Walking Is The Perfect Low Impact Exercise

If you haven’t exercised in a while, or are looking for something easy you can do every single day give walking a try. It’s the perfect low impact way to exercise. It’s easy to do, you don’t need any special equipment and you can start at the fitness level you’re at.

If you’re not in the best of shape, start by going for a 10 or 15 minute walk around the neighborhood and work your way up from there. If you’re already in great shape, walking can still provide an effective workout. Walk fast and incorporate some hills and even stairs.

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. If you’re like most of us, chances are you haven’t exercised much since you got out of college and need to start small. Maybe your doctor suggested that you move around more, or maybe you just want to be proactive about your health and well-being. In either case, walking is the perfect way to start.

Find a pair of comfortable shoes, put them on and go for a stroll through your neighborhood. You could also find a local park with a nice path you can walk on. If the weather doesn’t permit walking outside, head to your local mall and walk or hop on a treadmill.

You can even walk in place at home in front of your TV. Here’s a simple little idea to get you moving more. As you're sitting on the couch at night watching TV, get up during commercial breaks and march in place until your favorite TV show comes back on. If you’re using a service like Netflix, make yourself walk in place for 10 minutes in between episodes. Or turn on the TV and challenge yourself to march in place during the entire show. Time will fly while you’re having fun watching TV and moving.

Speaking of having fun, going for a walk outside can be a lot of fun too. Mix up your route and walk in different areas of town, or visit different parks. Invite a friend to come along with you to walk. It’s always nice to have someone to talk to and having a walking buddy keeps you accountable. Last but not least, grab your phone or MP3 player and listen to music or audio books as you walk to make the time go by faster.

The main thing is that you get out there, move around, and get some exercise in a way that’s gentle on your joints, your heart, and the rest of your body and that’s what walking will do for you. Just give it a try and see if you don’t start to feel better, happier, and stronger after a few weeks of regular walks.

Kitchen Seasonings: A Quick World Tour

Herbs, spices and other seasonings are a natural and healthy way to add a lot of flavor to your recipes without adding a lot of extra calories. With a little practice, you can create an endless variety of delicious recipes, such as Mediterranean-inspired favorites bursting with the fresh flavors of lemon, garlic and rosemary and spicy Mexican dishes featuring cilantro, cumin and chili powder.

Of course, your options won’t end there. A wide range of herbs, spices and seasonings are used throughout the world to make food taste better, and in some cases, last longer. Over time, certain flavors have come to represent the culinary identity of the areas where they originated. In large part, the seasonings you choose will define the direction of your own culinary development, as well.

With a little creativity, you can put a fresh spin on some of your favorite tried-and-true recipes by simply swapping out the herbs, spices and seasonings you use. For example, if you add fresh or dried basil or oregano to diced tomatoes, chopped onion and finely minced garlic, you have the makings of a wonderful red Italian pasta sauce. On the other hand, if you replace the basil and oregano with cilantro and lime juice, those same ingredients become the foundation for a fabulous homemade salsa recipe.

To help inspire you, the following chart shows some of the most popular culinary ingredients based on geographic region. 

Cuisine	Popular Herbs, Spices & Seasonings
Italian	basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, parsley
French	thyme, French tarragon, rosemary, basil, sage, mint, marjoram
Greek	dill, lemon, oregano, fennel
Spanish	saffron, smoked and regular paprika, rosemary, thyme
German	mustard, rye, caraway seeds, borage
Mexican	cilantro, chili powder, cumin, Mexican oregano
Indian	curry powder, coriander, cumin, turmeric
Chinese	five-spice powder, star anise, fennel seed, cloves, cinnamon, ginger
Thai	Thai basil, cumin, turmeric, lemon grass, cinnamon

  

Of course, this chart is far from comprehensive, but it can serve as a good reference point for assembling your own collection of must-have herbs, spices and seasonings.

Keep in mind, some herbs, spices and seasonings, such as salt, black pepper and garlic, have an almost universal appeal that isn’t limited by geographic borders. Chances are you will notice those items popping up in recipes from all over the world. As a result, you may want to keep an adequate supply of these basic ingredients in your own pantry or spice rack.

You will also see a lot of crossover among dishes from countries that border one another. For example, French, Italian, Greek and Spanish dishes often feature many of the same herbs, such as basil, rosemary, oregano and thyme. Of course, this isn’t surprising when you consider how these populations interacted with and melded together over the course of history. Depending on your personal tastes and cooking habits, these ingredients may be good to keep on hand, as well.

While assembling your own collection of herbs, spices and seasonings from around the world, remember you can save money by growing your own. Fresh herbs are super easy to grow from seed or from cuttings in your own garden and many can be brought indoors for year-round enjoyment. However, if growing fresh herbs isn’t your thing, many popular fresh and dried varieties are readily available. Dried herbs can be a great alternative to fresh, but take note of expiration dates and suggested storage methods. Dried herbs, spices and seasonings can be quite expensive, so buy smaller amounts at one time if you won’t be using them often.

What is your favorite spice combination?

3 Steps to Creating New Habits

Happy Independence Day!

Let’s talk about forming new habits. We all have times in our lives where we intentionally want to change our behavior for the better and create new habits for ourselves. This could be getting in the habit of eating healthier and drinking more water. Or it could be moving more and taking the dog for a daily walk. Or it could be work related, or spiritual, or… There are so many areas in our lives that could be improved and made easier if we created new habits.

Getting into the habit of doing something is often easier said than done. We seem to acquire bad habits without any effort, but getting into a “good” habit can be a little more challenging.

Let’s break it down into a three step process that makes it easy to follow until we’ve internalized the new behavior and made it a true habit – something we do automatically without having to think about, like brushing our teeth.

Decide What You Want To Do

The first step is to decide what you want that new habit to be. Be as specific as possible. Don’t just tell yourself you want to exercise more. Instead say something like “I will go for a 30 minute walk every single day”.  Deciding what your new habit will be and committing to when and how you’re going to do it, is half the battle.

Remind Yourself To Get It Done

The next few days should be smooth sailing. You’re motivated and excited to get this done. Sticking to your new habit isn’t an issue. But a few days in you’ll notice that it’s easy to slip back into old habits.

Maybe it’s raining and you don’t really want to go out and walk. Or maybe your day just gets away from you. This is when it’s important to have a daily reminder. Set an alert on your phone or add the new habit to your daily to-do list for a while.

Make It Part Of Your Routine Until It Becomes A Habit

Which brings us to the last step. It takes some time before a new behavior becomes a true habit. Until then, a routine will work to your best advantage. Even before the new behavior becomes automatic, a routine will help you get it done without having to spend a lot of willpower or relying on daily reminders.

Make that daily walk part of your after dinner routine, or change from grabbing a snack at the vending machine at work at 10:00 in the morning to packing a healthy snack.

Congratulations! Decide to create the new habit, practice the routine until it’s second nature and you’ll be well on your way to forming a new good habit.

What healthy habit are you working on for July?

Hello July!

Can you believe half the year is over already?  These first 6 months seem to have flown by!

July - December

I keep adding to what I have left to do this year.  July and October appear to be my busiest months.

• July
• Wellness Coach Certification Exam
• FitBloggin' (so many are backing out lately)
• Austin starting high school
• August
• Nothing YET
• September 
• 37th Birthday
• October
• The Great Pumpkin Run
• Launch of Fit Indy Parties at the Costa Rica Wellness Retreat
• November
• 8th Anniversary
• Thanksgiving
• Austin's 15th Birthday
• December
• Holidays in Ohio

What's in store for you the rest of 2016?

Week in Review

SATURDAY I melted in my garden for about 2 hours. Staked the rest of the tomatoes. Created a structure for the zucchini to climb.

MONDAY I worked my back, chest, and shoulders with Kelly Coffey-Meyer's Muscle UP 2B Fit.

TUESDAY I worked my legs and arms. In the afternoon I purchased a subscription to Precision Nutrition's ProCoach. I will be using this both as the nutrition portion of my coaching programs as well as a standalone option.

WEDNESDAY I walked almost 3 miles during lunch. At the farmer's market I picked up blueberries, zucchini, and a fruit roll up.

A photo posted by Cassandra Schmigotzki (@longandwindingroadtowellness) on Jun 29, 2016 at 1:05pm PDT

YESTERDAY I had a busy mental day. I started with yoga before work.

I created the sign up page for a 30 day free trial of the Nutritional Guidelines. Those in the Brand New Me Healthy Living Community will have first dibs on the trial.

My Wellness Coach Certification exam is now scheduled for the 14th. I'm trying to decide if I'll work beforehand or take the whole day like the last time.  It'll probably depend upon the weather LOL

Linking up with

Jill for Fitness Health & Happiness

MississippiPiddlin & HoHo Runs

#MotivateMe Monday with Fitness Cheerleader, Running Rachel, & Run Mommy Run

Sunday Fitness & Food Linkup with Marathons & Motivation & IlkasBlog