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nutrition

Sep 16
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Healthy Lifestyle

Create a Healthy Lifestyle with Mind Body

By Mind Body

There’s more to a healthy lifestyle than eating nutritional foods, exercising regularly, drinking water, and getting plenty of sleep. Sure, all of those things are important to maintain your physical health, but now more than ever, scientists are discovering how important mental health is as well. The mind-body connection is the path to creating a healthy lifestyle.

 

What is Mind-Body?
The mind-body connection is understood that your thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and feelings can affect your physical functioning both positively and negatively. The health of your mind can affect the overall health of your body. You can eat vegetables all day long but if you’re constantly stressed out, then your health will suffer!

 

The importance of the connection
The mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle means monitoring your stress, anxiety, emotions, and overall mental health. Here are a few examples of how emotional health can take a toll on physical health:

– It is estimated that 95% of all illnesses can be caused or aggravated by stress.

– People with high-stress levels are more likely to catch a common cold.

– Mental health issues such as depression have been linked to heart disease, strokes, and diabetes.

– People with an inability to cope with anger have a greater risk of developing heart arrhythmias.

– Those with substance abuse or mental health problems have a lower life expectancy (decades lower) than the general population.

 

How you can use Mind-Body to create a healthy lifestyle
Convinced now that your mental health is just as important as your physical health? The two must go hand in hand to be a whole, healthy person. Here’s how you can use the mind-body connection to create a healthy lifestyle for yourself:

Exercise regularly
Exercise increases your levels of oxygen and endorphins, making you more alert and more energetic. Individuals who exercise regularly (20 to 30 minutes a day) are less stressed, anxious, depressed and have a greater sense of well-being.

Proper nutrition
Eating healthy foods can reduce physical problems such as fatigue, and give you energy to think faster and more clearly.

Laugh often
Laughter really is the best medicine. It has been found to reduce pain, increase creativity, and speed up the healing process. Make it a priority to spend more time with people who make you laugh.

Get enough sleep
Aim to get between 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night. Habitually not getting enough sleep weakens your immune system, contributes to depression and weight gain, and speeds up the aging process.

Keep a positive attitude
A positive attitude can affect your health. How you handle stress can determine how it affects you. A positive attitude also allows you to take a step back and make healthier decisions overall instead of just reacting to the situation.

Be part of a group/community
Being part of a group can provide a sense of purpose and increase longevity, in addition to other physical benefits. One study showed women with metastatic breast cancer who participated in support groups had double the survival rates.

 

Forma’s Mind-Body Offerings
At Forma Gym, we understand how important the mind-body connection is. Our Mind-Body program is designed to facilitate wellness, recovery, and healing by making movement and conscious attention a lifestyle practice. We offer workshops, classes, and various different modalities to help you find the mind-body practice that works for you to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Sep 02
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Meal Prep

Meal Prep Tips: Better Nutrition Made Easy

By Nutrition

With so many things on our plate, it’s a huge challenge to serve nutritious meals without a little work on your part. Mealtimes roll around very quickly, and if you haven’t made any efforts to plan ahead, you may end up making some unhealthy choices. A little planning can help take the stress out of it, and allow you to enjoy healthy, delicious meals without all the guesswork.

 

Here are some of the benefits of meal prepping:
1. Choose more nutritious foods
Grabbing what’s available when you’re hungry often means you reach for less nutritious foods. Putting in a little effort to plan out meals and doing some prep work in advance means you can choose a variety of nutritious foods that you will enjoy throughout the week.

2. Less stressful for you
Life is busy! In between work, commuting, sports practices and school pick-ups, your day is filled with activities. Mealtimes come quick and you can get hangry fast. Prepping healthy nutrition-based foods in advance can help avoid this so you can just grab and go.

3. Save money
If you set aside a little time to plan and prep healthy nutrition, you will save money on your food costs. Prepping means fewer convenience store foods, takeout orders, and trips through the drive-through. Planning in advance can make a big impact on your wallet.

 

Meal Prep Tips for Healthy Nutrition
So where do you begin with meal prepping? If this is a newer concept or something you want to get back into doing after taking a break, we have some tips to make it a little easier!

Tip #1 – Start collecting recipes and create a template
Think about what kinds of food you’d like to see incorporated into meals. If you’re a parent, letting kids participate or choosing foods will get them excited about the process and encourage healthy eating habits. Start a monthly calendar to record your meal ideas and shopping lists.

Tip #2 – Assign specific foods to days of the week
Make your life easy by doing things like “Meatless Monday” and “Taco Tuesday.” You can vary these recipes each week but keep a theme to make planning and prep much easier.

Tip #3 – Set aside a day and time to plan
Choose one day of the week where you will decide the meals for the week, make a shopping list, and buy all of your food. Set this time aside and make arrangements so you won’t have any distractions or interruptions.

Tip #4 – Multitask and batch cook
Prep large batches of food in advance that you can use in different recipes throughout the week. For example, you can cook shredded chicken in a crockpot to later use for tacos, salads, or soup recipes. While your chicken cooks, you can also wash and chop fruits and vegetables and hard boil eggs that your family can enjoy throughout the week.

Tip #5 – Double Up
Double the recipe of the meal you are making so you can use for multiple meals. Things like soups, enchiladas, and sauces can easily be stored in the freezer and served another day. Your future self will thank you!

 

Meal Prep Ideas
Get started with healthy nutrition and meal prep with these simple recipes:

Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken

Basil Avocado Shrimp Salad Wraps & Sweet Potato Chips

Baked Lime Chicken Bowls

Overnight Oats

Garlic Parmesan Kale Pasta

Bolognese with Zucchini and Artichokes

Breakfast burritos

Beef and Broccoli

Greek Couscous Salad

Honey Sriracha Glazed Meatballs

Once you start meal prepping, you’ll create new routines and habits that work best for you. Make sure you set aside some time each week and have a plan in place. Meal prepping will make mealtimes less stressful and more enjoyable so you have more time to do the things you love.