The 14 year long study  showed that people who sit less during leisure hours have longer lives. It gets even better if you don’t sit all day for work as well. Sitting more throughout the day leads to higher rates of cancer and heart disease. Read the full article on WebMD here…

I didn’t know this information until today, but it makes sense. I’m reminded of my first corporate job working in media planning at a big advertising agency. I had always been active growing up, and rode my bicycle throughout college to class and work. I started to feel sluggish and was gaining a few pounds after my first few months of this new desk job, and came up with a way to get exercise throughout the day, at work, for free.

I called it bathroom aerobics. Sounds funny, but it kept me sane and increased my energy. Here’s how it works:

- Do 20 pushups against the bathroom sink (make sure to dry it off first – don’t want to slip and chip a tooth)

- Do the wall sit against the door inside the bathroom with your knees at a right angle, for 2-5 minutes at a stretch (make sure it’s securely locked – don’t want to tumble out backwards!)

-  Bend over and touch your toes, allowing your head and arms to hang for 30 seconds

If you’re brave or certain no one will walk into the bathroom while you’re doing these “toilet trainings” you can do sets of jumping jacks, lunges, and more stretches.

Get moving! You’ll feel so much better, and you probably won’t need that afternoon coffee break because your energy will be up and moving the more you are.

Be well, Alex

Now, don’t get me wrong – I still enjoy chocolate, I just eat the best quality kind. Raw! That’s right, raw cacao is a different animal when it comes to chocolate treats. Without being exposed to high-heat, processing chemicals or unhealthy preservatives raw cacao is much easier for the body to digest. There are some well-documented benefits to choosing raw cacao over the processed stuff that you find in chocolate bars, candy and ice cream:

Antioxidants: Cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than any food tested so far, including blueberries, red wine, and black and green teas. In fact, it has up to four times the quantity of antioxidants found in green tea.

Neurotransmitters: By increasing the levels of specific neurotransmitters in our brains, cacao promotes positive outlook, facilitates rejuvenation and simply helps us feel good.

Essential Minerals: Cacao beans are rich in a number of essential minerals, including magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese.

The benefits of raw cacao are impressive, and I’ve noticed that when I eat it my skin doesn’t react like a teenager’s and my energy is only slightly elevated, compared to the acne and sugar highs I used to experience.

Here’s how I like to eat it:

2 TB raw cacao powder

3 TB raw almond butter

1 TB brown rice syrup

Combine all in a bowl and smooth together into an even paste. Use as a dip with apple slices – yum! Easy!

For most of us, a full-on liquid-only fast isn’t an easy task. I know that my life with a 3 year old, my own business and a strong inclination to have a social life doesn’t work well on a liquid only diet.

You can still enjoy the benefits of the Master Cleanse ingredients this winter and see positive changes from consuming a warming tea made from lemon juice, maple or agave syrup and cayenne pepper. Here’s what these ingredients can do for you :

Cayenne: enhances blood circulation and increases body temperature, which is perfect for this chilly cold weather. The capsaicin found in chili peppers helps bronchial problems and has antioxidant properties. Used to balance cold, dry, damp conditions, so it’s perfect for colds, fevers and asthma.

Lemon: Dries damp conditions, resolves stagnation and aids digestion, improving liver function. Great for colds, flu and coughs, as well as sore throats, assists with weight loss and treats high blood pressure.

DIRECTIONS:

Boil one cup of water

Squeeze half an organic lemon into the water

Stir in a pinch of cayenne powder and

1 teaspoon pure maple syrup or agave syrup

Enjoy! The perfect drink for anyone trying to quit sodas~

Be well,

Alex

Ingredients:

2 cups broccoli florets

½ avocado

¼ cup diced red onion

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 cup raw spinach

1 inch peeled ginger root

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 clove garlic, minced

pinch freshly ground black pepper

½-1 cup room temperature water

• Steam the broccoli for 5 minutes.
• Place the broccoli and remaining ingredients in a blender.
• Blend and add enough water to make smooth. Enjoy!

Energy – or lack thereof.

Improving your energy reserves is like safeguarding America’s oil reserves – as important as national security, your energy reserves as a woman (care taker, professional, bringer of bacon, agent of change) can make or break your dreams and goals.

Peggy Lee’s famous song “I’m A Woman” sang the trials of sisters everywhere:

“I can rub & scrub this old house til it’s shinin like a dime

Feed the baby, grease the car, & powder my face at the same time

Get all dressed up, go out and swing til 4 a.m. and then

Lay down at 5, jump up at 6, and start all over again

‘Cause I’m a woman! W-O-M-A-N, I’ll say it again”

Even though our days are filled with projects, lists and work, we still need to put ourselves on that list of things to take care of – every day. Small steps towards improved energy can be cheap, easy and deeply rewarding. For simple energy boosts try the following:

-       During your morning shower, alternate between 10 seconds of hot and then cold water for 1 minute. Be sure to get your armpits and groin area hot and then cold – this will not only wake you up better than coffee, it will help flush out your lymphatic system and increase your circulation.

-       Add cayenne to your day. A natural energy booster, cayenne also protects your body from colds and sinus problems and improves circulation.

-       Find an acupuncturist. Chronic fatigue and sleeplessness are both improved by this ancient, inexpensive therapy.

-       YAWN: The simple act of making 10 exaggerated yawns in a row will wake up and re-focus your brain.

By integrating one or more natural energy builders during your day, your body will respond and wake up better than if it’s dosed with another caffeinated beverage.

Here’s to your health,

Alexandra

As you know, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends. Writing furiously with my book deadline looming, riding my bike with my 2.5 year old son on the back to the Co-op to buy high-quality, low-price organic food, cooking fresh food daily, working with clients, re-organizing my business and NOT TAKING TIME FOR SELF-CARE have all added up to a summer cold.

Full-time women, those of us who are “on” 24/7 for work and/or family,  just don’t make ourselves a priority. We see the needs of others so easily, but put our own needs at the bottom of the list. Something I counsel my clients about regularly is how important it is to take care of yourself with pampering, stress-reduction techniques, natural body care and emotional soothing. 

So, this week, I am committed to ordering at least one item from my self-care menu every day to get myself and my energy back on track:

- yoga

- meditation

- sugar-scrub in the steam room at the Y

- meeting up for iced tea with friends in the park

- reading a magazine in my hammock

- going to bed early

- dancing to at least 1 song in my house every day

- saying NO to one time-commitment this week 

Choose a rewarding, healing activity every day this week – it can take 5 minutes to walk through the aisles of the library or 30 minutes to watch a funny episode of the Family Guy on www.hulu.com – and it’s free. Print out your own self-care menu and add a few additional ideas on there – crafting, gardening, reading, boxing, singing, writing poetry. Whatever works! 

Here’s to your health,

Alexandra

Rather than reaching for the bucket of ice cream, an expensive iced soy latte or a caffeine filled iced tea, try adding in more of nature’s natural coolers throughout your day:
COOLING FOODS
Alfalfa
Amaranth
Apple
Berries
Bok choy
Borage
Broccoli
Chinese cabbage
Cilantro
Citrus
Cucumber
Dandelion
Eggplant
Green tea
Kudzu
Lemon
Lettuce
Litchi
Millet
Mint
Mung bean
Pineapple
Plum
Radish
Rhubarb
Seaweed
Sour cherry
Sprouts
Summer squash
Tofu
Tomato
Tropical fruit
Watermelon
Wild blue-green algae
From Rebecca Wood’s The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia
http://astore.amazon.com/nutritionforempoweredwomen-20?node=1&page=2