Exercising for more than Weight Loss

Posted in Blog, Wellbeing Wednesday by Kelly Stevenson-Lal

Exercising for pleasure. Exercise gets your blood pumping & gets you on a feel good buzz due to the endorphins that flood your body as your exercise.

When you are doing an exercise that you genuinely enjoy – it may be cycling, dancing ( a personal fav), hiking or skiing. It is obviously for much more than just your fitness. It’s for fun, pleasure, enjoyment. You feel amazing pushing your body to the limits, stretching it, improving techniques, your posture & honing your skills in this area.

Exercising helps to reduce stress levels. It’s a great release of energy so it is perfect for negative energy release. Going for a nice walk can clear your head and give you a new perspective on things.

Exercising is a great way to take care of your body. You feel good about yourself and you are doing something for you. It can help improve your body image. This may be through new tone, definition. Or it maybe through seeing the strength, ability and skill that your body has & all that you are capable of.

Expending energy through exercise also makes you feel more energised and less sluggish. Often if you are in a lazy lay on the couch all day mood, jumping up and shaking your ass or going for a walk can really get you motivated for the day and switch up your mood.

So make sure you are enjoying moving your body. Do something each day which you find fun. Don’t forget to do some yin & yang exercise – some intense & some calm slow moving. Doing something calm & slow such as yoga, has a whole different effect on the body in terms of stress levels, mental clarity, helping to reduce cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone & can often be responsible for excess weight which is hard to shift. We are so often in fight or flight mode in this modern time & sleeping less especially getting to bed at midnight or later, can contributes to a rise in cortisol levels.

So let me know in the comments below. What exercise do you enjoy? How does it make you feel?

Enjoy

5 ways to Winter wellness

Posted in Blog, Wellbeing Wednesday by Kelly Stevenson-Lal

Grow your own sprouts – lovely to see some ‘life’ in your kitchen at this time of year. Easy to grow, amazing nutrient source & delicious.
Add a matcha green tea to your day. Nothing like a hot cuppa on a frosty day. Matcha has many health benefits including enhancing mood, antioxidants & fights against viruses and bacteria.
Probiotics – 85% of our immune system resides in our gut! Probiotics reestablish the proper balanpce of good bacteria in the gut. Wholefood probiotics are best as they are real food or make your own cultured foods – sauerkraut, kimchi etc.
Juice for nutrient assimilation at a cellular level. A great combo for this time of year >> orange, carrots, ginger and turmeric. Bonus is that it looks like sunshine to remind us of those summer days we may be missing.
Move! Don’t let winter slow you down too much. Exercise produces endorphins – a feel good buzz, to help keep the winter blues at bay. Dance it off, practice yoga, do a one song work out. It’s a great way to keep warm.

I would love to hear from you. Let me know in the comments below how you stay well in winter.

12Mar2014

Little Changes make a big impact

Posted in Alkalising, Antioxidants, Blog, Healthy Living, Superfoods by Kelly Stevenson-Lal

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He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.
— Thomas Carlyle

There should be no greater motivation to take control over your health and fitness than the words of the 19th century Scottish philosopher above.

But why should our health be connected to our hope?

The answer to that is that when we are fit and healthy, the world is full of possibilities – nothing is beyond our reach. Trek through the Andes? No problem. Helping a friend move house? When do we start?

If you are in an older age bracket, or know people who are, there can be often a form of mourning as realisation hits that there are things that one used to be able to do that are now out of reach.

Even professional sports people who have spent most of their lives in peak physical condition are susceptible to this unless there is an effective transition process in place to manage the physical and psychological adjustment.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
— Proverbs

So given what we know about the link of good food habits and optimism, shouldn’t we be giving ourselves every opportunity to maximise our health potential for as long as possible?

The great news is that is not too late to start on making those changes that will make a difference to your health, fitness and well-being – all of which will give you the promise of ‘everything’ mentioned in the second half of Thomas Carlyle’s quote.

Recent research has identified that regular exercise from childhood can stave off dementia in old age and increase brain power.

In fact any regular exercise at any age can protect the brain. Even as little as five minutes a day can make all the difference.

In addition to exercise, we should be focusing our attention to effective nutrition to create the ‘healthy hope’ we all want.

According to Dr. Deepak Chopra, the author of Quantum Healing, we replace 98% of all our cells inside of ONE YEAR. And the super-great news is if we improve the quality of our nutrients we can literally rebuild ourselves within a year. The Miessence Vitality Pack contains three outstanding superfoods for optimal vitality:

BerryRadical Antioxidant Superfood – anti-ageing from the inside! The antioxidant equivalent of over 8 servings of fruits and veggies in a delicious chocolatey beverage.
DeepGreen Alkalising Superfood – remineralise and balance your body pH with a super-concentrated source of alkalising, mineral-rich, green algae, grass juices and leafy greens.
InLiven Probiotic Superfood– 26 naturally fermented organic whole foods to help recolonise the gut with beneficial bacteria. 80% of our immunity is in our gut. Fermented foods are one of the keys to longevity.
All three products together hold the key to unlocking vibrant health.

I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do – the day after…
— Oscar Wilde

People are marvellous procrastinators, but if you’re ready to make the decision to improve your health and well being, adjusting your choices day by day is recommended.

And if you’re looking for a place to start, we recommend the Vitality Challenge with Miessence Superfoods – a 10 day program that includes a daily serving of our certified organic, wholefood blends that have been especially formulated to help your body maximise its full potential from the inside.

Don’t put it off.

Imagine what would your world look like if you could enjoy optimal health and well-being every day.

Via Miessence Blog

3Oct2011

4 keys to enjoying wellness

Posted in Blog, Healthy Living by Kelly Stevenson-Lal

1 Eat real food

Eating good quality whole food like fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains and meats every three or four hours throughout the day will have you eating a lot closer to your caveman ancestors. This will help to stabilise blood sugar and metabolism so you are not living with energy highs and lows and needing caffeine hits throughout the day to keep you going.

2. Take any opportunity to exercise

Park a couple of blocks further away from work so you have a nice walk to start and finish your day. Eat lunch somewhere different each day so you can explore your environment on foot. Get active with the family in the evenings and weekends.

3. Spend quality time with family and friends

Socializing with family and friends should be a happy time for you and therefore a great way to let go of some of the work stress from the day. Laughter has proven health benefits and lifts the spirit.

4. Take time to rest, relax and sleep

Elite athletes know the importance of rest and recovery to strengthen and grow. Give yourself some quiet time at the end of the day to help tell your body that the day is over and it is time to relax and recover. A great way to do this is to do some gentle stretching exercises before bed. Do this and you will sleep better and wake feeling energized

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I would love to hear your number 5 in the comments below. What do you think is important to enjoying wellness?