Exercise for Seniors

Challenge for Week of February 7, 2010

One of the main reason WE do not exercise is because we do not enjoy it, simply put we do not like it! When you think about starting an exercise program it is really hard to figure out where or how to start. So you need to do exercise you enjoy. If you enjoy what you are doing, you will stick with it, if you stick with the program you will see the benefits and when you see the benefits you will kick out the "I hate to Exercise Blues!" You will feel Accomplished! You will feel better health wise! You will feel younger! And most of all, You will without a doubt have your groove on!

Walking

Doctor Oz strongly recommends walking 10,000 steps a day. You can keep up with this by wearing one of those pedometers which are very inexpensive at Wal-Mart's. I believe I paid $5.00 for the one I use. You clip it on to the band of your pants or skirt when you first get up in the morning and not take it off until you are going to bed that night. Each night record the steps you walked that day and challenge yourself each and every day to increase those steps until you have walked at least 10,000 steps.

If you start with 10 minute walks a day and increase that by 5 minutes each day you will soon be up to walking 30 minutes a day and a BIG chunk of the 10,000 steps will manifest. In the spring, summer and fall, hiking is a wonderful way to get your walking in. Of course starting out you will only want to walk easy trails and always make sure you move at your own pace. Be sure to carry water with you and sit down and take short breaks. Always make sure there is at least one other person with you for safety reasons. I have known people who did not mind hiking alone. In my own opinion, I always felt better having someone else with me.

Yoga is great for body movement, improving strength, balance and flexibility. Yoga is a form of exercise that adapts to your needs and abilities. One of the most important things to remember when doing yoga is: Do Not Push Yourself ease into the poses following your own body. If you get tired, stop and relax. Yoga quiets the mind so you do not want to strain yourself and cause any discomfort.

Cycling is a good Cardio Exercise. I have an exercise bike that I have had for a year now. And I cannot make myself use it on a regular base!! Perhaps that will change very soon! A dear friend of mine sent me a wonderful CD with Oldies but Goodies songs, you know songs like: Leader of the Pack, He's So Fine, Baby Love, My Guy, It's My Party and so many more. I put the CD in and got on my bike and before I knew it 10 minutes had flashed by! Could this CD motivate me to ride the bike more? I think it just might do that!!

Gardening is a great! But it is also pretty much seasonal according to what my doctor told me. I wonder if he has ever worked a garden. Because pretty much it is yearlong thing except the coldest part of winter.

I have been trying to decide if I wanted to add this section to this lens, and after thinking a week or so about it, I decided YES! Nurtrition is very important, not only for Seniors but for everyone. The older we get, the more attention we need to pay to what goes into our bodies. So I decided to add a section for Squidoo Lenses that contain "Healthy Recipes.

I wanted to start this off with a recipe that came from a wonderful book called: "Healthy Heart Cookbook" which I will highlight in a moment. Now, I have changed just a few ingredients in this recipe to make it even more healthier-I just finished eating one for breakfast (smiles)

Flaxseed Morning Glory Muffins

Start by crushing one cup of bran ceral. Place the ceral in a chopper or a plastic bag and run a rolling pin over the ceral crushing it as fine as you can. Pour 3/4 cup of Soy Milk over ceral and let it set for 5 minutes or so.

Add:

1/2 cup of wheat flour
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of Flaxseed meal
3/4 cup of fine chopped apple
3/4 cup of fine chopped carrot
1/4 cup of organic sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 Tablespoon of Canola oil
3 teaspoons of no-sodium baking powder
2 teaspoons of organic cinnamon
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 eggs (or three egg whites)

Mix everything together and lightly spray a muffin pan. Cook for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. You should come out with 12 nice size muffins. You can leave half of them out and freeze the other half, or freeze them all and take one out of the freezer the night before for breakfast. They also make a great snack with a cup of green tea.

**Please Note** If you by chance have High Blood Pressure and you do a lot of baking, please look at the sodium content in both baking powder and baking soda. When I looked I know my mouth dropped to the ground. The thing about this in my home is that I cook most of our breads, my husband's snacks and so on. So for me this was a big deal. I researched and found a site that was started by a gentleman that had a heart condition and he sells products that are made just for these reasons. If you are interested in seeing the site: No Sodium Baking Powder