,

Wellness Habit: Start the Day with Warm Lemon Water

Yes, I do drink my cleansing lemon water in a Bud Light glass.

Drinking water is the perfect way to start your day.  Believe it or not, simply being hydrated will help you feel fresh and awake and ready to conquer your day!  Add an extra boost to your morning water with lemon.  Lemon has some amazing benefits that you can reap simply by squeezing some organic lemon juice into lukewarm water each morning.  Here are just a few great things warm lemon water can do for you:

Aids Digestion

The lemon juice you squeeze in to your water will help you flush out toxins and promotes bile production, all of which helps maintain a healthy digestive system.   Lemon’s aid in your digestive system will help relieve indigestion, gas, and heart burn, too.

Promotes Weight Loss

Lemons contain a good amount of pectin fiber, which helps regulate hunger and keep you from eating unnecessarily. Lemon also helps balance for bodies pH levels.  A body with a balanced pH level is much more readily able to lose weight than one with a highly acidic pH level. Go lemon!

Boosts Immune System

Lemons are really high in vitamin C, they are a citrus fruit after all! You need high levels of vitamin C in your body to help it repair itself when nasty bugs and bacteria attack and lemon’s naturally high levels of potassium helps reduce free radicals and increase red blood cell production!

 Increases Energy

Hydrating with water alone will help you increase your energy, but adding lemon gives you even more oomph! Lemon actually creates an enzyme reaction during digestion that gives your body an extra dose of energy and simply smelling lemon boosts your mood.  It’s science.

 

Those are just four of the many reasons lemon water is a great addition to your daily habits. Even on the days that I don’t consume my lemon water first thing in the morning. I make sure to have it at some point during the day.  I honestly do love the way I feel when I drink lemon water first thing in the morning.  I squeeze ½-1 whole lemon into my water for ultimate results and, voila, I feel energized, fresh, and ready to make healthy choices throughout my day. I highly recommend holding on to this wellness habit forever!

P.s. I’m drinking mine right now, are you?

 

Be well.

 

/0 Comments/by
,

Wellness Habit: Eat Final Meal 3-4 Hours Before Bed

Last week I embarked on a journey to develop a good habit for wellness, eating no less than 3 or 4 hours before bed.  This may not be hard for some people, but for someone who regularly works until 8 or 9 p.m., it is a HUGE challenge.  Many personal trainers claim eating too close to bedtime deters weight loss efforts and I think they may be on to something.  Here are all of the benefits you can have when you stop eating right before bed:

Lose Weight

It may simply be because the later it is in the evening, the more likely it is that you’re reaching for ice cream or potato chips, but striving to stop eating 3-4 hours before bedtime has proven to be an effective way to lose weight.  If you eat junk all day but stop at the right time before bed, don’t expect results, but as part of a healthy diet and weight loss program, cutting out eating close to bed can help you reach your goal.

 

Get Better Sleep

Gas, indigestion, uncomfortable full feeling in your belly; all of those can seriously impede your ability to fall asleep and stay resting through the night.  Also, eating at night may also upset your body’s natural day/night cycle, impairing your sleep cycle and causing you to have trouble managing your blood sugar levels. These food-induced sleep disruptions could even lead to insulin resistance and diabetes. Try eating lighter at dinner and giving yourself at least 3 hours between your meal and hittin’ the hay to see if your sleep improves.

 

Feel Fresh in the Morning

There may not be any scientific reasoning, but when you go to bed with a full stomach you’re going to feel it in the morning.  Waking up feeling heavy and lethargic is not the best way to start your day and it can be hard to get a fresh start when you’re still feeling the effects of what you ate last night.  You may not think what you’re eating at 9:00 p.m. today will make a difference in how your day goes tomorrow, but it will; eat accordingly.

 

I must admit, it was very challenging for me to enforce this habit for myself for a week.  I often work until 8 or 9 at night and go to bed by 11 to get up at 5 a.m. That kind of schedule makes dinner time obsolete but on the days that I was able to eat earlier and give myself a nice break before going to bed, I really did feel lighter and more energized the next day.  I will continue to eat as far away from bed time as possible but when reality sets in, or I just get too hungry, I’ll make sure to reach for a light and healthy snack to avoid the heaviness and discomfort of eating late.

/0 Comments/by
,

Turmeric and Cardamom in My Juice!

I recently tried a new, adventurous drink that touts some pretty mega benefits: turmeric juice.  I was taken back by the complex, spicy flavor of the “coconut nectar” flavor juice at first, but after a few sips I got used to the flavor and enjoyed it for what it is, a super healthy drink with some super great nutritional benefits. Here are some of the ingredients in the juice (Turmeric Alive’s Coconut Nectar) and the super awesome powers they have to make you feel and look great.

Turmeric: Helps with liver detoxification, natural anti-inflammatory and pain reliever, can moderate insulin levels, may help prevent tumor growth and certain types of cancer. It also has antioxidant powers and can lower cholesterol levels!

Ginger: Helps eliminate pain and inflammation, settles the stomach, prevents nausea, and can treat and prevent cancers such as ovarian and colon.

Cinnamon: Regulates blood sugar levels, lowers LDL cholesterol, has an anti-clotting effect for blood. Cinnamon has anti-bacterial and  anti-inflammatory powers and is a great source of manganese, fiber, iron, and calcium.

Cayenne: Can break up and move mucus, providing anti-cold and flu benefits, prevents migraines, anti-allergen, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory, aids digestion,  boosts metabolism, and could potentially prevent cancer.

Cardamom:  Lowers blood pressure, prevents blood clots, natural diuretic, has detoxifying properties, improves blood circulation to the lungs, and helps improve digestion.

Turmeric Alive boasts that it’s Yoga in a bottle and with the super ingredients above, you can see why! Even if it takes you a minute to get acclimated with the flavor, I recommend giving turmeric juice a shot.  Either experiment with the ingredient on your own at home (try this one ) or purchase  pre-made juice (Check out the Beauty Bar at Tony Walker Body & Beauty in Williamsville); you’ll benefit either way.

Be well.

 

/by
,

5 Ways to Feel Good at 5 a.m.

I have a new routine. It involves waking up at 5 a.m. and being ready to be awesome all day by 6 a.m.  I’m used to mornings and I’m not a miserable morning person but 5 a.m. is a whole other level of waking up in the dark.  Instead of grunting about it everyday and upping my caffeine intake, I’ve decided this is a good opportunity to make some good habits and see if I can feel fabulous at 5 a.m.  Here are my 5 favorite ways to feel awesome at 5 o’clock in the morning.

1. Eat light (or not at all) before bed.

I’m not suggesting you starve yourself or anything, but I do highly recommend eating early enough that you are going to bed with a settled, close-to-empty stomach. Waking up hungry and not feeling heavy from what you ate the night before are the best ways to feel fresh and ready to move shortly after waking.  If you need a snack, or have no choice but to eat late, just keep it light and as unprocessed as possible. Avoid fried food, a lot of cheese, and gluten when possible when eating later in the evening.

2. Get up with the first alarm.

This may sound counterintuitive since more sleep usually equals more happiness but I firmly believe that getting up right away instead of fighting it will ultimately make you feel better.  Those extra five or ten minutes of sleep really don’t do anything for you and there’s something about getting right out of bed that really makes you feel like you can conquer anything. It’s a hard habit to break, and I think the only reason I did it is because I don’t want my boyfriend have to struggle through three alarms when he has two more hours to sleep, but alas, I love the results. I feel better. Try it. You can do it.

3. Take five minutes for you.

Snooze is gone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sit on the couch and just be for  or 10 minutes between waking up and getting going. Whether it’s before you start getting ready or before you walk out the door, take a few minutes to inhale, exhale and mentally prepare for the day. Sippin’ coffee, thinking about what’s on the agenda, or even perusing Facebook, it’s all good for taking a few minutes to wake up and get set to go.

4. Drink water spiked with lemon.

Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.  It helps. It helps more than coffee, believe me. Your body can’t function properly without hydration so dehydrating it further with coffee and depriving it of water aren’t really doing you any favors. And the lemon? It makes the water special, sure; but it also aids digestion, boosts your immune system, clears your skin, and sets you up for a day full of good, healthy decisions.

5. Make getting ready luxurious.

Morning routines are monotonous, uneventful, and worst of all, rushed.  What if you could take just five extra minutes so that you could have some extra time in each of your morning tasks?  Brush your teeth a little more gently, make sure you cover your whole leg with lotion, not just the part that might show…It’s the little things in life that we forget to enjoy a bit and don’t realize that doing so could just make us feel really good. Kind of like those five minutes on the couch, taking extra time while you’re getting ready helps prepare you for the best possible day you can have.

There ya have it: five things you can do tomorrow that will help you feel better for the whole day.  It’s okay if you only pick one.  Baby steps. 🙂

Be well.

/by