Studies show that risk for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is greater in people who consume high amounts of cholesterol, saturated fat, and excess calories and low amounts of fiber, vegetables, and fruits. Just as saturated fat and cholesterol can build up in the blood vessels and form plaques, plaques in the brain compromise blood flow to important parts of the brain.
As the years roll by, nothing has become clearer to me than the fact that aging successfully requires a lot of work. When it comes to our bodies, nothing rings truer than, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” This is particularly true not only when it comes to preventing declines arising from disuse, but also when trying to slow down the normal impacts of aging.
The function of our bodily systems peaks at around age 25 and declines over time. As a result, your maximal aerobic capacity decreases, even with constant training, reflective of declines in maximal heart rate. In addition, your balance ability gets worse (particularly after age 40), bones get thinner, muscles atrophy, reflexes get slower, and recovery from workouts takes longer. Aging is not for sissies, but it beats the alternative!
The good news is that it is possible to slow the rapid decline of these systems by changing how you live your life. By including regular physical training, better nutrition, adequate sleep, and stress management, you can delay or prevent a lot of normal aging and reverse decrements caused by inactivity, neglect, disuse, and abuse of our bodies. The only caveat is that we can’t control or reverse neurological decline.
It starts to seem like preventing additional declines from inactivity or inadequate training gets to be a full-time job as you get older and you have to keep adding in additional exercises, stretches, and activities. A fitness instructor recently confirmed that it’s a bit like playing whack-a-mole: fix one weak area or physical problem and another one pops up. Welcome to aging!
So what can you do to live your best life both physically and mentally? I would suggest adding at least these (and many other) critical exercises to your weekly routine:
In addition to doing regular cardio activities like walking, cycling, and swimming, add in some faster intervals into any workout, such as walking faster for 10 to 60 seconds at a time during your normal walk or doing a hill profile on a cardio training machine. Doing so will increase your fitness more and improve insulin sensitivity for longer. It’s also fine to do high-intensity interval training (HIIT) at least once a week, but start out slowly and progress slowly to prevent injuries and demotivation. Not all your workouts should be equally intense, and varying your aerobic activities also lowers the risk of getting injured.
It is easy to work on your muscle strength and muscle endurance by doing a series of resistance exercises targeting your major muscle groups (in the upper body, lower body, and core areas). Pick at least 8 to 10 exercises that cover all these areas and do them at least two to three days per week. It’s fine to use your own body weight, household items (like full water bottles), hand weights, or resistance bands as resistance—you don’t have to have access to a gym or leave home. Adding in these exercises to your weekly routine is critical to aging well and being able to live independently throughout your entire lifespan.
This simple exercise involves standing on one leg for a minute, switching to the other leg, and repeating. Have something you can grab onto nearby, such as the back of a chair. You can hold on with both hands, one hand, one finger, or nothing as you get better at balancing. To challenge yourself, move your free leg in different directions (e.g., out front, to the side, behind you) while standing on the other one, or practice standing on uneven surfaces, such as a cushion. If your balance ability is really getting to be an issue, include other balance training activities each week as well.
Do a series of flexibility exercises that stretch your joints in all their normal directions to maintain and increase their range of motion. With aging, we are all losing flexibility and diabetes can accelerate this loss when extra glucose sticks to joint surfaces (cartilage) over time and makes them more brittle. Try to stretch at least two to three days per week. The older you get, the longer you should hold each stretch (up to a minute on each one), and you may need to add in specialized stretches (such as for your calves or hips) to really work tighter joints to enhance your mobility and balance ability.
Your bones stay stronger when you put normal stress on them regularly, such as carrying your own body weight around when walking or jogging or doing resistance exercises with your upper body or carrying grocery bags. If you stay sedentary, your bones will lose minerals faster and get thinned out more quickly, and non-weight-bearing activities like swimming and cycling just don’t have the ability to build bone as much as weight-bearing ones. Try to adequately stress your bones to stimulate the bone mineral density to stay higher—at least two to three days per week.
Until you start to get older, you seldom think about how difficult it can be to get up out of a chair or off the sofa. Many older people get heavier and weaker and start to have trouble doing these basic maneuvers, which are critical to living well independently. To improve your ability, practice doing wall sits, which involves sitting against a wall with your hips and knees at 90 degree angles and your feet straight below your knees for as long as you can. This exercise will also help prevent knee pain and problems. Alternatively, you can do sit-to-stand exercises where you sit on the edge of an armless chair and practice getting up without using your arms. (This is also often called the “getting up from the toilet” exercise.)
Also known as pelvic floor muscle training, Kegel exercises can help with stress incontinence (i.e., urinating a little when sneezing or laughing) and normal incontinence (both urinary or fecal), and they may enhance your sexual pleasure to boot. The easiest way to identify the pelvic floor muscles is to stop your urine flow while urinating or tighten the muscles that keep you from passing gas. To do Kegels, imagine you are sitting on a marble and pretend you’re lifting it up by tightening your pelvic muscles and holding them contracted for as long as you can; do this a few times in a row. When your muscles get stronger, you can do these exercises while sitting, standing, or walking. Both men and women can and should do Kegel exercises regularly.
Sheri R. Colberg, PhD, is the author of The Athlete’s Guide to Diabetes: Expert Advice for 165 Sports and Activities (the newest edition of Diabetic Athlete’s Handbook). She is also the author of Diabetes & Keeping Fit for Dummies, co-published by Wiley and the ADA. A professor emerita of exercise science from Old Dominion University and an internationally recognized diabetes motion expert, she is the author of 12 books, 34 book chapters, and over 420 articles. She was honored with the 2016 American Diabetes Association Outstanding Educator in Diabetes Award. Contact her via her websites (SheriColberg.com and DiabetesMotion.com).
Women have different biomechanics due to a slightly wider pelvis, which means their knees buckle more easily when landing from a jump. Women have looser joints, which is a risk factor for knee problems, and muscular, strength and hormonal issues also play a part.
The ACL provides the knee joint with stability and rotational control during movement. When an ACL tear happens, hearing or feeling a ‘pop’ at the time of injury is common. This is followed by localized swelling at the knee joint.
An ACL injury can occur in several ways:
If you experience any sharp or sudden pain at the knee, especially during sports or from a fall, follow the First Aid RICE protocol immediately — Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate — and seek medical attention immediately.
There isn’t much you can do once the injury happens, but there are ways to minimize the chance of it happening in the first place. Prevention is better than cure so focus on strengthening the kinetic chain and muscles around the knee. If you do lots of sport with plyometric movements, ensure your technique and form is correct, and include agility drills for neuromuscular control.
Here are 5 essential exercises to help stabilize and strengthen your knees, hips and glutes, which in turn will help prevent an ACL injury.
Ensure that your knee doesn’t buckle and aim to keep your hips level. Keep your spine neutral and braced throughout the entire movement while maintaining balance.
This exercise targets the hamstrings and calves. Maintain a neutral spine throughout the range of movements.
Maintain an upright torso with your hips squared. If you feel a sharp pain in your knee at any time during this exercise, stop and seek advice from a qualified trainer.
Begin by placing your feet wide apart, then shift your weight from left to right while placing most of your body weight on the heels of your feet. If you feel a sharp pain in your knee at any time during this exercise, stop and seek advice from a qualified trainer.
Reprinted with permission from www.purelyb.com
Ke Wynn Lee is an author and an international award-winning corrective exercise specialist who currently owns and operates a private Medical Fitness Center in Penang. Apart from coaching, he also conducts workshops and actively contributes articles related to corrective exercise, fitness & health to online media and local magazines.
he atmosphere in which you eat—both psychologically and aesthetically—may be one of the most overlooked reasons for overeating and weight gain. Our research has revealed that both the internal and external environment while eating can be a powerful determinant of weight. Here’s why.
Better health now is what a lot of people strive for. Whether it is weight loss, more energy or to get off certain medications, a lot of people want better health and they want it now! I think it’s one of the best decisions you can make for your body!
Nearly 2,400 Americans die of cardiovascular disease daily, with an average of one death occurring every 37 seconds. In 2018, roughly one out of every 10 Americans over the age of 20 had some type of cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, heart failure, and/or stroke), and one out of every seven deaths in the United States was due to coronary heart disease alone.
Roasted mini pumpkins make the perfect fall dessert vessel. The entire pumpkin is edible and packed with anti-aging phytonutrients. Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring “fountain of youth” and pumpkin seeds are one of the best sources. When you’re preparing your pumpkin bowls don’t forget to save the seeds for roasting.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill roasting pan with ¼” water. Wash and dry pumpkins and shave a little off the bottom of each to create a stable base. Cut off top, clean out seeds and pulp. Pat the inside dry with paper towels. Warm oil, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Brush the prepared pumpkins inside and out with cinnamon mixture. Place pumpkins into water bath and top with lids. Roast until tender and caramelized. The aroma fills your home with holiday spirit.
Remove from pan and allow to rest for 5-7 minutes. Place each one onto a dessert plate and fill with your favorite ice cream. Dust with powdered sugar and cinnamon. I like a little orange zest, too.
Say hello to the real “fountain of youth” — hyaluronic acid (HA) is just that, says the latest research. Three nutrients have to be present for the body to assimilate and benefit from HA. Pumpkin has it all going on: Magnesium, Phytoestrogen, and the phytoflavanoid, Naringenin. Vitamin C and Zinc are big players here, too. HA affects every part of our bodies and super-agers have shown to have it in abundance. Pumpkin seeds are the number one source of quality HA in the seed world. Seeds contain a much higher source of HA than nuts.
The bright orange color shows us the presence of beta-carotene and supports the health of our skin, eyes and immune function. Beta-carotene becomes Vitamin A and Vitamin A becomes Abscisic Acid: a powerful cancer killer. That’s another thing our orange fruit and veggie friends do for us: they check the health of our cells and prevent mutation of cancer cells. The humble sweet potato has the best tracking system of all. Nature is so amazing!
Get more great recipes from Tina Martini — her book, Delicious Medicine: The Healing Power of Food is available to purchase on Amazon. More than a cookbook, combining 20+ years of experience, along with her love of coaching, cooking and teaching, Tina offers unexpected insights into the history and healing power of clean eating, along with recipes to help reduce your risk of disease and improve overall wellness so you can enjoy life!
Affectionately referred to as The Walking Encyclopedia of Human Wellness, Fitness Coach, Strength Competitor and Powerlifting pioneer, Tina “The Medicine Chef” Martini is an internationally recognized Naturopathic Chef and star of the cooking show, Tina’s Ageless Kitchen. Tina’s cooking and lifestyle show has reached millions of food and fitness lovers all over the globe. Over the last 30 years, Tina has assisted celebrities, gold-medal athletes and over-scheduled executives naturally achieve radiant health using The Pyramid of Power: balancing Healthy Nutrition and the healing power of food, with Active Fitness and Body Alignment techniques. Working with those who have late-stage cancer, advanced diabetes, cardiovascular and other illnesses, Tina’s clients are astounded at the ease and speed with which they are able to restore their radiant health. Tina believes that maintaining balance in our diet, physical activity, and in our work and spiritual life is the key to our good health, happiness and overall well being. Visit her website, themedicinechef.com
Every potential coaching client is looking to have the question ‘What’s in it for me?’ answered. Every coach needs to be able to succinctly answer that question by conveying what they will provide for their client.
Potential coaching clients are rarely familiar with what a coach, especially a health & wellness coach, can do for them. They are used to dealing with educators and consultants, medical and otherwise, not coaches. Usually clients expect to be directed, educated, and led in the best direction for them. All too often they hear a wellness coach tell them something like:
“I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m not going to tell you what to eat or how to exercise. You’re the one in charge. You’re the one behind the steering wheel. You’ll be making your own wellness plan, and I’ll help you follow it.”
Why should this person become your client when it appears that they, themselves, are going to be doing all the work? Our client-centered approach to coaching does not mean we are not providing value, however we have to communicate the value of what we offer, and do it very clearly. What will the client gain from coaching?
This is true for the self-employed coach as well as the coach working for a wellness program, a disease management company, an insurance carrier, or any other organization that provides wellness and health coaching. It is about engagement. When coaches are confronted with the “incentivized” client, who is reluctantly complying with coaching in order to get their prize (or much-needed insurance discount), conveying the Health And Wellness Coach’s Value Proposition is more vital than ever.
Here is my way of presenting The Health And Wellness Coach’s Value Proposition. Please adapt to your own words and use it!
“Thank you for your interest in improving your lifestyle and your life. You may be new to coaching, and especially wellness coaching, so let me share with you the value that it brings.
Wellness/health coaching is all about you living the best life possible for you. To do that most people find there needs to be some improvements in their way of living, their lifestyle. Making those improvements, those changes is challenging when you have to do it all by yourself. Perhaps you’ve already had some experience with that.
When I work with someone in coaching I’m here to serve you. You are the one in charge of your life and our work together. It’s your hands on the steering wheel. I’m not going to tell you what to do and give you a pre-maid wellness plan. But, together we can co-create a plan to help you succeed at making the lifestyle improvements that you want to make.
As your coach I will be working with you to get very clear about where you are at with your health and well being right now. We’ll help you take stock of that by exploring together, using some coaching tools that will help give you a more complete picture, and by going over the lifestyle improvement recommendations you’ve gotten from treatment professionals. Then we’ll work together to help you form a clear picture of the kind of life you want to live, your healthiest life possible for you. We’ll compare where you’re at and where you want to be and together form a solid plan to help you get there.
Once we have that plan we’ll work together as allies to help you be accountable to yourself and follow through on the steps you need to be taking on a regular basis to help you achieve the goals you have in your plan. I’ll be with you throughout the journey. I’ll be there to help you strategize over, under, around and through the barriers that come up. I’ll help you with challenges that make it tough for you to live the healthy life you want and together we’ll help you keep on track. Together we’ll help you find and develop the sources of support that will make your changes last. We’ll evaluate our progress and adjust the course along the way as we need to. My goal is to assist you in becoming self-sufficient in your wellness, to be able to live a healthy life in a completely sustainable way.
I bring the value of a professional that knows about succeeding at lifestyle improvement. I bring the value of an ally.”
*Created by Michael Arloski, Ph.D., PCC, CWP. Please adapt to your own words and use it! If used intact you must include authorship credit and contact information (Real Balance Global Wellness Services, Inc, https://www.realbalance.com).
Originally published on Real Balance blog. Reprinted with permission.
Dr. Michael Arloski is the CEO and Founder of Real Balance Global Wellness Services, Inc. (www.realbalance.com). Real Balance has trained thousands of wellness coaches worldwide. Dr. Arloski is a board member of The National Wellness Institute, and a founding member of the executive team of The National Consortium For Credentialing Health and Wellness Coaches. He is author of the leading book in the field of wellness coaching: Wellness Coaching For Lasting Lifestyle Change, 2nd Ed.
If you make either of these two big fitness marketing mistakes post-pandemic, it will cost you. You’re going to make them totally unintentionally. I mean of course, right? Why would anyone intentionally make a marketing mistake?
Beyond that, though you may think that yes, you’ve got these two bases covered and realize after reading this and listening to my podcast on the topic, no you don’t.
One way you know is you’re attracting the wrong kind of people.
Another way is you’re not getting any engagement on your social or your content marketing.
If you confuse, you lose.
Analyze:
And then apply this to the following to avoid the two biggest fitness marketing mistakes
The other day I reviewed a business website and social media platforms as part of a social media audit. It was hard to know who the ideal customer was and if I couldn’t tell as a fitness marketer looking for it, how could anyone?
Just because you’re focused on a certain age and gender (demographic), it doesn’t mean that everyone in that demographic wants the same thing.
First, there’s your niche. Are you about food, exercise, mindset, hormones, weight loss? What is your specific niche?
But that’s not even enough.
Here’s an example
Take women in menopause. Many are married, but an almost equal number are single. Are you talking about dating? About traveling alone? Or about family vacations? About drinking wines and trips to Napa? Some (I’m one) wouldn’t enjoy that at all because they rarely, and then barely, drink.
Some women have a conservative view of menopause, what’s happening and possible, while others are thinking about doing triathlons after retirement. Who are you talking to?
Women in perimenopause are more likely to have kids at home full-time jobs, and a unique set of problems, compared to women just post-menopause. There’s a subset of women in post-menopause who did have children later… so who are you talking to? Define it very specifically. And realize, they need to feel “like you.” If your images, videos and copy doesn’t resonate with who they are or want to be, you miss the opportunity to help women looking for you.
Find out the #2 biggest fitness marketing mistake and listen to Debra’s podcast on this topic… visit Debra’s blog, Fitness Marketing Mastery
Debra Atkinson is the #youstillgotitgirl who is flipping 50 and changing the way thousands of women think about their second half. She’s the host of the Flipping 50 TV Show and the Flipping 50 podcast. As a master personal trainer, strength and wellness coach with over 30 years fitness industry experience, she works with women who are pro-aging with vitality and energy. She serves on the MedFit Education Foundation Advisory Board, is an international fitness presenter, and author of hundreds of articles and multiple books. Visit her website, flippingfifty.com