supporting your joints can be critical to preventing injuries. Think of your knee for example. If you walk your dog every day, the muscles around your knee will be stronger than they would be if you didn't. Then, when you step off a porch onto a rock and your knee goes sidewards, those muscles are supporting that joint and your ligaments don't get torn or stretched too far as easily. (Ligaments join bone to bone at joints.)

Help muscles help you by making them strong!