Vitamin D: Essential for Your Winter Diet

Being outside in the sunshine gives you lots of Vitamin D. Vitamin D is unusual because it can be ingested as cholecalciferol (Vitamin D₃) or ergocalciferol (Vitamin D₂) and also because your body can synthesize it (from cholesterol) when sun exposure is adequate (hence its nickname, the "sunshine vitamin") thanks to your exposed skin in the warmer months.

However as the days grow longer and the sun shines less, people often develop a Vitamin D deficiency in the winter months. A lack of Vitamin D causes your body to start storing extra fat (thanks to evolution, our bodies naturally start storing more fat during the winter months for survival purposes).

Thus as it gets colder humans start wearing more clothing, covering up more (which means less Vitamin D being synthesized through your exposed skin), and the shortage of Vitamin D results in you packing on the extra pounds.

HOWEVER you can fix this through 4 methods:

#1. Go outside and exercise!

Even if you just go for a walk, it doesn't take much to get your daily Vitamin D needs outside. Running around in a swimsuit in the summer you can get all you need in a mere 5 minutes. Wearing a jacket, hat, scarf, etc in the winter and its going to take 60 to 90 minutes outside in the sun.

#2. Vitamin D supplements. Huzzah for Vitamins!

Pay attention to the dosage on the bottle and how much Vitamin D you eat / absorb anyway. Ideally you want 5,000 to 10,000 IUs per day (depending on your size/weight) or the equivalent in micrograms, which is 125 to 250 micrograms per day. A typical Vitamin D pill might have 25 mcg/1000 IUs or 50 mcg/2000 IUs in it.

1 or 2 pills, plus your regular food (depending on what you are eating) should provide all your daily needs. Don't bother to overdo it.

#3. Regular foods. Track your current Vitamin D consumption.

Some of the foods you are eating might have Vitamin D in it already. eg. 125 ml of 2% Milk has 25% of your daily Vitamin D needs. That is roughly the amount you put on your cereal in the morning. It helps to check the label. Thus if you LOVE milk and drink a litre per day you are getting 100% of your Vitamin D needs just from the milk.

#4. Eat foods that are high in Vitamin D.

If you are low in Vitamin D you can increase your intake of foods high in Vitamin D to compensate.

Now immediately you think fruits and vegetables, and you are partially correct. Some veggies are high in Vitamin D, but there are number of foods that are even higher in Vitamin D.

• Shiitake & Button Mushrooms (especially dried shiitake mushrooms). Mushrooms in general are rich in Vitamin B and D.
• Mackerel. A 2 ounce portion of Mackeral provides 51% of your daily Vitamin D needs. Also rich in Omega-3.
• Sockeye Salmon. Same as Mackerel. A 2 ounce portion provides 51% and is rich in Omega-3.
• Herring. These fish eat plankton, which is really high in Vitamin D.
• Sardines. A single small tin of sardines provides 70% of your daily needs.
• Catfish. You won't see catfish in your average supermarket, but like herring its chockful of Vitamin D.
• Tuna. 3 ounces of tuna daily provides 50% of your Vitamin D needs.
• Cod Liver Oil. If you can get past the aroma, 1 tablespoon of the oil provides more than enough Vitamin D for the day.
• Eggs. 1 small egg provides 10% of your daily needs.

Health Benefits of Vitamin D

• Helps prevent cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension.
• Protects and lubricates of your bones, teeth and hair.
• Regulates muscular cellular growth and healthy cell activity.
• Reduces storage of fat.
• Reduces the inflammatory response to cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc.
• Protects against adult osteoporosis.
• Reduces risk of breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.
• Reduces the "Winter Blues", the feeling of depression from lack of sun.

 Tracking your vitamin consumption can be quite helpful in understanding what your body needs.

Mind Body Fitness Vs Zen Exercising

There is a new trend in the fitness industry called "mind-body fitness" (or various other names) which combine tough physical workouts with lighter and less stressful components for what some personal trainers are calling "a total mind-body solution".

In reality mind-body is a misnomer. People like to use the words mind-body (or mind-body-soul) whenever they want something to sound New Age in an effort to appeal to people's more religious/spiritual sentimentalities.

Now there is nothing wrong with being spiritual and trying to look for moral guidance. Moral guidance can teach you to be less lazy, less gluttonous, more proactive, more patient about your goals... more virtuous and less sinful = More Exercise and a Better Diet. So nothing wrong with trying to be moral and virtuous, especially when it comes to exercise.

However just because something says "Mind Body" doesn't mean you should buy it. If anything you should instantly recognize it as a slogan / catchphrase, the same as "Authentic", "Traditional", "Old School", or anything else that screams "New and Improved".

Take for example Yoga: Traditional Yoga sounds pretty good, doesn't it? So does Mind-Body Yoga. New and Improved Yoga just sounds like the person is trying too hard.

Mind Body Fitness really is a bit like Interval Training... except Interval Training alternates the difficult and easy exercises multiple times instead of just one each. One Stressful, One Less Stressful. But if you repeat them both 5+ times then it IS Interval Training.

Anywho, back to my main topic: Some examples of this more stressful/less stressful so-called 'mind-body' trend include:

1. Cy-Yo-One hour workout that combines spinning with yoga.
2. YogaFit-Stength, cardio and yoga merged into one.
3. Pilates-Yoga - The core strengthening benefits of Pilates combined with the full body + relaxation of yoga.
4. Extended Stretch Sequence - Personal trainers may leave the last 10-15 minutes of every few sessions for a good, thorough (and more than likely, much needed) stretch.
5. Jock Yoga - It's challenging enough for athletes but involves the relaxation that active people need to stay physically healthy.

So when you think of it you can basically combine any light exercise with any heavy exercise to make a combined 'Mind-Body' workout.

Examples:

• Weightlifting followed by Yoga
• Cycling or Spin Class followed by Stretching 
• Running followed by Surfing or Wind-Surfing.
• Helping Your Friends Move all their Furniture... followed by tossing around a frisbee or football.

So really, pretty darn easy to do these things. But do they really engage your mind? Not really. The latter component is really just more physically relaxing compared to the previous activity.

How to Add Less-Stressful Exercises into Your Workout

Easy. Think of a really physical stressful activity that you don't like doing, but you know you should do (eg. intense cardio for 45 minutes). Then add an activity you enjoy doing which is more relaxing but still keeps you moving (eg. 30 minutes of archery).

So anyone can do this on their own if they choose to. It takes only a little effort to add it your daily regimen and what you will discover is that the enjoyable exercises make the whole thing worthwhile and enjoyable.

What is ZEN EXERCISING?

Well Zen is the idea of really focusing on what you are doing. You avoid thinking about other things (distractions) and your goal is to get really into the activity you are doing to the exclusion of everything else. Doing this will result in a more intense workout, create better harmony between mind and body (and better hand-eye control and reflexes.

So Zen Exercising therefore is a very different thing from Mind Body Fitness (which is really more about stressful / non-stressful exercises) because Zen Exercising really gets more into your mental state while exercising.

Some people like to exercise when they're angry. The adrenaline rush from their anger makes them stronger and more energetic. However if you only exercise when angry you probably won't be exercising very often unless you have some serious anger management problems.

HOWEVER!

Some exercises are really good for developing your mental abilities. Examples:

#1. Zen Archery. Archery combines physical strength and balance with your ability to aim and concentrate on the target. Even your breathing comes into play because if you breathe into your chest and move your shoulders your aim will be knocked off, so you need to concentrate on breathing into your stomach.

#2. Tight-Rope Walking. If you're not paying attention to what you are doing you WILL fall.

#3. Acrobatics / Gymnastics / Figure Skating. Many balance oriented exercises (like surfing) require full concentration.

#4. Yogic Breathing. Concentrating on your breathing patterns is more difficult than you think.

Thus someone wanting to add Zen to their exercise routine needs to be adding things which will cause you to concentrate on your balance, aim and breathing.

Archery Testimonial

"Charles was great. Patient, gives good advice and his approach to setting up for a shot was helpful and resulted in consistent shots." 

- Cesar O.

Are Frozen Veggies Bad For You?

If you can get fresh vegetables, preferably picked, purchased and prepared for dinner all within 48 hours, then yes, that is absolutely healthy for you.

But lets pretend you can't always go to the grocery store to buy fresh vegetables. Maybe you like to stores veggies in your fridge and they tend to go bad easily. So you ultimately end up throwing out rotten onions and other things you meant to eat, but simply didn't get to them in time to save them from a grisly rotting demise.

So the question then is:

Are frozen veggies bad for you?

The short answer? NO.

They're actually quite healthy for you.

Frozen vegetables have a tendency to lose a bit of their taste, but all the nutrients are still there. Just frozen nutrients. They're perfectly healthy and if you toss them in a stewpot, boil them, toss in some cooked beef or chicken, and you've got yourself a healthy veggie and meat soup.

HOWEVER! Not all veggies can be frozen. Onions and potatoes for example, just don't freeze that well. But corn, peas, carrots, beets... perfect! Works great for berries too!

And what is better, if you get flash frozen vegetables you will discover they maintain the quality of the taste too. All the convenience, all the healthy goodness and all the great taste too!

Three Ways to get rid of Cellulite

First what exactly is cellulite?

It's actually just fat.

It is just fat that is arranged differently than the other fat on our bodies. Fat is separated by connective tissue and on a woman's body some of those tissues are honeycombed shaped. An excess amount of fat in these areas will bulge out and that is the cause of cellulite.

However contrary to popular belief, it is not caused by poor circulation, or toxins in the body, although
lack of exercise certainly is part of the problem. With age, women put on more weight and their skin becomes thinner and they exercise less. This causes an increased appearance and occurrence of cellulite.

But can it be "cured" naturally? Not really (because there is no cure for fat), but like all fat cellulite can be reduced. There is no miracle exercise or diet, just old fashioned fat burning to reduce the excess fat that is being stored, and weight training, to build muscle and tone the area. You really want full body exercises that cut down on all your extra fat stores and this will, with time and effort, reduce your cellulite. (Or prevent it altogether by exercising regularly.)

Tips to Reduce or Prevent Cellulite

1. Exercises that target the lower body
 

Squats (try with a side leg raise)

Lunges (try one foot on a chair)

Lying inner and outer thigh raises

Step Ups

Standing Leg Curls
2. Diet Changes to Reduce Cellulite
 

Cut out Junk food, eat more healthy greens

Clean up the diet to reduce the chance of unhealthy weight gain. Cut out fried and fatty food.

Drink more water
3. Add more Cardio plus a dash of weight lifting

Cardiovascular exercise burns fat in large amounts. A reduction in overall body fat will decrease the appearance of cellulite and prevent more from developing. Any exercise that can be maintained for 20 or more minutes and elevate the heart rate will achieve this result. It can be walking, cycling, dancing, rowing, boxing, power yoga, etc. You have to do this daily to get the benefits.

Add a dash (5 to 10 minutes daily) of weight lifting and you will also maintain your muscle tone and maximize your fat loss.

For many women cellulite has always been a problem, but don't stress about it. You can work our butts off and eat as healthy as possible, but ultimately self-acceptance, loving your bodies and noticing all of the positive attributes that you have to offer is more important than a little bit of weird looking fat!