Healthiest You Ever

When your body (or your mind) seems to be screaming for ice cream, there are ways to offer up a sweet, creamy dessert that is far lower in calories and whose high protein content will actually fill you up! Fat-free ricotta cheese, for example, won’t wreak havoc with your caloric or fat intake, and will provide the taste and feel of fat and a healthy dose of protein. Here’s a simple recipe that can be whipped up whenever a craving strikes:

SO WHAT IS RICOTTA CHEESE?

It’s an Italian cheese produced from whey, the limpid, low-fat, nutritious liquid that gets separated out from the curd when they make cheese. Ricotta has a grainy texture, looks creamy white, and tastes slightly sweet. The cheese contains around 5 percent fat and has a texture that is quite similar to some of the variants of cottage cheese, though it is considerably lighter.

“I also get fed up with the fact that casting agents and directors have this impression of me as being frail and petite. I find it very patronizing. I’m quite beefy and strong. I was a gymnast in school and I have lots of muscles.”

Your core muscles are the abdominal muscles that do the heavy lifting in your life. Strengthening your core muscles is essential to building a strong muscular system, which also improves your ability to burn calories quicker and more efficiently. The abdominals are comprised of the rectus abdominus, the obliques, and the transverse abdominus. The rectus abdominus runs from your rib cage past your belly button, down into your pubic crest. This muscle can be contracted by bringing your hips closer to your rib cage, as you do in regular crunches. The external and internal obliques run in a more diagonal pattern and are located on each side of the rectus abdominus. The obliques are responsible for trunk rotation (twisting) and lateral bending. The transverse abdominus is the deepest abdominal muscle. It is commonly referred to as a stabilizing belt for your trunk and spine. This muscle is not responsible for movement, but it is a vital component to lower back health. These muscles combine with those of the lower back to form what is commonly referred to as the core.

Activities like martial arts, dancing, soccer, gymnastics, swimming, boxing, and basketball all require you to engage your core regularly. All of these options force you to twist and bend at the waist a lot, which is great work for your core muscles. The elliptical machine and the stationary bicycle do not do as much to strengthen your core. When you plan out your exercise regime, make sure you include abdominal strength-training exercises for five to twenty minutes every other day. Your mission is to choose a variety of exercises that work each core muscle in a challenging way. Start slowly and progress to extremely challenging exercises.

“Fish oil has been shown in a series of studies by Andrew Stoll at Harvard to ease the symptoms of bipolar disorder and depression.”

Over the years, fish oil has been touted to help with a myriad of medical problems—including protecting the body from the onset of Parkinson’s and schizophrenia—but what is very exciting is its ability (because of the high levels of omega-3 it contains) to lower the body’s cholesterol levels, reduce overall blood pressure, and keep you full for longer. There is also recent evidence from the International Journal of Obesity that suggests fish oil helps with the body’s ability to burn fat and that those who supplement with fish oil will metabolize more fat as they exercise. When you’re looking for a fish oil supplement, reach for those containing 300 milligrams of the fatty acid EPA and 200 milligrams of the fatty acid DHA and take two each day. If you have an increased risk of bleeding, ask your doctor before taking omega-3 supplements.

“Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100 percent to your training, diet, and mental approach.”

When you perform a movement, move with control. People who are new to weight training often use momentum to move weights. Using momentum results from building up speed by swinging your weights. Because an object in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted on by an external force, the use of speed requires less muscle control. It also makes it easier. Weight training is one of those activities where you need to pay attention so you force yourself to keep it challenging.

Focus on your goal for weight training. You’re not weight training to win a prize for the number of pounds that you lift. Weight training is more process oriented. The specific number of pounds that you lift is not important. You get stronger over time. What’s important is that you are able to execute your exercises in a slow and controlled manner with good posture. This is how you will improve your strength.

When you use your muscles and not momentum, you should be able to lower the weight and lift it with control. Since many movements are assisted by gravity on the way down, slow movements challenge your muscles. If you simply drop weights on the way down, you risk hurting yourself or damaging equipment—and it’s painful on the eardrums.

Fast, jerky movements mean you’re not maximizing your training benefits. Every minute you spend training should count. Perfect practice leads to perfect results. Take your time. Remember why you are training. Move with control. Execute your exercises smoothly through a full range of motion. Over time, you’ll notice a huge difference in your body awareness and ability to control your movements.

“Not only is health a normal condition, but it is our duty not only to attain it but to maintain it.”

Just sitting on an exercise ball challenges your core because you have to stabilize your torso muscles in order to not roll off. These Pilates exercises, even when they aren’t focusing on your core muscles, are challenging because you have to keep your balance as you do them.

Sit on an exercise ball, butt slightly forward from the top, knees bent, feet on the floor. Contract your abs, and keep your shoulders away from your ears as you bring your arms up in front of you to shoulder height in a circle, fingers close together, and lean back slightly. Now, turn to your right as you open your right arm out to the side and behind you. Come back to center and repeat to the left without sitting up. Come back to the center. Repeat the sequence five times on each side.

“I always thought a yard was three feet, then I started mowing the lawn.”

Years ago, only wealthy people employed gardeners and landscapers, but today gardeners and landscapers work for everyone in the neighborhood, even in middle-class neighborhoods. And what are the owners—and kids—in these middle-class homes doing while someone else is raking their leaves? Often, watching TV, eating, or surfing the Internet.

And that’s a shame, because digging, raking, and planting are moderate-intensity activities, equivalent to taking a brisk walk. Even better? Tough gardening chores such as mowing the lawn with a push mower, chopping wood, and shoveling are comparable to skiing or playing doubles tennis. These activities do not replace true exercise routines, but they are a perfect way to reverse the curse of inactivity.

Working in your yard offers one more important benefit: It is psychologically uplifting. Being outside, pruning your hedges or mowing your lawn is time spent interacting with nature. If you engage your whole family, all of you will be able to quickly see the fruits of your labors and you can treat yourselves to a cup of frozen yogurt afterward.

DO NO HARM

To make gardening safer, remember that when you’re weeding, bend at the knees rather than at the waist. Also, try to alternate your grip when using tools. Additionally, don’t do too much. You shouldn’t work longer in your garden than you would take a walk, for example. Finally, stretch when you need to and don’t sit in one position for too long.

“Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.”

Deep, mindful breathing exercises are a great way to trigger your body’s relaxation response. Plus, they are easy to learn, fast to perform, and require no equipment. The following breathing exercise will help you ease tensions and restore your sense of balance and calm—and do the health of your body, mind, and spirit a world of good. As you emerge from your restorative relaxation time, remind yourself that you have the power to create your own health and to enjoy all that life has to offer to you.

Sit or lie down in a safe and comfortable spot with no distractions. Loosen any tight clothing; unbutton or untie anything that is restrictive on your body. Begin to breathe consciously, following your breath in and out of your lungs. Breathe in through the nostrils, out through the mouth. Pay full attention to your breath, in and out, in and out. Listen to the sound and feel the rhythmic pulsing of it. Continue this until you begin to feel calm and relaxed, a state usually signaled by your breath becoming slow and even.

You can deepen your relaxation using breath by imagining that you are breathing in the positive vital force of life, and exhaling all tension and negative feeling or experience. One way to do this is to choose two colors, one for the positive and one for the negative energy: See a stream of one color (positive) coming into your body as you inhale, and a stream of the other color (negative) flowing out of your body as you exhale. The colors white and black are easy to identify—white is the pure energy of light, and black represents any dark thoughts. But feel free to use any color that represents healing energy and release of negative energy to you. Don’t worry if distracting thoughts arise. Let them float off like soap bubbles in the air and return to attending to your breathing.