My favourite things...

All the famous people have their annual list of favourite things... Gadgets, gifts, .... I am far from famous, but I do have my faves.  So today I will list them (in no particular order).  The bonus, none of the 'items' will break the bank.  In fact, most are free.  And, all of them are agents in happiness and healthiness for yours truly:

Bulletproof coffee (coffee blended with unsalted butter and a medium chain triglyceride, I use coconut milk)

Hugs (long ones that fix your mood, chemically change you for the good, given by adults and children alike)

Working out (healthiest, cheapest and most legal, way to get a drug fix). 

Fresh air

A bonfire

Laughing so hard that my body gets screwed up and I start to cry

Hot showers

The bliss of a 'kink' subsiding

A clean kitchen

Climbing into bed when the linens are clean and crisp

Sharing a meal with a friend

A discussion that changes my perspective/opinion

Appetizers and cocktails

Dancing

Babies (people and animals)...the beauty of a new life, a future of endless possibilities

Popcorn (not Paleo, but makes every movie better and has a smell that is irresistible)

A lottery ticket for a future draw (helps me nail down my dreams and groundwork for goal setting)

Being on a team

Watching my kids learn

Winnipeg (my childhood home, a place I have not lived in for 20 years)

I have much more favourite things. Taking the time to acknowledge them is a healthy happy approach to life. You are welcome to my list. Go ahead, take some for yourself.  Take all of them.  Add to them. Happy Sunday friends. Stay happy and healthy. 

www.jomoma.ca

Goodbye all or nothing.

I don't know how or why we are programmed to self destruct. It seems we adopt an "all or nothing" attitude when it comes to eating healthy and being active.  The moment we slip...have some chips, miss a workout, we doom ourselves to failure. But wait...why!?  So you had a chocolate bar?..next best action is to eat better the rest of the day and not repeat it in ten minutes. You missed your workout. It can throw your day off.  You have no time in your schedule to make it up....ahhhhh...but you can! 

To make it easier, below are ways to sneak in a workout while you are busy with life:

1. Wall sits while you brush your teeth.  Depending on your oral hygiene, this gives you two opportunities to work on your legs, core and endurance.  As you scrub those pearly whites, put your back against the wall and lower yourself into a sitting position.  

2.  Bathroom squats. You won't likely see this on a fitness video, but it will give you buns of steel. Every time you visit the bathroom, do 10 squats over the toilet.  Depending on your bladder, you will get your butt and leg workout completed with only adding seconds onto your bathroom breaks.  (Best to do BEFORE or AFTER your reason for attending the washroom).

3.  Refreshments and calf raises.  While getting your coffee/water, in one place move yourself from flat footed to standing on your toes.  Repeat.  Modification: For the mother on the stair case, (while beckoning yor children to come up/down for breakfast/dinner), calf raise on the stairs: with the balls of your feet firmly planted on the stairs, lower your heels off of the stairs, then raise yourself to your toes...repeat until the troop makes it to the table.

4.  Park in the farthest spot. Parking closer saves you time....so does walking quickly.  By parking farther away you will get in extra steps (& if you are carrying items, consider it cardio with weights)!

5. Counter push-ups.  In the office lunch room while your leftovers are warming in the oven (yes I said oven...the evils of microwaves will have its own blog..but I digress), do counter push ups.  If you are comfortable with the real deal, drop to the floor and push up until your meal is ready. (This is not solely reserved for the office...oh, no, no, no...you can actually do this in the comfort of your own home while waiting on your toaster, coffee maker, dish water to fill, bathtub, ...limited only by your imagination).

6.   Favourite tv show? If you cannot miss your nightly show, or your favourite team, workout during the commercial breaks (if applicable).  If you live for excitement, make yourself a list of exercises to complete when your 'show' characters behave a certain way or say a line. Eg: Modern Family: Gloria says "Jaaaaay" = 10 crunches.  Claire yells at the kids = 15 jumping jacks...

Toronto Maple leafs: Every penalty = plank. Every win = marathon (sorry Dad...one day). 

7.  Shower time/bath.  Stretch and meditate. A great chance to refocus. A time to positive self talk and lengthen muscles. Take advantage of the time alone to be at one with your thoughts. Use the warm water to warm up your muscles and stretch them out when you towel off. (Huge fitness benefits to both, a future blog will expand).  

Goodbye all or nothing. Hello something. 

www.jomoma.ca

Sex Face?

Lifting weights.  I thought about making this solely a tip and trick but it is worthy of a full Jo:Moma blog. 

I recall hearing/reading about weight training when I was a teenager (about a million years ago). "The face and noises that you make whilst training are similar to those while participating in sex". Dear Gawd! When I think back to that, I am confident that little nugget of information could have very well been used as an 'abstinence' campaign for teenage sex. I was not a weight lifting type of gal...and after witnessing several of the football players in the weight room at the college I attended, I was terrified at the idea of both. 

Fast forward a million years. Present day me is far less concerned about my sex face and sex noises as evidenced by the four children that call me Mom. Both activities have incredible health benefits but as my weekly gift to you, I shall not detail the former. 

Women have been misinformed about weight training. We have previously been told that if we lift heavy weights we will get big and bulky. We have accepted the notion that we are the weaker sex and strong muscles is an abnormal trait for a female. We have spent more of our 'fitness' hours doing cardio than lifting weights. Time to shift gears. Time to change what we know about weight training. 

Weight training benefits:

*Higher metabolism. By lifting heavy weights, muscles break down and repair themselves. This takes energy. Energy burns calories. 

*Stronger muscles result in stronger bones. The health of your bones is directly related to the health of your muscles. Weight training stresses your muscles, which stresses your bones. Sounds scary, but the end result is denser bones! 

*Balance. As we age (yes...it happens to us all if we are lucky), we get weaker if we do not work our muscles. Weak muscles equals instability. Instability equals falling. Falling equals injury. 

*Stamina. Also known as endurance. The ability to do things longer.  

*Endorphins. A lovely natural made drug that floods the body during exercise. Happiness in the blood. 

Why women will not look like men if we strength train:

*Testosterone impacts muscle growth. Higher testosterone = higher ability to increase muscle size. Women typically only have 5-10% of the testosterone of men. Therefore, unless a female's testosterone is increased 10 to 20 times above normal, she simply will not look like a man just because she weight trains. 

*Big and bulky takes much more than lifting heavy weights. To achieve the muscles of Swartzenegger, caloric input must increase significantly (not to mention how much you would have to increase your steroid input). By merely lifting weights women will not get 'big'. In fact, muscle is 5x more compact than fat. To rephrase..MUSCLE IS FIVE TIMES SMALLER THAN FAT. 

If you were hoodwinked into believing hours on the treadmill was the only route to maintaining a slim waistline, you will be pleased to learn you can get a cardio workout lifting weights (without losing your bum....YES, running flattens your bum. NO a flat bum is not attractive nor strong). 

Sooooo? How about it? Breathe heavy.  Sweat.  Groan.  Shake. (Go lift weights...). 

www.jomoma.ca

New Year, time to audit

So 2013 was not only a new chapter, it was a new book. I moved away from a poisonous work environment, walked away from equally venomous relationships and began a new adventure. Although I have yet to make money in my new venture, I am feeling optimistic and full because I took stock in how great my life is. 

I have laugh lines. This means one thing: I have spent more of my time smiling and laughing versus frowning. 

My body hurts. Every inch of it. All of my original parts are still intact and by aching it is a reminder. Some are giving in to gravity, but they still exist. I still exist.  

Occasionally my kids tell me I am the worst Mom ever. Yay me! I am #1 at something some of the time. And I am lucky to have children.  

I am self deprecating. Not an attractive characteristic, yet the man I love, loves me. He will shower me with compliments and affection until I can see me the way he sees me. That will never happen...so I can confidently expect his adoration for my lifetime. I am loved. 

My dogs have eaten my couches and dug holes in my yard. Makes me appreciate my children more... They only dig holes in the yard. I have property. 

Grains and alcohol will make my waistline larger. This can only mean I am fortunate enough to have variety. The ability to try and enjoy (or not) different things. 

My honda civic has nearly 400,000 kms and patches of rust.  The interior is stained by foodstuffs from the children. I have a car. 

There is more. Much more. And for all of it I am grateful. All of my 'flaws' are just reminders or badges of the good stuff. In fact, they are not flaws at all. My audit has shown me I am rich although my bank account says differently, I am beautiful, although media definition does not align with mine, and I am loved, by the important people, by the people I adore (win-win).

Do your audit. 

www.jomoma.ca