Healthiest You Ever

“Wherever flaxseeds become a regular food item among the people, there will be better health.”

Food is like money. The choices we make in our diet and with our budget can have a profound long-term impact. If you’re looking for a great return on your investment, superfoods are the way to go. Superfoods are foods loaded with vitamins, minerals, and other great nutrients that help fight disease, boost metabolism, and make you feel great. All of these foods are unprocessed and reasonably easy to find, so unless you’re allergic, go ahead and add them to your diet and enjoy the benefits.

When you were a kid, Popeye was one amazing example of what could happen if you ate your spinach! How many times did your parents reference Popeye when trying to get you to eat your spinach? And how often do you reference strength when trying to get your kids to eat greens now? Spinach is packed with vitamins A, B, C, E, and K as well as iron, phosphorous, and fiber. With all of that nutrition delivered in each serving, spinach should be in every athlete’s daily diet … for strength like Popeye’s! This recipe is filled with iron, vitamin K, folate, and fiber, and will have you feeling just as strong.

1. Combine spinach, kale, broccoli, apples, and 1 cup of water in a blender and blend until thoroughly combined.

2. Add remaining 1 cup of water as needed while blending until desired consistency is achieved.

“It’s safe to say this [flaxseed] is the most potent plant source of omega-3.”

Each nerve cell in the brain is surrounded by a protective cell membrane. Receptors for many brain neurotransmitters are found on the membrane. This membrane is composed mostly of different types of fats, which include phosphatidylcholine (PC), also called lecithin; phosphatidylserine (PS); and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). The function of the nerve cells and the neurotransmitters is highly dependent on the quality of fats that make up the cell membrane and therefore highly dependent on the type of fats and oils in your diet. The makeup of a cell membrane is always in a state of transition; it is constantly influenced by diet, stress, and the immune system.

The bottom line: Your brain needs “good fats” like omega-3 fats, found in certain cold-water fish (bluefish, herring, mackerel, rainbow trout, salmon, sardines, tuna, and whitefish), nuts, avocados, and extra-virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil, peanut oil, and canola oil.

JUST THE FLAX

Flaxseed oil is rich in omega-3s, and has a sweet and nutty flavor. Never use it as a cooking oil, however, as the heat destroys the healthy fats and creates unhealthy free radicals. Instead, add a teaspoonful of flax oil to your favorite salad dressing, or drizzle it over already cooked dishes for your daily quotient of omega-3s. Look for a brand that is cold-pressed and store chilled to keep it fresh.

“Most amateur recreational athletes neglect strength training until they get hurt. Many find out what they should have been doing all along when they end up in physical therapy and are given a set of strength-training exercises. The smart ones keep it up even after the problem is corrected.”

As you develop proper running technique, remember the essentials of running mechanics. First, your posture should be guided by a focus on standing erect, imagining a cord coming out of the center and top of your head that gently pulls you straight up. Use your neck muscles to keep your head looking forward, not buried in your chest nor cocked back. Additionally, as you run, keep your face relaxed by letting your jaw drop and your cheeks flap, and keep your eyes looking about 10–20 feet ahead of you.

Concentrating on your body while running, pull up with your abdominal muscles, and focus on running tall with your torso perpendicular to the running surface and your hips directly under your upper body. Let your shoulders hang relaxed and low, not drawn up toward your ears. Hold your arms close to your body, bending them at ninety-degree angles and keeping them near parallel to the ground as they swing counter to your legs. At the same time, hold your hands in a loose fist, with your thumbs up and your palms facing each other.

With a light, efficient, short stride, each foot should land directly under the center of your body weight, not out in front of you. You should land lightly on your heel or ball (midfoot), roll forward onto the ball of your foot, then push off with the balls of your feet and toes in a smooth, fluid, and relatively quiet motion.

“I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They’d be happier.”

Pilates is all about developing strong core muscles by moving your limbs. All you need is a floor mat or yoga mat and about fifteen minutes. When you do each move, pay special attention to the breathing instructions. When you inhale, make it a very slow, deep breath, and feel your body expand with the breath. When you exhale, do it slowly and feel your body get just a little smaller and more relaxed.

Lie with your back on the floor, knees bent, and shins in the air, parallel to the floor. Your lower back should be pressed gently toward the floor, with your arms by your sides and your shoulders away from your ears. Without releasing your abs, slowly drop your right foot toward the floor. You won’t be able to get it to the floor, but bring it as far as you can go without losing the contraction in your abs. Bring it back up and repeat with your left foot. Then, try to drop both feet down. They won’t go as far as one went. Repeat this whole sequence five times.

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR CORE IN MIND

Try to stay conscious of your core muscles no matter what activity you are doing. To do this, simply tighten, without overly gripping, your abdominal muscles, bringing your lower ribs closer to your hip a fraction. You’ll feel a contraction in your abdominals, and that alone will strengthen your core.

“Vice President Cheney is also on vacation. He’s in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. What better place for a guy who has had four heart attacks than a place with thin air, rugged hiking, and all-beef dinners? Why don’t they get some snow for him to shovel while he’s out there, too?”

While adventurous vacations are lots of fun and give you great memories, they can take a lot of planning and money. If you don’t have the means or the stamina for such a vacation, don’t worry! You can turn almost any vacation into a fitness vacation with just a few easy additions. The following is a list of things you should consider taking with you on your trip, although, of course, the exact list will depend on your location and activity:

Finally, if you want to consider luxury with fitness, consider fitness spas! Spas used to be associated with weight loss and deprivation, but now they have accepted and embraced the knowledge that fitness is an essential part of health, weight loss, and relaxation. Spas will encourage you to hike, swim, lift weights, and do Pilates and yoga, and you can do any of these things in Arizona, Tennessee, or Provence!

“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”

Zazen is the sitting meditation of Zen Buddhism, but many so-called “Zennists” who don’t practice Buddhism practice zazen. Zazen can be accurately defined as “just sitting” and is exactly that—just sitting. It doesn’t require any religious or philosophical affiliation. All it requires is the ability to apply the seat of the pants to the floor and stay there for a while. Sounds easy, you say? Hardly. For those of us accustomed to accomplishing something at every moment of the day, just sitting is quite a challenge.

But just sitting accomplishes something amazing if it is practiced every single day for an extended period of time. The mind becomes calmer. The muscles stay more relaxed. Stress fails to get the rise out of your body and your mind that it once did. Suddenly, you hold the reins, not your stress. Suddenly, priorities seem clearer, truths about life, people, and yourself seem more obvious, and things that used to stress you out seem hardly worth consideration anymore.

Just sitting doesn’t remove you from the world, however. Choosing not to worry, dwell, and obsess about things means you can concentrate on the real business of living. As your mind opens up, the world opens up, too. All those anxieties suddenly seem like ropes that were tying you down. Just sitting can dissolve the ropes and set you free to really be who you are and live the life you want.

From the Buddhist perspective, zazen is thought to be the path to enlightenment because thousands of years ago the Buddha attained enlightenment while just sitting under a bodhi tree in India. Enlightenment may or may not be your goal. But whatever the case, learning to sit, cultivate stillness and inner silence, and become fully and totally aware of the present moment makes for powerful stress management.