WEEK EIGHT

DIET AND NUTRITION | MONDAY

“Don’t dig your grave with your own knife and fork.”

—English Proverb

Choose Whole Grains Over Refined Grains

Foods made from grains should be the base of a nutritious diet. Grains include bread, rice, pasta, and oats. Whole-grain foods, especially unprocessed whole grains, supply vitamin E and B vitamins such as folic acid, as well as minerals like magnesium, iron, and zinc. Whole grains (like whole wheat) are rich in fiber and higher in other important nutrients. In fact, eating plenty of whole-grain breads, bran cereals, and other whole-grain foods can easily provide half of your fiber needs for an entire day.

Refined grains include white bread and white rice. Whole grain is the entire edible part of any grain, including wheat, corn, oats, and rice. Refined grains go through a milling process in which parts of the grain are removed. In refined grains, many of the essential nutrients are lost in processing. Some nutrients are added back, or the product is enriched, but this usually does not include all of the nutrients that were lost.

The aim should be to consume at least six servings of grain products per day. When choosing grains, words such as whole grain, whole wheat, rye, bulgur, brown rice, oatmeal, whole oats, pearl barley, and whole-grain corn should be one of the first words in the ingredient list on a food label. The best whole-grain or whole-wheat products are made from 100 percent whole-wheat flour. Choose grains that are rich in fiber, low in saturated fat, and low in sodium.

STRENGTH | TUESDAY

“It’s always challenging to start something new. Be sure to give yourself plenty of credit. You deserve it. And, every weight that you lift, even if it’s only 5 pounds to start with, is important. It is leading you on the road towards a healthier, stronger, and more active lifestyle.”

—Shirley S. Archer, fitness professional, Stanford University School of Medicine

Select the Right Weight Load

The weight load that you choose for weight lifting determines the number of reps that you can do. The best way to find a proper weight level for you is initially through trial and error. Always start out on the conservative side with a weight you think might be light for you.

If you can lift this weight easily for 15 reps, then it’s too light. If you lifted between 16 to 17 reps, go ahead and add 5 pounds. If you lifted between 18 and 19 reps, try adding 10 pounds. If you easily lifted more than 20 reps, see how you do with an additional 15 pounds.

If you can successfully complete 12 to 15 reps in your first attempt, then this is your training load. You can note this on your exercise log. As you become more experienced, you will remember how much weight you lift on each of the exercises. When you’re starting out, however, it can feel much more like information overload. Write it down. You will save plenty of time on your next workouts.

What if, in spite of your best efforts to select a weight on the light side, you discover that you can not even lift 12 reps? This weight level is too heavy. Save it for another day when you are stronger. If you could only lift between 10 to 11 reps, subtract 5 pounds. If you completed between 8 and 9 reps, go ahead and lower the weight by 10 pounds. If you really overestimated your own strength and could not even lift 7 reps, don’t worry. You will become stronger if you stick with your program. We guarantee it. In the meantime, drop down at least 15 pounds and be proud that you are starting out with a program—and keep up the great work!

MENTAL AGILITY | WEDNESDAY

“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.”

—Yiddish Proverb

Watch a Funny Movie

Laugh! It really is the best medicine—for both our minds and our bodies. For one thing, a good sense of humor provides needed stress relief. When we laugh at our problems rather than fret over them, they become less serious and thus easier to solve. Humor also improves cognitive function by keeping the mind active and encouraging creative thinking—a vital defense against age—and provides an important emotional catharsis during periods of emotional tension. Researchers at Loma Linda University School of Medicine’s Department of Clinical Immunology conducted numerous studies proving that laughter helps lower serum cortisol levels, increases the amount of activated T lymphocytes, increases the number and activity of natural killer cells, and increases the number of T cells that have helper/suppressor receptors. In other words, laughter helps stimulate the immune system and counters the immunosuppressive effects of stress. Laughter also benefits the heart, improves oxygen flow to the brain, and works the muscles in the head, neck, chest, and pelvis—in much the same way as the stress reduction exercises of yoga. This helps keep muscles loose and limber and enables them to rest more easily. So rent a funny movie, go to a comedy club, or watch a comedy show and laugh!

ENDURANCE | THURSDAY

“I go running when I have to. When the ice cream truck is doing sixty.”

—Wendy Liebman

Create a Training Log

Another item that will improve your running experience is a training log. Use a notebook, calendar, or running log to record the following information at a minimum: miles run, total time run, and shoe model worn. Some runners record everything from the weather conditions to the route they have run to the total shoe mileage.

Keeping a log is important because it provides a history of your running, which is crucial for finding the possible cause of a running injury. Additionally, reviewing a running log helps to determine the training method that has been most effective in turning out your best performances. Finally, keeping a log is highly motivating, for few runners like to leave too many blank entries. However, do not become compulsive about your running just to fill in the blanks or reach a specific weekly mileage total come what may.

A training log may not seem like an essential item in your quest for fitness, but it is. It’s a place to set goals, track achievements, and note ups or downs. You’ll be thrilled to look back at the mileage you’ve run, and in turn you’ll be more motivated to stick to your plan.

There are a variety of websites that provide training logs and show you how to record everything pertaining to your training program, from actual miles run to cumulative shoe mileage. Best of all, most of these sites are free.

FLEXIBILITY | FRIDAY

“All those years of skating and dancing have carried over. I can’t design anything without thinking of how a woman’s body will look and move when she’s wearing it.”

—Vera Wang

Take an Aerobics Dance Class

Just as happened in the 1980s, aerobics classes with dance influences are all the rage. Zumba, for instance, has become one of the hottest crazes in group fitness classes. A lively workout, it combines Latin dance-inspired movements with cardiovascular activity. Zumba is an especially good class to take for improving flexibility, but any form of dance aerobics would be beneficial.

Like all other dance and cardio classes, Zumba involves an extensive warm-up and cool-down section that begins with plenty of stretching. Because it’s a class for all levels, you can ease into the movements and dance at your own pace. The combination of lunges, squats, hip swirls, and shoulder rolls, among other movements, will increase your flexibility dramatically, often without you feeling the type of repetitive drudgery that less exciting workouts often bring.

While easing in is highly recommended, if you want to see drastic improvement in your overall flexibility, you have to be willing to push yourself a little past your comfort zone when you stretch—and when you’re out there on the floor. Rest assured that with time, your body will feel more and more limber. Classes are widely available and you usually don’t have to join a gym to participate in classes.

RECREATION | SATURDAY

“The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best.”

—Thomas Jefferson

Take 10,000 Steps a Day

Many people are now trying to ensure they take at least 10,000 steps per day, which has been shown to be a marker of good health. If you walk about 3.5 miles per hour, then you probably take somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 steps in one hour, depending on your height (and, therefore, your stride length). You can walk that number of steps during a one-hour show on TV just by marching in front of your TV. You’ll burn about 150 to 250 calories during that hour. That may not sound like a lot, but if you’re just watching TV without moving, you’ll only burn about 40 to 60 calories, and not get any boost to your metabolism during that time. Do that for one hour a day for a year, and you’ll burn off about 9 pounds!

Of course, you can also buy a step counter, or pedometer, which you can hook onto your pants (at the waistband) or your shoes. These little doodads, which have become so popular that McDonald’s was giving them away for a while, are supposed to be an easy way to help you make sure you’re getting your 10,000 steps in. The problem is that these machines are often inaccurate, so they either overcount or undercount your steps. Nevertheless, they aren’t expensive and they do work for some people, so you might try one out. Take 100 steps (count), and then see how close the piece of equipment is. If it’s pretty close (maybe 95 to 105 steps) then use it. If not, try to make estimates yourself.

REST | SUNDAY

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”

—Theodore Geisel

Take a Mental Vacation

For instant relaxation, imagery can work for you. Imagery is simple and fun. Feeling stressed? Feeling anxious? Feeling hopeless? Go on vacation. No, don’t leave your desk and head to the airport. Stay at your desk, close your eyes, relax, breathe, and use your imagination to visualize the place you would most like to be.

You remember your imagination, don’t you? It was that thing that, as a child, allowed you to fly like a bird, stomp like an elephant, bark like a dog, save the world from disaster, go on safari, jump from an airplane with your parachute, and visit a land made entirely out of candy, all in one day. Remember that? Wasn’t that fun?

Your imagination is still in your head, even if it’s grown a little rusty from disuse. Time to take it out, brush it off, and use it in the service of stress management! You might not decide to imagine that you are a superhero (then again, you might, and why not?), but why not imagine wandering down a secluded beach at sunset, the balmy tropical winds rippling the turquoise sea? Maybe you would prefer cuddling in front of the fire with a special someone (even if you haven’t met him or her yet) in a cozy cabin in the woods? Maybe images of the Far East, the rain forest, or hiking a glacier in Alaska invoke a sense of peace in you. Maybe you’re partial to the desert … or a really fancy dessert!

Let yourself daydream a little. Consider it personal time. Time to recharge. It’s fun, and it’s perfectly legal. It’s also an excellent way to manage the stress that comes your way. After all, that’s what vacations are for!