Well you made it to Friday!!! I had a crazy busy week and am glad it is over. We are playing in a big golf tournament this weekend. You should see my husband… he is like a kid in a candy store thinking about this tournament. I have never played in it, but he says it is the best. We’ll see I guess.
Time for Anything & Everything Friday where I share five random topics with you. They are generally health related, but I promise nothing! Today they ARE health-related. I’m talking about the dentist, weight-loss plateaus and I have some exercises that you can do using a foam roller! Here we go…
Life Hacks to Eat Better:
Eating healthy each and every day can seem overwhelming. It doesn’t necessarily have to be. There are a ton of shortcuts you can take in order to keep eating healthy without spending all your spare time cooking and preparing food! I choose to prepare the majority of my meals for the week together in one sitting (aka Sunday Meal Prep). You don’t have to do that if it doesn’t fit into your schedule, but consider preparing a few foods to keep on hand for busy days and evenings.
Cook several chicken breasts on Sunday to keep in the fridge for the week. Grill several hamburgers to have on hand for when you get home late one night. Make a large batch of overnight oats and have breakfast ready for the entire week!
Want more ideas? Check out My Fitness Pal’s list of 25 Life Hacks to Eat Better. Don’t feel like you have to implement all 25 ideas…. start by picking 2-3 that will easily work with your schedule and move from there. I did not wake up one day and immediately start eating completely clean. It has been a long process with a lot of trial and error! Start small and work your way up.
Dental Health:
I would say I am an above-average healthy person. My diet is clean, I exercise often, and I don’t smoke. I drink occasionally, but not daily or even weekly. There is always one area or another in terms of health that could use some attention, right? One thing I have completely neglected health-wise is my teeth. I have not been to the dentist in at least 7 years! Yikes. I have been out of college for 6 years now and I know I didn’t go to the dentist my senior year of college, so that is how I know it has been over 7 whole years.
The other day I started thinking about my health in general and realized that my dental health is one place I fall short. It isn’t THAT hard to schedule a dentist appointment 1-2 times per year and it can do wonders for your health! Most people don’t realize how important their teeth are for their health until they have problems. By that time, it is too late!
I told Donny we needed to both go to the dentist (it had been about the same amount of time for him) and he agreed. We have dental insurance so needed to go to a dentist that accepted it. We called a few places and ended up finding the closest one in Akron, CO. Not ideal, but could be worse. We went on Monday and I was quite nervous. I’ve had a few cavities over the years and I was super nervous that I’d have 14+ or something crazy! The dentist found only two small cavities after seven whole years. I was shocked!
I have to get them taken care of this coming Monday and, like most people, I hate getting a filling. However, I keep telling myself that I have had zero dental work done in over 7 years so I need to suck it up. I also need to use this as motivation to floss my teeth daily, because both cavities are between my teeth. Flossing would help eliminate that! What area of health are you currently working on improving?
Weight-Loss Plateau:
A weight-loss plateau can be very discouraging and can even be the reason some people stop working to lose weight. Don’t give up! Plateaus are normal (sadly) and if you can get through them it can be incredibly encouraging! So why do we have plateaus when trying to lose weight? Check out this article at Self.com Why We Reach Weight-Loss Plateaus — And How To Get Past Them by Amy Marturana. Plateaus can be caused by a variety of things including lack of variety in workouts, our bodies going into “starvation mode” or screwed up hormones which leads to over-eating. So what do you do? Luckily, Amy thought of THAT too. Click the link above and you’ll also find steps to getting past the plateau. Don’t let a small setback make you lose sight of your long-term goals. Keep going!
Foam Roller Exercises:
I have not been using my foam roller as much as I should. Shame on me. I foam roll about 2-3 times per week, which is low considering I used to roll once (sometimes twice) per day! Well, I came across this wonderful list of strength exercises that use a foam roller. Turns out, it doesn’t just have to help with recovery. There are exercises for your abs and arms, but also a couple squat variations utilizing the foam roller. Where has this been all my life?! I dig it. My next at-home bodyweight workout might have to include my foam roller. Check out all the exercises at Greatist.com’s article The Best Strength Moves You Can Do With A Foam Roller.
Exercising in the Morning:
I honestly cannot relate when it comes to people saying they aren’t a “morning person”. Maybe I could if you compared it to the fact that I am not a “night person”. I can wake up at the crack of dawn (or before…..hello 4:15am) and get going right away. Ask me to stay up until midnight and we’ve got problems! I have always found it easy to wake up in the morning and I actually enjoy getting up early! My dad always said the morning was the best part of the day and he was right! Go Wayno.
I cannot offer too much insight into what helps a person wake up in the morning, so instead I’ll share this article from Self.com written by Alexa Tucker. It is called 11 Clever Tips For Getting Out Of Bed For A Morning Workout. The tips include setting your workout gear and clothes next to your bed, using an automatic coffee maker so you have coffee right away, or pick a breakfast you cannot wait to eat. Maybe that is why I am a morning person….. I am always thinking about breakfast…. Click the link above to read the other 8 tips to help you wake up early in the morning. Now, does anyone have tips with how to stay up past 10:00pm?!?! I could use that.
Well that is it for this week. Have a great weekend. I will have a new recipe posted on Monday so watch for it!
