What's up y'all? I've got the day off from writing but I've got a guest blogger that you'll really like. Her name's Caryln (pronounced "Care Lynn") and she graduated from East Carolina University with a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. She's currently going to Winston Salem State University earning her Doctorate in Physical Therapy.
To those of you that work at ADS, she's also known as Ray's daughter. She's a twenty-something, NC native who loves everything food, fitness, and fashion related. She uses her blog to share it all. She's got a mindset very similar to mine when it comes to the food and fitness parts, except from a female's perspective. Here she is.....
To those of you that work at ADS, she's also known as Ray's daughter. She's a twenty-something, NC native who loves everything food, fitness, and fashion related. She uses her blog to share it all. She's got a mindset very similar to mine when it comes to the food and fitness parts, except from a female's perspective. Here she is.....
Food, Fitness, and Balance by Caryln
Sometimes I feel like I am on a lifelong quest for balance. In many ways I am; I blame it on being a libra. Whether it is with nutrition, school work, or exercising, I am always trying to juggle the many aspects of health in order to find where my mind AND body is happiest. While I do feel like it is, in fact, a work in progress, here are some of the ways I create balance in my life:
1. The 80/20 Rule
Shun me if you must, but I will be the first to say I love brussel sprouts. I love healthy, fresh food because it makes me FEEL good and it tastes good too.
1. The 80/20 Rule
Shun me if you must, but I will be the first to say I love brussel sprouts. I love healthy, fresh food because it makes me FEEL good and it tastes good too.
Guess what else I love? Chocolate, wine, and pizza.
Eating pizza and drinking pumpkin beer ONE night a week makes my body happy. Eating those things every night would make me feel bloated and sluggish. Food is about BALANCE and realizing that sometimes it is okay to “live to eat” instead of “eating to live”. Why do you think that bodybuilders don’t eat broccoli and chicken for every meal, 365 days of the year? It is not realistic or balanced.
I like to follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I eat clean and healthy and the other 20% is an indulgence. Sometimes the indulgence is a glass of wine and sometimes it is frozen yogurt with friends. Whatever an indulgence is to you, do it! It is healthy!
2. Exercise for Health
Why do you exercise? I can almost guarantee that 95% of you will say to lose weight, tone up, gain muscle, etc. I admit, it is easy to focus on aesthetics, but I urge you to choose to focus on the health benefits.
When you define success as losing a pound, decreasing your body fat, or gaining muscle mass, more often than not you will view your efforts as failures. When you decide that success is improving your health, you will always win. There are benefits to every form of exercise to include walking, strength training, yoga, and running. Exercise can decrease stress levels, increase bone strength, decrease blood pressure and cholesterol, and prevent diseases to name a few.
I like to follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I eat clean and healthy and the other 20% is an indulgence. Sometimes the indulgence is a glass of wine and sometimes it is frozen yogurt with friends. Whatever an indulgence is to you, do it! It is healthy!
2. Exercise for Health
Why do you exercise? I can almost guarantee that 95% of you will say to lose weight, tone up, gain muscle, etc. I admit, it is easy to focus on aesthetics, but I urge you to choose to focus on the health benefits.
When you define success as losing a pound, decreasing your body fat, or gaining muscle mass, more often than not you will view your efforts as failures. When you decide that success is improving your health, you will always win. There are benefits to every form of exercise to include walking, strength training, yoga, and running. Exercise can decrease stress levels, increase bone strength, decrease blood pressure and cholesterol, and prevent diseases to name a few.
Balance your exercise routines by trying a little bit of everything, but be sure to choose the forms of exercise that will improve your quality of life and you can’t lose.
3. Improve Muscular Imbalances
Here is where my nerdy, Physical Therapy student side comes in. I am very passionate about the fact that sitting for long periods of time will destroy your body and as a student who sits for hours on end studying, I can vouch for that. It seems so hypocritical, but my neck and back have never been in as much pain as they have been in since I started PT school.
The thing is people know that sitting is bad but I think that it is time to dive a little deeper and really understand what you are doing to your body. Sitting with poor posture causes muscular imbalances in many areas of the body.
Let’s think about the scapula. In good posture, your shoulder blades are pulled back, relatively together and depressed from your ears. The muscles primarily involved in placing your shoulder blades in this position are the trapezius and rhomboids (both are located between your shoulder blades). There are also muscles that want to pull your scapula forward, into poor posture, and these are your chest muscles (pectoralis). When you sit for long periods of time with your shoulder hunched forward, as many people do, you will create a muscular imbalance between these chest muscles and the shoulder blade muscles. The chest muscles will be contracted constantly causing them to become shorter and tight. The trapezius and rhomboids will become stretched and weak. This will lead to even poorer posture, it’s a vicious cycle!
It is so important to improve these muscular imbalances and in turn your posture. As a general rule, stretch the muscles that are tight and strengthen those that are weak. If you work a desk job make sure to reposition often (move your keyboard to the right or left, move your chair up or down) and take a moment every hour to stand up and stretch or take a short walk if you are able. I believe a lot of people will find that improving posture and these muscular imbalances will do a lot to improve their pain.
I’ve just told you what works for me, but in the end the only true way to balance is to learn about YOUR body. Learn which foods make you feel bad or which foods make you feel energized. Listen to your body when it tells you it really needs yoga instead of a weight lifting session today. You only have one body; Learn about it, use it, and don’t abuse it.
xo,
Caryln
P.S. Check out my blog at http://carylnrambles.blogspot.com/, or just click on the snapshot below.....
3. Improve Muscular Imbalances
Here is where my nerdy, Physical Therapy student side comes in. I am very passionate about the fact that sitting for long periods of time will destroy your body and as a student who sits for hours on end studying, I can vouch for that. It seems so hypocritical, but my neck and back have never been in as much pain as they have been in since I started PT school.
The thing is people know that sitting is bad but I think that it is time to dive a little deeper and really understand what you are doing to your body. Sitting with poor posture causes muscular imbalances in many areas of the body.
Let’s think about the scapula. In good posture, your shoulder blades are pulled back, relatively together and depressed from your ears. The muscles primarily involved in placing your shoulder blades in this position are the trapezius and rhomboids (both are located between your shoulder blades). There are also muscles that want to pull your scapula forward, into poor posture, and these are your chest muscles (pectoralis). When you sit for long periods of time with your shoulder hunched forward, as many people do, you will create a muscular imbalance between these chest muscles and the shoulder blade muscles. The chest muscles will be contracted constantly causing them to become shorter and tight. The trapezius and rhomboids will become stretched and weak. This will lead to even poorer posture, it’s a vicious cycle!
It is so important to improve these muscular imbalances and in turn your posture. As a general rule, stretch the muscles that are tight and strengthen those that are weak. If you work a desk job make sure to reposition often (move your keyboard to the right or left, move your chair up or down) and take a moment every hour to stand up and stretch or take a short walk if you are able. I believe a lot of people will find that improving posture and these muscular imbalances will do a lot to improve their pain.
I’ve just told you what works for me, but in the end the only true way to balance is to learn about YOUR body. Learn which foods make you feel bad or which foods make you feel energized. Listen to your body when it tells you it really needs yoga instead of a weight lifting session today. You only have one body; Learn about it, use it, and don’t abuse it.
xo,
Caryln
P.S. Check out my blog at http://carylnrambles.blogspot.com/, or just click on the snapshot below.....
Take care!
Todd B.
HSH
Todd B.
HSH
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