Today is the middle-marker.  So we’re going to celebrate with a day of almost-rest.  It’s really important to balance exercise with down time.  All of the adaptations that regular training cause in our bodies can only take place when we rest.  This means that we need to get enough sleep each night and we need to take a day off every now and then.  Spring recommends either a day off exercise or a light yoga session at least once a week.  Meditation is another way to give your body rest, so it can adapt.

The same applies to what we eat.  If we’re strict all the time, our bodies stop progressing.  Which is why a treat day, or at least a treat meal, can work really well.  However, this is only essential when you’re managing what you eat long-term.  We can all get through 7 days of great nutrition without needing to cheat…. or at least I think we can.

Food tip #4

The aim today is to hit your fresh food targets.  That’s at least 5 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit.  To fit them all in, you’ll need to add fruit to your breakfast and snack on veges.  If you leave it all until dinner, you’ve left it too late.

By filling up on fruit and veges, you’ll be getting more of the vitamins and nutrients that you need and you’ll have less space for heavier, less beneficial foods.

Fitness tip #4

This is where you get to rest.  You can go for a gentle walk, have a stretch or do an easy yoga class if you like, but you can also do nothing at all.

When you’re trying to stick with a healthier lifestyle, it’s important not to compare yourself to anyone else.  Who cares if they never skip a training session?  It doesn’t make them any better than you.  And does it really matter if someone else can ‘effortlessly’ give up chocolate, while you struggle to give up for just one day?  You’ll never know what is going on behind the scenes in their life, much like they’ll never fully understand yours.  So, stick with what you do know.  Push yourself, challenge yourself and always remember to congratulate yourself along the way.

Food tip #3

Give up the good stuff.  All treats are off-limits for today.  That means, no muffins, no chocolate, no chips, no lollies, no soft-drink, no ice cream, no pastries… basically nothing processed and nothing that you’re likely to find in a convenience store.  Like yesterday, feel free to keep up this challenge for the rest of the week.

Fitness tip #3

Start today’s training by walking or running for 15 minutes.  It’s shorter than usual, so make it faster than usual.

Once you get back home or to a park you’d like to train in, all you need to do is planks and bridges (below).  Hold a plank for as long as you can, then roll over and hold a bridge for as long as you can.  Do 4 sets in total.

If you’ve come back for more food tips and training plans, your must be up for the challenge.  Enjoy!  Why not get a friend or workmate involved too, so you can keep each other going?

Mini-challenges like this are suitable for everyone, even if you need to adjust the tips and plans to better suit you.  The aim is simply to move more, at a higher intensity and to better balance your everyday nutrition habits.  If you take just one of these tips and maintain it throughout the year, your health will benefit.

Food tip #2

Ditch the drinks.  Make today an alcohol-free day.  If you really want to change the way you look and feel, abstain for the rest of the week.

Fitness tip #2

You’ll need to set yourself a 6-minute timer.  Once it starts, do a set of 20 of each of the following, no breaks:

• Squats
• Push-ups
• Lunges (left)
• Tricep dips (use a park bench or your coffee table)
• Lunges (right)
• Back to squats…..

Keep going through the exercises until your timer goes off.  You should complete the entire set around 3-4 times.  When your 6 minutes is up, rest for a minute or 2, then repeat 2 more sets.

Summer is rapidly approaching and with it, the pressure to look and feel fabulous.  The easiest option is to keep moving and eating well throughout the year, but it’s a little late for that now…..  Which is why we’ll post a new food tip and exercise plan each day over the next 7 days. 

There’s something about a short-term challenge that appeals to a lot of us.  It could be that we’re all commitment-phobic and have short attention spans, or it could be that we’d like a taste of success as soon as possible.  If you’d like proof that all of this effort is worthwhile, why don’t you record the following before you start Day 1:

1. Your waist measurement, right around your belly-button
2. Your weight, taken first thing in the morning
3. Your mood – rate how you feel on a scale of 1-5

We challenge you to put these plans into action.  Boost your strength, fitness and energy with the daily exercise plans while you nourish your body with the healthy food ideas.  A little tip to help you get started?  Consider this challenge a treat, rather than a chore.

Food tip #1

Start your day with a glass of water, followed by a hot ginger and lemon drink.  Simply pour boiling water over a peeled, thumb-sized piece of ginger and leave to steep for 5 minutes.  Add the juice of half a lemon.  Drink all of this before breakfast, it’s a great way to wake up your digestive system.

Fitness tip #1

We’ll keep it simple today.  All you need to do is get moving.  Go for a walk, or a run, or a combination of both for 30-45 minutes, depending on your fitness level.

Some people love diets, others hate them.  So how about we flip it around?  Your challenge for this week is to keep an eye on what you do eat, rather than focusing on the things you shouldn’t eat.

Aussies only spend about 7% of their weekly grocery bill on fresh vegetables, yet eating the recommended 5+ a day can add years to our lives.  Colourful fruit boosts our brain power and fibre helps us to manage our weight.  Nuts reduce our chances of developing Coronary Heart Disease and we all know that H2O keeps our bodies running smoothly.  So boost your body and your mood with this challenge.

How to spring clean your eating habits:

1. 5+ serves of veges each day. To reach this target, you can’t leave it all until dinner.  Snack on a carrot, have salad or vege soup for lunch and serve vege sticks as a pre-dinner snack.  Even frozen veges are fine.  Eating 5+ serves a day can protect your heart and add years to your life, as well as boosting energy and mood.
2. 2+ serves of fruit each day. Eating colourful fruit at breakfast has been proven to boost brain health, so why not have some berries on your cereal, then a piece of fruit mid-morning?
3. Switch to brown & seedy. Switch to brown rice, multi-grain breads, grainy crackers and sweet potatoes, rather than white.  You’ll increase your fibre intake, feel fuller for longer and avoid sugar spikes.
4. Go nuts. They’re a great way to get enough ‘good’ fats and are a filling snack.  Avoid salted varieties and measure your serve each time – you should eat enough nuts to just fill the palm of your hand.
5. Perfect protein. We need to balance our protein in a couple of ways.  Firstly, make sure you have a little bit of protein with each meal, even snacks.  This could mean having nuts in your muesli (and hold the dried fruit), peanut butter on your toast, a small natural yoghurt with your fruit, tuna or chicken with lunch and a main protein source with your dinner.  When it comes to main meals, mix it up.  Each week needs to include a balance of fish, poultry, red meats and vegetarian meals so that our bodies get all of the nutrients that they need.
6. Water yourself. Make sure you’re drinking enough water every day.  Aim for 1.5-2 litres, which can include a few herbal teas.  Coffee, black tea, juices, soft drink…. they don’t count.  Also think about when you drink.  If you drink too much with meals, it can stop you from absorbing all of the goodness in your food.

These habits are easy enough to maintain for life, it just takes a little planning.  Decide what you want to eat for the week, do a healthy shop and get stuck in.  You’ll notice you have more energy instantly and the chocolate cravings will calm down, because you’re never hungry or thirsty.

If you’re someone who needs a more structured diet, you can join Lisa Snowdon, our Spring nutritionist, for her sugar detox anytime.

You have a super healthy month behind you and you’re feeling amazing – well done!  But how do you hold onto this new-found health & happiness?  They say it takes 3 weeks to form a habit so you should be set, right?  Um, not really.  It’s always easy to fall back into our old routines.  Which is why you’ll need these five tips for maintaining healthy habits.

1. Know what habits to keep. In the last month you’ve changed the way you move, become more aware of your mood, adjusted your diet and given meditation a go.  In an ideal world you’d keep going with all of it, but we live in the real world.  So pick the habits that you really want to hold onto and focus on those ones.  For now, at least.  You can always add more later.

2. Know your why. Why is a very powerful word.  Take a few moments to really think about why you want to hold onto this habit.  How would it change you life? What would it mean to you if you could exercise more/eat better/meditate regularly forever?  How good would it feel?  Any time you feel like quitting, remind yourself ‘why’ you’re doing this.

3. Use your diary. All habits take planning (well, until they become habitual).  These days, we can’t escape our diary – it’s on our computer, in our phone… constantly attached to us.  So use it.  Plan your training sessions.  Write a meal plan.  Block out 20-minutes of meditation or down-time each day.  Each Sunday afternoon, plan your healthy week.  You might not quite stick to the plan, but you’ll be far better off than someone who has no plan.

4. Ask for support. Choose someone who you see a lot of and ask them to help you out, maybe even to join you.  It needs to be someone you see almost daily (partners or flatmates are ideal) and someone you’ll be honest with – there’s no point having them support you if you lie to them.

5. Get back up. There will be setbacks.  There’ll be deadlines, illnesses, all sorts of obstacles.  Sometimes you’ll overcome them, sometimes they’ll win.  But every time you do get knocked down, get straight back up again.  Don’t let a bad day turn into a bad month, you’re bigger than that.

We all know what sugar cravings feel like, but did you know that they’re the biggest hurdle to losing weight? Excess sugar in the diet causes blood sugar issues.  It also increases fat storage in the body.  Eliminating sugar from your diet doesn’t need to be complicated; simple changes can go a long way in improving your life. Read on for ten steps that help with eliminating sugar cravings, provided by Lisa from Vibrant Nutrition.  Lisa also put together of our tasty Good Mood Food recipes.

If you suffer from sugar cravings or struggle to maintain your energy, Lisa’s Sugar Detox Program could be the answer.  I’m going to take it on for 3 weeks from October 1^st, want to join me? It’ll re-set your blood sugar, get you into fat burning mode, lift your mood and jump-start a healthy eating plan. Find out more…..

1. Get sugar and sugar products out of your cupboards

You’re more likely to munch on something sugary if it’s in your cupboard or refrigerator. Remove those chocolates, lollies, biscuits and other munches that you have stored in there. Instead, stock up on healthy alternatives including raw veggie sticks, nuts, hummus etc.

2. Eat healthy protein at each meal and snack

Include lentils, cottage cheese, eggs, lean meat, fish or other healthy sources of protein in your diet. Sugar cravings are often associated with blood sugar imbalance, caused by eating too many high GI carbohydrates (from refined foods) and not enough quality protein and fat. Include healthy sources of protein to offset sugar cravings.

3. Eat enough healthy fats

Fats are very important for your body to function normally. Sugar cravings tend to crop up when we don’t eat enough healthy fats. Add nuts, seeds, olive oil and avocado to your diet, they’ll lower your bad cholesterol.

4. Eat low GI fruit & vegetables

Fruits and vegetables with a low sugar content are ideal when you’re trying to kick your sugar habit. Fruit and vegetables can combat sugar cravings, though only those that are low glycemic index. Examples include berries, apples, cherries, pears, celery, capsicum and cucumber.

5. Quit caffeine to reduce sugar cravings

Caffeine triggers a surge in insulin levels and increases sugar cravings too. Want to combat sugar cravings? Reducing coffee to a maximum of one cup daily. Try green tea or healthy herbal alternatives instead.

6. Upgrade your regular foods for healthier choices

Junk foods tend to increase sugar cravings, fat cravings or carb cravings. Have a healthy and balanced diet and add healthier snack options to your home. This way, you will meet the nutritional requirements of your body and avoid unwanted weight gain triggered by the wrong food choices.

7. Get some exercise

Besides all the health benefits exercise has to offer, did you know it improves insulin sensitivity? Since you need more energy to exercise, insulin receptors become more sensitive and as a result, blood sugar is more balanced.

8. Find someone to hold you accountable

Ok, this is just a way to keep you on track. If you have someone you respect and tend to listen to, ask for their help and support. If you have behaviors that need changing around your eating habits then hire a coach trained in transformational coaching methods.

9. Drink plenty of water

When you are dehydrated your body sends signals that resemble sugar cravings when in fact you’re just thirsty. Feel like having something sweet? Try drinking water first. If that does not satisfy your craving, try green tea, or water with a dash of lemon or lime juice.

10. Take healthy options to parties or social events

Parties and other social events are part and parcel of our lives. However, they are often accompanied with rich foods high in sugar and fat. To avoid over indulging you can take a healthy dish with you. You’ll impress the host and you can stand and munch on a beautiful platter full of colourful veggie sticks with a healthy dip like hummus or guacamole. Take a salad to a bbq and a big fruit salad if asked to provide dessert.

We hope that you’re a happier person now than you were on September 1st.  We hope that the combination of fitness, food and meditation is lifting your mood and helping you to feel ready for summer.  And we hope that you’re confident that you can keep on boosting your mood throughout the year.  But just in case, here are some extra tips and tricks to work through the busy days, the blah days and the blue days ahead.

Remember, if it’s all too much, give the Beyond Blue Infoline a call.  It’s like a triage area for mental health, where the friendly and qualified counsellors can help you out and point you in the right direction.  Call 1300 224 636.

1. Listen to music: Uplifting music can lift your mood in seconds.  As Bono, from U2 said. “Music can change the world, because it can change people”.  At home, in the car, out exercising…. turn up the volume and smile.
2. Take a nap: A 15- to 20-minute nap is refreshing and can open your mind up to new ideas and solutions.  My personal tip – get up as soon as you wake up.  It might seem like a nice idea to doze after a nap, but you’ll end up exhausted.
3. Step away: This is especially important when you’re sitting down.  Get up, look at a different view for 5 minutes, then return to your desk refreshed.  Or if you’re a busy Mum rushing from place to place all day… Stop.  Leave work 5 minutes early and stop in a park or by the sea on your way to collect the kids.  A few minutes looking at the view or reading a magazine will recharge your batteries before the rest of your day takes over.
4. Talk to someone: Wether you’re happy or you’re sad, share it.  Take a moment to think about who the best person to talk to is, then give them a call or organise to catch up.  And if there isn’t anyone around that you want to talk to?  Think about what you’d say to support your best friend if they were in your situation, then apply this advice to yourself.
5. Get evidence: If your thoughts are spiralling out of control and you’re overwhelmed by a situation, convincing yourself that you can’t handle it, get your facts straight.  Assess the evidence.  Have you done anything similar to this successfully before? What makes you so sure that you can’t do it? What would make you more confident that you can do it?

Yesterday was R U OK? Day all over Australia.  The day when we’re encouraged to take the time to ask someone if they’re OK, and then truly listen to their response.  These conversations can be life-changing, even life-saving.

It got me thinking.  How many times in a day does someone ask, “how are you?”  And how many times each day do you respond with “good” or “busy”?  Or do you avoid the question by saying what you’ve been doing, rather than how you’re doing?  It’s as if we’re on auto-pilot and as a result, we’re missing out on opportunities to have engaging conversations every single day.  Life would be so much more interesting if we told each other what’s really going on.  What we’re excited about, stressing over, looking forward to or grateful for.

How am I right now?  I’m mildly stressed, because I have an over-sized list of things to get done.  But, more than that, I’m excited.  One of my best friends arrives in town today, the sun is shining, people like you are making Spring a great success and I have an awesome weekend ahead of me.  ”Good” or “busy” just can’t capture how I really am.

So why not take a friend out for a coffee and ask them how they are.  They probably won’t play the game (because they don’t know what the game is), but you can surprise them with your response when they ask how you are.  You might get the opportunity to help them if they’re struggling or comfort them if they’re down.  At the very least, you’ll get a quick catch up, and that’d make anyone happy.

‘Write blog’ was on my list of things to do today. Now that I’ve done everything else on the list, it’s time to tackle this last task. I’d already planned to write about how my regular meditation is going, but couldn’t decide how to make it interesting enough to read.  Until I had an idea….. rather than sitting at my desk, gazing out the window and wondering what to write, why not do the 5-minute meditation? Surely it’d lead to something.

And it has.  My thoughts are slower and clearer, a mildly stressful day yesterday has slipped to the back of my mind and I can better focus on what it is I’m trying to say.  According to studies, my immunity has also been boosted and I’m likely to live longer, but that’s not something I’m noticing right now.

Luckily, I don’t share my office, so could sit in my chair with my eyes closed and follow the meditation.  If you do share an office, I’d recommend putting the recording onto an MP3 player so that you can take it with you and meditate away from prying eyes (and ears).  It’s so quick, you could do it in your lunch break and still have plenty of time to eat your lunch.

Initially, I struggled to get into it.  When I follow the meditation within the first hour of my day, it’s much easier to slow down and focus from the beginning of the recording.  This time it was about 2pm and I kept having to drag my thoughts back from the conversation I’d just had, the roast vege wrap I wanted to eat and my plans for the evening.  But I got there.  And it was worth it.

It’s amazing that just 7 1/2 minutes out of my day, including the introduction, can completely reset my brain and so dramatically improve my focus.  It might be easier to meditate in the morning, but I can’t help wondering if it’s more useful to meditate at work when I need all the brain power I can muster?  Or maybe I need to really challenge myself and do both?

If you’d also like to get more done, to slow down your racing mind and benefit from clearer thoughts, give it a go.  Hurry up and meditate!  And if you’re already following the mini-meditations? We’d love to know how you’re going. Share your thoughts via facebook, twitter or e-mail.