Carving out time for you

We tend to put ourselves at the bottom of the list of priorities. Work, kids, spouse, elderly parents, pets, errands, chores, whew, makes me tired just writing that.

This week is dedicated to helping you carve out some time to get your 150 minutes of physical activity.

“Dedicate 3% of your life to active living.There's 24 hours in a day. Three percent of 24 hours is 43 minutes. That still leaves you 23 hours and 17 minutes to work, sleep, and wash the dishes.”
Excerpted from Robert Sweetgall’s 10 Commandments of GOYAASMA, http://www.goyaasma.com/commandments.html

If 43 minutes seems too much, you simply cannot spare that much time, take a deep breath. For so many people, me included, carving out 10 minute increments is much less threatening to an already tight schedule. There’s lots of physical activity you can do in 10 minutes.

· I ride my exercise bike for 12 minutes and can ride 2 miles.
· Have some phone calls to make that don’t require a pen and paper? Get on a cell phone or portable phone and walk around the house and talk, this way, you are moving and checking off a task from your list.
· I have a stress inducing mother, so I will listen to her on the phone and ride my exercise bike and it’s dual purpose, exercise and a stress reliever!
· Walking the dog(s) is a great way to get family involved in some quality time together and certainly Fido enjoys the fresh air and the company. “If your dog is overweight you are not getting enough exercise.” Author unknown.
· Sitting and watching TV? Get some small hand weights and lift them or use an exercise band with handles. A one hour TV show has about 16 minutes of TV commercials, I think 10 minutes in a 30 minute show. Lifts weights or use the exercise band during commercials and you have about 16 minutes of physical activity logged.
· Use the stairs at work.
· Park the car a little further away from the door at the supermarket or mall.
· If you are like me and don’t write your shopping list in any particular order, you can get lots of walking accomplished around the super store going back and forth looking for your items.
· Put on music “to clean the house” to, you can dance and clean, it makes the task at hand fun.
· We heat our home with a wood pellet stove, 40 pound bags of pellets are in the garage. I have to walk across the house and up and down 6 steps, to get from the garage to the stove. When I have to schlep pellets, I take a minimum of 5 bags downstairs and sometimes more. Good exercise and I have a stock of pellets in the house.
· I have stairs in my house, on days where I haven’t moved as much as I like, I do some “stair laps”, I go up and down the stairs several times, just don’t let the dog trip you up!

Plot out those 10 minutes throughout the day and evening, be creative, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Keep current with your journaling. This will not only help with eating and physical activity but also with your feelings.

From: Spark People Blog: "If you got a traffic ticket would you break every traffic law the rest of the day? Then why toss the whole day over a slice of pizza?" The same goes for your exercise plan. If you can't fit in your full session, why does it make sense to do nothing instead? Wouldn't you want to be 50 or 100 calories instead of zero? Or lose half a pound instead of none?”

Quick and easy healthy meals

Let me say, I have a love affair with my freezer. There is a great bounty of foodstuff in there to be able to throw together something delicious and nutritious that won’t have us eating dinner at 9 PM. A little creativity can go a long way at mealtime.

Staples to have:
· Frozen vegetables - For a quick meal –use frozen stir fry vegetables, add some low fat protein and brown rice and you have a good meal.
· Ha, brown rice you say, that takes at least an hour to cook, yes I know, but did you know you can freeze it? Make a big batch and measure out portions to meet your needs and freeze it in zip lock bags or plastic containers.
· Keep cooked shredded chicken breast or shredded beef in the freezer. It’s a great way to make use of leftovers and it’s handy, cuts down on cooking time.
· While I don’t like eating fish, a childhood trauma, my husband does and I always keep canned tuna in the house. I do make a mean tuna salad, so I hear!
· Low fat chicken broth, beef broth
· Canned beans-black, kidney, pinto, garbanzos with some chicken or beef and lettuce and you have a taco salad.
· Canned tomatoes-very versatile for soups, sauces, side dishes.
· Tortillas are a must in my house and they freeze well. You can buy them lard free.

Miscellaneous tips:
· Make enough salad for 2 or 3 meals, make sure the lettuce is dried off or the salad will get soggy.
· Chopping an onion or open a can or jar and only need half? Don’t throw it away, put it in a zip lock bag or container and freeze it, you will be glad you did when you need a tablespoon of something.
· Breakfast for dinner is always easy. Substitute turkey sausage for bacon or pork sausage if you want a meat. Instead of potatoes and toast, substitute sliced tomatoes or vegetable sticks for one of the starches.

I hope this helps you carve out much needed “me” time, time to care for yourself.

Post your thoughts on the “Comments” section of this blog or contact me directly, Diane Arave, darave2@mt.gov or 406-444-0593


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