Get Fit and Have Fun!

Exercise & Health Tips

3 great tips to help you find time for fitness 

  1. While you’re working at a desk job, take a break every hour to get up from your tasks. Stretch, walk around, get the blood flowing again. A few things to try: pinch your shoulder blades together ten times during every break; this helps to alleviate the hunched over pose many of us develop at the computer. Reach up and stretch from side to side with your hands over your head, breathing deeply as you do.
  2. Be a more active watcher! We all love to binge watch on Netflix (right?) but you can do more than just sit there.  Yoga while you watch, crunches, planks, squats, and push-ups are all things you can do. Make this the time you get in your strength training each day.
  3. Wear a fitness tracker, set a goal, and stick to it. Pedometers are in just above everything nowadays; chances are your phone has one. Personally I really like the heart rate monitoring that you’ll find in newer fitness trackers; being able to see that you’ve hit your target is so rewarding!

 

Best Foods to Lower Cholesterol

  1. Almonds are pretty hard working nuts… when it comes to lowering your cholesterol. First, they’re rich in unsaturated fats that help raise healthy HDL cholesterol while lowering unhealthy LDL.
  2. Olive oil is a nutritional superstar… —  rich in antioxidants and heart-healthy monounsaturated fats that help lower bad cholesterol levels and raise good ones.
  3. Oatmeal…not the cookies…. Starting the day with a bowl of warm, toasty oatmeal is a smart move. Of all the whole grains, oats are the best source of soluble fiber — the kind that forms a gel to prevent cholesterol from being absorbed into your bloodstream.
  4. Pinto Beans… Next time you make chili, add pinto beans to the pot. They’re packed with soluble fiber to help drive down cholesterol.
  5. Avocados, They’re chock-full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats that help knock down bad cholesterol and triglycerides while boosting healthy HDL cholesterol.
  6. Dark Chocolate!  If you’re a chocoholic, here’s some good news. Study after study confirms that dark chocolate is pretty amazing. It’s full of flavonoids, which are antioxidants that help lower cholesterol.