I’ve seen a lot of memes over the last two months lamenting what it will be like to put on regular pants once quarantine is over – and if that will even be possible! But quarantine doesn’t have to be an excuse to make unhealthy choices and gain weight. And obsessing over body image isn’t a healthy mental choice either. So, like the Chicken and the Egg, which came first?

Is it a positive body image mindset or living a healthy lifestyle? Why can’t we have both? People show significant improvement in social well-being and mental health when they live a healthy lifestyle. By facing your fears through a meditative exercise like swimming, you can learn to create a positive mindset that will help you truly want to live a healthy lifestyle. 

Healthy Lifestyle

What happens to our health physically, emotionally, and spiritually when we’re 50+ pounds overweight? The tricky part is that once our bodies are carrying extra weight, it becomes exponentially harder to lose it. We lose the ability to process calories correctly, and the weight comes off slower. Plus, according to research gathered by Harvard Health Publications, being moderately overweight more than doubles the risk of over FIFTY different health conditions, including depression.  

It’s frustrating that the ones who benefit most from our unhealthy lifestyles are the corporations pushing unhealthy products in the name of convenience and low-cost while our bodies slowly fail. Or maybe worse, dietary, nutritional, and workout fads that are confusing, expensive, and difficult to maintain, ending in failure and defeat. Crossfit is a prime example of a workout that, on the surface, looks exciting and promises great results with a challenging, competitive atmosphere. Unfortunately, the unpopular truth is that besides beginner athletes being more prone to injury in this atmosphere, the variable, intense, and constantly changing workouts prevent proper recovery and muscle strength gains. 

How can our lives improve by losing weight?

One with the Water Clients reported the most significant positive impacts in the following categories:

Quality of Life 55%

Social Well-Being 47%

Mental Health 47%

Physical Health 50%

Swimming Abilities 85%

Confidence/Self-Worth 61%

Leadership Skills 40%

Positive Body Image

So, where does a positive body image fit into all this? After all, what’s wrong with loving ourselves the way we are. And the answer is nothing; we encourage self-care and positive body image. The secret is using a growth mindset to increase our positive body image and reap the benefits of creating healthy lifestyle changes. According to the same Harvard publication (“Lose Weight and Keep it Off”), even a modest 5-10% weight loss can significantly reduce your health risks. 

Using a growth mindset, people can conquer their fear and kick their unhealthy habits, improve their mental health and physical health, and create an increased quality of life. We can love our bodies and want to care for them better. 

At One with the Water, we coach using the growth mindset and a proven meditative exercise (swimming) to create lasting, positive change for our clients. When our clients believe the effort is worth it and will produce results, the hard work follows.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Making Healthy Lifestyle Choices in Quarantine appeared first on One with the Water.

Did you also know that the average American male would need to spend 10 hours and 33 minutes on the treadmill to burn the 4,500 calories consumed at the average Thanksgiving meal? (SOURCE)

It doesn’t have to be this way. By approaching Thanksgiving with a plan, you can enjoy healthy holiday eating, both physically and emotionally. With that in mind, here are five quick and easy tips for managing holiday eating.

Five tips on healthy holiday eating.

1. Portion control: Allow yourself your favorite foods without guilt but take small portions of each to enjoy them. In general, the following guide helps determine portion control. 
   • Your palm determines your protein portions.
   • Your fist determines your vegetable portions.
   • Your cupped hand determines your carb portions.
   • Your thumb determines your fat portions.

   Small helpings mean you can successfully enjoy everything on the table without feeling the guilt and physical discomfort of overindulging.

2. Take ten before reaching for more. It takes some time for your stomach to communicate the feeling of fullness to your brain. After eating your first helping, take a break. Take a lap around the room. Have some water and make small talk. Then check your appetite.
3. Careful party positioning: Don’t set up camp by the food. A strategic location will help to prevent absent-minded munching. In addition, moving around (or even taking a quick walk) will help stave off feeling sluggish and over-full. 
4. Eat some healthy snacks pre-party to avoid going in starving: Nuts, nut butter, avocado, fruit, and eggs are excellent choices, using the portion sizes above. 
5. And finally, feel free to load up on fruits and veggies: If you are hungry between meals, they are an excellent low-calorie filler between main courses.

Take the next step.

If the thought of staying healthy over the holidays is overwhelming to you, consider that along with our premium swim lessons, One with the Water also offers Barbell Strength Training using the science-backed Starting Strength method to train your whole body. Call today for more information.

Food is not the enemy, and holiday gatherings shouldn’t be a source of anxiety when faced with so many choices. With a little bit of planning, you can be confidant in your ability to navigate the Thanksgiving meal while being kind to your body.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Healthy Holiday Eating with a Plan appeared first on One with the Water.

If you are like me, your Facebook feed is exploding with back to school photos. Cute smiles, brushed hair, and shining faces. Lunches are packed, new backpacks are brimming over with school supplies, and moms and dads everywhere are flopping down on the couch for a quiet, uninterrupted cup of coffee. (Maybe that’s just me!)

Let’s be honest; how long will we all keep it up? We have strong personalities in this house, with big emotions that need constant regulation. If we don’t have a steady morning routine in place, things go downhill quickly, and neatly brushed hair gives way to bedhead and mismatched socks.

In that vein, here are three quick ways to practice healthy morning habits and create regular routines for sensitive and emotional children. We might be a swimming blog, but our goal is physical, mental, and emotional wellness for all.

Healthy Morning Habits

1.    Start with nightly prep and set expectations. Lay out clothes, plan breakfast, make sure your child knows the tasks they are expected to perform in the morning. Depending on age, charts are an excellent tool for this purpose.

2.    Plan for 5-10 minutes of mindful movement after waking. Even brief exercise will awaken the brain and stimulate information processing, plus help with stress reduction and improved concentration abilities. Start here for some simple stretching exercises to do in the morning.  (And for children with ADHD, read more about how and why swimming especially can help with focus in the classroom.)

3.    Protein for breakfast. First, start with the fundamental fact that children need to eat breakfast, period. One study showed that students who ate breakfast in the morning scored twice as high on Teacher Assessment, compared with those who did not. However, what they eat matters too. Carbohydrates in the morning add glucose to jumpstart your brain, but solely eating carbs in the morning will result in a blood sugar crash well before lunch, leading to grumpy, unfocused children. (Adult too, for that matter!) Adding a healthy serving of protein to your child’s breakfast slows carbohydrate absorption and levels out blood sugar throughout the day. (Read more here for suggested healthy snack choices and serving size).

The bottom line? Routines matter. As parents and caregivers, we must teach and model healthy habits for our children, providing them with the physical building blocks needed for emotional, mental, and academic success.

Sources:

• http://www.houstonstateofhealth.com/promisepractice/index/view?pid=3616 
• https://www.verywellfamily.com/simple-kids-stretching-exercises-1257070  
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151116212635.htm 
• https://www.uaex.edu/publications/PDF/FSFCS86.pdf 
• http://www.sagechildcare.edu.au/blog/why-a-high-protein-breakfast-is-essential-for-childrens-learning/

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Back to School: Healthy Morning Habits appeared first on One with the Water.

The average American will consume a whopping 3500-4500 calories on Thanksgiving day.

So what are some ways you can combat the onslaught of unhealthy, albeit delicious calorie bombs lurking on the Thanksgiving table? Before you chow down tomorrow, consider these three simple ways to counteract the seemingly inevitable holiday weight gain.

Three ways to beat the Thanksgiving bloat.

1. If your house is anything like ours, there is a bevy of snacks set out long before the Thanksgiving meal actually begins.  Intentionally use this opportunity to choose healthy snacks. It’s so cliche, but it’s true – garbage in, garbage out. Don’t waste your Thanksgiving calories on your snack choices. Make sure you are setting your body up for success by choosing fruit, nuts, or lean meat to snack on.

2. It’s dinnertime, so now what? It seems obvious, but portion control is critical! Just because Aunt Greta brought a gallon size bucket of sweet potatoes, doesn’t mean you have to eat half of the gallon. An easy way to gauge appropriate portion sizes is using your hand.

• Your palm determines your protein portions.
• Your fist determines your vegetable portions.
• Your cupped hand determines your carb portions.
• Your thumb determines your fat portions.

Small helpings mean you can successfully enjoy everything on the table without feeling the guilt and physical discomfort of overindulging.

3. And finally, choose to #optoutside. Originally started as an ad campaign by REI a few years ago, #optoutside means just that. Instead of pounding the pavement in search of the best deals, go take a walk, a hike, or dare I say it, a swim? Regardless, get your body moving to burn off some the excess calories from the day before.

Now go eat some guilt-free turkey!

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Kick Those Excess Thanksgiving Calories appeared first on One with the Water.

Let’s get real. Food is fuel. Healthy diet matters. In fact, a healthy diet is just as important as exercise when hitting the gym and making goals to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Your body can’t make good out of garbage.  You are built by the resources you choose to put in your body.  Right down to your cellular level, you are built what you supply. Make the right choice!

Maintaining a Healthy Diet

First, let’s talk about serving size. Quantity matters too! The best Rule of “Thumb and Palms” is to is to consume single-ingredient foods to maintain a healthy diet. Start with your hands – Forget counting calories or weighing your food. The easiest way to figure out portion sizes is with your hands. Here’s a quick overview:

• Your palm determines your protein portions.
• Your fist determines your vegetable portions.
• Your cupped hand determines your carb portions.
• Your thumb determines your fat portions.

But wait? Hand size is relative … does there really need to be a different approach men (vs. women) should take when choosing these foods? And the answer is yes. Typically, women should have a baseline diet of their hand size –  not the size of a man’s hand. In most cases, it’s less than half the portion of that of a man.

Second: You need to maintain continuous energy throughout the day. The best way to do that is to listen to your body and start to understand what it’s craving. And then eat something healthy within the boundary of a “single-ingredient food.”

And third, rather than specific food, here’s what properties and nutrients that we should be looking for when planning our meals/snacks for focus/productivity. Let’s start with protein.

• Whey Protein: A whey protein supplement can make it easier to meet your daily protein requirements. You may choose to replace one of your meals with a whey protein shake and some fruit. Any whey isolate or concentrate is fine, just make sure each scoop is about 25g of protein and only 3 – 6 grams of carbs. Amount: One 25-50g shake per day.
• Fish Oil: Fish oil supplementation has been shown to reduce inflammation and is associated with decreased risk of diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and more. Amount: 1-2g of EPA/DHA / day (Check the label for the amount of EPA/DHA. That’s what counts.)
• Vitamin D3: Vitamin D supplementation is associated with increased cognition, immune health and bone density. Amount: 2000 – 4000 IU / day (take with food)

And fourth, healthy snacks. It’s so cliche but it’s true – garbage in, garbage out. Your body works with the resources it’s being given. Make sure you are setting your body up for success. Here are some healthy snacks by category to get you started. 

Are you ready to make a change? And not just concerning what goes in your body?  Did you know that One with the Water provides private or semi-private barbell workouts using the Starting Strength training program? We’re not in the business of building bulk, only to make you a stronger person, inside and out. Barbell workouts will build your confidence and strength like no other exercise in the world.

Contact Coach Rippetoe here for more information. Get started today!

Kenneth Rippetoe

Kenneth is a Life-time member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and holds certifications as a Level 4 Disability Coach & Level 3 USA Swimming as well as US Masters Coach. Coaching since 1985, Kenneth specializes in Swimming, Strength and Conditioning coaching.

The post Four Tips for a Healthy Diet appeared first on One with the Water.