Fitness by Sandy Beach » exercise

4 Ways to Improve Your Eyesight

Sandy — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 19:04:36 +0000

Dr. Mao’s Secrets of Longevity

Follow these tips to sharpen your own vision so you can see your way to a future of longevity.

1. Eat for bright eyesight

Protect your peepers with a vision-ary diet! Our eyes require multiple nutrients to function optimally. Start with these:

• Vitamins A, C, E, and minerals like copper and zinc are essential to eyesight.

• Antioxidants, including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, protect the macula from sun damage. Get these antioxidants from dark leafy greens, egg yolks, yellow peppers, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and carrots–notice any color pattern here? Current research shows that consuming yellow and green vegetables can help prevent age-related macular generation, a leading cause of blindness.

• Foods rich in sulfur, cysteine, and lecithin help protect the lens of your eye from cataract formation. Excellent choices include garlic, onions, shallots, and capers.

• Anthocyanin-rich blueberries, grapes, and goji berries have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can help improve your vision.

• DHA is a fatty acid found in coldwater fish like wild salmon, sardines, mackerel, and cod. DHA provides structural support to cell membranes to boost eye health.

• To prevent dehydration and dry eyes remember to drink filtered water daily: eight 8 ounce glasses every day to lubricate your eyes.

2. Exercise your eyes

These simple exercises will help you maintain optimal vision and may also keep those annoying eye floaters at bay. Perform these exercises first thing in the morning, before bedtime, or any time your eyes feel fatigued. Make sure that your hands are clean and that your mood is relaxed. Commit to daily practice and you may just see better results within one month.

• Warm your eyes. Rub your palms together to create heat, and then place them against your eyes for five seconds. Repeat this three times.

• Roll your eyes. Start by looking up and then slowly circle10 times clockwise and 10 times counterclockwise.

• Focus. Hold a pen at arm’s length, focus your eyes on it, and slowly bring the pen closer until it’s about six inches away from your nose. Then slowly move it back, keeping your eyes focused on the pen, 10 times in all.

• Massage your temples. Using your thumb knuckles, massage your temples in small circles, 20 times in one direction and 20 in the other. Repeat the same actions above the mid-point of the eyebrows at the forehead, then below the eyes on both sides of the bridge of the nose.

• Take a mini-nap. Put your head back, close your eyes, and relax for three minutes.

3. Limit Environmental Toxins

External factors can contribute to eye damage. These include fluorescent lights, computer screens, environmental allergens, chlorine in swimming pools, air conditioning and heating, reading in dim lighting, and constant rubbing of the eyes. Do not smoke and limit your exposure to cigarette smoke as it may increase optic pressure. Remember to wear sunglasses to protect your precious eyes from UV exposure.

4. R & R for your eyes

Getting enough sleep is essential for eye health. Sleep time allows your eyes to fully rest, repair, and recover. Insufficient sleep may weaken your vision, so shoot for eight hours of sound sleep a night. Give your eyes a break once an hour during your workday: rest your eyes 10 minutes for every 50 minutes spent reading or in front of the computer. If your eyes feel overly tired, lie down and place cooling cucumber slices over your eyelids.

–Dr. Mao

13 Reasons To Exercise

Sandy — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 08:05:28 +0000

Let’s face it, some days you just don’t feel like exercising.

You get too busy, too stressed and quite simply too tired.

Here’s a list of 13 of the top reasons to exercise. Pull out this list and read it when you’re having one of those days.

1. To Prevent Disease
Exercise has been proven to reduce the risk of just about every single health problem known to man, from stroke to heart disease to cancer and osteoporosis. Exercise is also a great defense against type 2 diabetes, which is one of the most widely growing diseases of our time.

2. To Look Great
Exercise firms your body, improves posture and even makes your skin glow. Looking your best is a wonderful result of regular exercise.

3. To Lose Weight and Keep It Off
Exercise burns fat and prevents future fat storage. If you want to have a thinner, healthier body, exercise is the answer.

4. To Have More Energy
Anyone who exercises regularly will tell you that they are more energetic, less easily irritated and are more peaceful.

5. To Sleep Better
Exercise boosts energy levels, but also wears you out. It makes you feel more vibrant during the day and sleep better at night.

6. To Age Slower
Exercise is one of the most effective ways to fight aging. When you age your body loses muscle and bone, while the loss of both are drastically reduced with regular exercise. Exercise also helps reduce inflammation.

7. To Relieve Back Pain
In most cases, the best thing that you can do for back pain is to move and strengthen those muscles. Consult your physician or physical therapist for guidance.

8. To Ease Depression
Exercise has been proven to reduce depression – sometimes even as effectively as medication. Just chalk this up as yet another amazing benefit to exercise.

9. To Reduce Aches and Pains
By strengthening muscles around your damaged joints you’re able to use exercise to reduce joint pain and overall aches. Always consult your physician before starting an exercise program, especially if you have chronic joint pain.

10. To Stay Mentally Sharp
Exercise has been shown to improve memory and other cognitive functions, and seems to have a protective effect against dementia. A Harvard University researcher called exercise “Miracle-Gro for the brain.”

11. To Enjoy Your Lifestyle
Whatever it is that you love in life – your kids, travel, sports, fashion – it is all more enjoyable when experienced in a fit and healthy body. Exercise so that you are able to enjoy all the great things in life.

12. To Reduce Sick Days
People who exercise regularly are 50% less likely to call in sick to work. A regular exercise program reduces colds and upper respiratory infections.

13. To Boost Confidence
Being fit, feeling healthy and having energy are all building blocks to having great confidence. There is no better confidence booster than sticking with a regular exercise program.

Regular exercise gives you so many amazing benefits, as you’ve seen from the above list. Call or email me today to get started on the exercise program that will change your life forever.

5 Obstacles to Fitness Success

Sandy — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:04:24 +0000

You want to be fit. You know how much you should weigh. You know your ideal pant size. You can even picture how great those skinny jeans will look.

So why aren’t you living life in your ideal body?

There are many complex reasons that make weight loss a challenge, reasons that go deeper than simply calories-in versus calories-out.

I’m talking about the life issues that get in the way of your success.

Read the following 5 obstacles and the solutions to unlock your best body ever.

1. You don’t want to be bothered.

It’s in your DNA to avoid pain and seek out pleasure. Unfortunately this works against you when trying to get fit. In your mind, it’s painful (or at least uncomfortable) to deny yourself the tasty food that you crave and to exert yourself with exercise.

There’s a simple way to work around this obstacle: Find something painful about being fat to motivate yourself towards healthy eating and exercise. Focus on the negative impact your current weight has on your health, self-esteem and lifestyle. Convince yourself that the pain of being out of shape is much greater than the discomfort of losing weight.

2. You don’t want to wait for the good stuff.

Just as you wish to avoid pain, you are also an expert in seeking out pleasure – namely food. This served the cavemen well, but these days it ends up as extra pounds around your waist and thighs.

There’s good news: extra calories are not your only option to stimulate the pleasure center of your brain. Find an activity or two that make you smile and indulge in those regularly.

A walk outside
A good book
A night out to the movies or theater
A spa day

You can also retrain your brain to crave the pleasure of exercise-induced endorphins. Talk about weight gain kryptonite!

3. You are crazy busy.

Let’s face it, you work too much, commit yourself to too much and don’t even get enough sleep most of the time. The fast-paced way you live leaves you exhausted, stressed and hungry for comfort food. You even begin to feel too busy to take care of your health.

It’s time to reprioritize. Let go of your perfectionist standards and remove a few commitments from your schedule so that you are able to cook healthy meals, exercise and get a good night’s sleep. Remind yourself that taking care of your health is not a luxury – it’s a necessity.

4. You don’t deserve it.

I don’t agree with it, but you sure act like you don’t deserve to live the good life in the body of your dreams. Take a moment to think back on all the times you have self-sabotaged your weight loss efforts. If you don’t believe deep down that you are worthy then you’ll never give yourself a chance at a fit body.

I believe that you deserve to have a healthy body – and I urge you to dig deep down to uncover why you don’t. Once you conquer your feelings of unworthiness, getting on an exercise and healthy eating plan will be easy.

Take the time to take care of yourself. You DO deserve it.

5. You are afraid.

You’re afraid to start because you just might fail, and wouldn’t that be embarrassing? You’re also afraid to start because you just might succeed, and change makes you uncomfortable – even if it’s change in the right direction.

When you decide to get fit you will need to go through a bushel of changes:

New diet
New exercise routine
New friends at the gym
New clothes
New self-image

Focus on all of the ways that losing weight will make your life better. Envision that better life everyday so that it goes from being new and scary to familiar and comfortable.

I want to personally help overcome every obstacle standing between you and your ideal body. Call or email today to get started on a program that will change your life and body forever…in a good way

Are You Lazy?

Sandy — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:07:32 +0000

Are You Lazy?

I know a lot of lazy people.

People who would rather spend the day planted on their couch than anywhere else.

People who choose take-out over home cooked, every night of the week.

People who would rather have a root canal than go do a workout.

Sure, I know that we all have our occasional lazy day on the couch, but lately it seems that more and more people are turning laziness into a career.

What about you? Check if the following describe you:

You are habitually inactive.
You’d rather be a passive observer than an active participant.
You’re a master excuse-maker.
You find shortcuts in order to avoid the long haul.

If that’s you, don’t get down on yourself. There are many legitimate causes of laziness. Here are just a few…

Sleep Deprivation: When you’re short on sleep it’s easy to become unmotivated, which quickly turns into laziness. Get a minimum of eight hours of sleep each night in order to maintain enough energy to get you through the day. Some experts even say that ten hours of sleep each night is what you need to function at your best.
Caffeine Abuse: Starting your day with a jolt of java may help with your initial alertness, but the dip in energy that takes place a few hours later could be the reason that you become lazy later in the day. Avoid the rush and crash of caffeine and instead rely on your steady supply of natural energy.
Bad Habit: At some point being lazy simply becomes a habit. If every night after work you head straight to the couch, it soon becomes automatic and not a conscious decision. Breaking the habit of laziness is actually quite easy. Simply take yourself off of autopilot and make the conscious decision to do something productive instead – like heading to the gym rather than the couch.
Inactivity: If your job keeps you in a chair for hours at a time, and you don’t exercise when off the clock, then your body is just accustomed to inactivity. It’s time to wake up your under-used muscles and to reacquaint yourself with the joy of motion. A simple way to get back into the swing of things is to go on a 30 to 60 minute walk either before work or after you return home. Once you’ve broken yourself in with consistent walks, contact me to get started on a fitness program that will quickly get your body back into great shape.

Laziness begins when you ignore that little nagging voice in your head. You know, the one that reminds you when you should take action on something rather than sit by and let the opportunity slip away.

Is today the day that you will kick laziness to the curb?

Is today the day that you will take action toward achieving your goals?

Is today the day that you will listen to that little voice of reason?

Call or email today to schedule your first workout.

Your Ideal You

Take a moment and imagine your ‘ideal you’.

What does the ‘ideal you’ look like? How does the ‘ideal you’ spend their time? Who would the ‘ideal you’ spend time with? What would the ‘ideal you’ accomplish? The distance between you and your ‘ideal you’ is created by laziness.

When faced with decisions, big or small, do what your ‘ideal you’ would do, rather than taking the easy way out.

(I’m pretty sure that your ‘ideal you’ is a client of mine…:)

Great Glutes Exercise

Sandy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:06:13 +0000

Did you know that running through the rope bridges at the California Adventure in Disneyland in a great butt exercise?

Dirty fridge forces building evacuation

Sandy — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:49:08 +0000

The incident forced the evacuation of 325 people from a San Jose building, with 28 taken to hospital.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

(San Francisco Chronicle) A downtown San Jose building was evacuated and 28 people were sickened Tuesday after an employee trying to clean a refrigerator filled with rotting food mixed two chemicals, releasing noxious fumes, authorities said.The incident forced the evacuation of 325 people from the AT&T building at 3475 N. First St. shortly before noon, said Fire Department Capt. Barry Stallard. Paramedics treated 28 people for symptoms that included vomiting and nausea, and seven of them were taken to hospitals, Stallard said.

The problems began when an employee on the second floor opened a refrigerator that had been unplugged and found rotting food inside, Stallard said. She moved the fridge to a conference room and used a cleaning fluid to get rid of the mess.

The woman, who was suffering from a sinus problem and couldn’t smell the chemical, then used a second solution, Stallard said. The two chemicals interacted in the air, adding to an already pungent odor caused by the rotten food.

“Discarding the food isn’t so critical, but more critical is the cleaning chemical, making sure you know what you’re using,” Stallard said. “Don’t combine chemicals – you’re never supposed to combine chemicals.”

E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.

The Night Nurses on working out!

Sandy — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:52:38 +0000

The Night Nurses on working out!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1aHpvRvrm0

The Night Nurses work the graveyard shift and come to boot camp after work. Just look at their enthusiasm after working all night. I can’t wait until next boot camp to take it to the next level with them.

Sonya Lost 11 1/2 inches in 4 weeks

Sandy — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:25:52 +0000

Sonya Lost 11 1/2 inches in 4 weeks

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-0-abxXPOw

Sonya Lost 11 1/2 inches in 4 weeks with our women’s outdoor fitness program. Check out all the benefits she’s experiencing since she started her exercise program.