If you work a regular office job, there’s no question about it, you’re likely fairly sedentary throughout the better part of the day.  High levels of inactivity is one of the largest contributing factors to the obesity issues that we’re facing in today’s world so it’s important that we approach this issue head on and figure out little ways we can work physical activity into our day.

The following ten tips will help you accomplish just that and will easily allow you to see the benefits of fitness all without leaving your office building.

Sit On An Exercise Ball
The single best way to strengthen the core muscles while at the office is to sit on an exercise ball.  Replace your standard chair with this and you’ll quickly find the entire abdominal area as well as the muscles that run along the spinal column will be tighter.

Take The Stairs
You’ve likely heard it before, but if you want to quickly firm the lower body muscles, nothing beats taking the stairs.  Even if you just walk two flights, five times a day, this can really add up over time.

Set An Alarm To Stretch
Most of us don’t take the opportunity to stretch often enough throughout the day so start setting an alarm to signal yourself to stretch once every two hours.  By doing so you’ll help to improve your overall focus and concentration as well.

Practice Deep Breathing
Along with stretching, another important thing to consider is deep breathing. This will automatically open up the chest better and ensure that you’re getting the oxygen you need.  As an added benefit, as it causes you to sit up your ab muscles will get called into action.

Perform Stomach Contractions Once Per Hour
To further enhance the stomach if sitting on an exercise ball is not possible, consider performing stomach contractions.  For this you simply tighten up the abs, hold, and then release for a set of ten once per hour. Do this eight times a day and you’ll quickly see a difference.

Utilize Heavy Grips
Heavy grips are an excellent tool for working on your grip strength and will be especially important if you happen to do a lot of typing throughout the day as well.  Make use of these at least once per day for best results.

Consider A Mini Exercise Bike
To get in a bit of cardio and burn off some calories, try a mini exercise bike. This one fits nicely under your desk and could be used right while you are working.  By using it daily you’ll boost your leg strength and help tone the quad muscles.

Invest In Some Tubing
Another great piece of equipment that you may want to consider is some rubber tubing.  You can perform a variety of exercises with these such as bicep curls, lateral raises, and tricep extensions. Taking a break from your busy day to do a few sets here and there will quickly provide strengthening benefits and give the body a break.

Sit Up Straight
Another vital thing that you are sure you are doing is sitting up straight throughout the day. This is going to help work all the muscles associated with proper posture and really help to make you instantly look slimmer. Often those who work office jobs do notice poor posture so spend some serious time fixing this bad habit.

Take Mini-Stepper Breaks
Finally, another way to get in some cardio if you aren’t a bike fan is a mini stepper.  This can easily be placed in the corner of your office and used when needed. So don’t let your office job get you down any longer.  With a few unique ideas, you can get in a quick workout without having to go to the gym.

I came across an interesting article called “Posture in Women” by Andrew Schafer, DC in the May issue of Natural Awakenings magazine regarding womens posture and how important it is to health. This is something that I am personally working on since I have a nasty habit of slouching and hunching my shoulders (not pretty!). If only I would have taken my mother’s advice to stand up straight years ago, I wouldn’t have to work so hard to change now!

Unfortunately, in addition to simply looking unattractive, poor posture can cause headaches, back pain, and neck pain. The article states that slouching actually puts the vertebrae in misalignment which can pinch, stretch, and chafe the spinal nerves. This triggers pain signals to the brain and poor posture overall can cause full portions of the spine to be misaligned which results in large areas of the spine sending pain signals.

Slouching specifically can actually make you breathe more shallowly by shrinking the pectoral muscles and reducing the thoracic cavity. It also requires the heart to work harder which can contribute to heart disease. The overall stress slouching causes on ligaments, nerves, and muscles can also make a person feel tired in general.

Keeping the head too far forward is a big culprit of bad posture. The ears should be directly over the shoulders, but if the head protrudes farther, so does the vertebrae and this creates pain in the neck due to misalignment. This also stresses the neck muscles at the bottom of the skull (since they have to work holder to hold it up in this position) and can result in neck pain and headaches from the tension.

There are many lifestyle factors that can contribute to poor posture such as desk jobs, driving, sleeping positions, pregnancy, and wearing high heels. For people with desk jobs, the article suggests keeping a computer monitor at eye level and near the front of the desk while using a pullout tray to type and use the mouse. This will help prevent slouching to look down and forward at the monitor as well as straining and lifting shoulders to use the keyboard.

If poor posture is used in office work or driving, this may result in excessive curvature in the upper back and shoulders and a “hump” in the upper back. Excessive curvature in the lower back would make it look as though a woman is sticking her butt out. In this case, the woman probably has weak ab muscles and tight lower back muscles. This can be caused due to poor sleeping positions (such as on the stomach), pregnancy (the weight of the baby pulling the belly forward), and wearing high heels.

Now that you know all about bad posture, let’s explore good posture! If you stand with your back against the wall (with your heels 2-3″ from it), there should only be a small space behind the head and lower back. You do not want your shoulders to be more than 3″ away from the wall. Your head should be upright, looking forward, with your chin tucked in. Your knees should be slightly bent and feeling a slight squeeze between your shoulder blades is good.

It’s a lot to think about all at once, but by being aware and carefully modifying your posture, you can waste less energy and feel better as you will be resting on your bones instead of your muscles.

I owe Sarah a big thank you for her latest health recommendation (she really does give the best ones!), what I’ll call a “miracle potion” because it got Ryan over about a month long off and on cold/illness in two days. It is an immune system booster called Dr. Dunner Sambu Guard and I bought it for $17.49 at my local health store.

It is a relatively small bottle that must be refrigerated and used within eight days of opening, but it is jam-packed with “nutritional support” from wild elderberry fruit and flower, acerola fruit, and echinacea plants. It also contains honey (which sweetens it up wonderfully) as well as a small amount of water, fructose, and citric acid.

Ryan had a sore throat, cough/cold, congestion, upset stomach and he was going up and down for a month (even with plenty of rest and chicken noodle soup) and then heading straight back downhill when I finally went out on a special run for this bottle. He took his first doses on a Saturday and by Sunday he already felt much better. On Monday, he was back at work and feeling almost good as new. It’s been about two weeks since and he is still feeling great.

I have to believe that for him this was just the immune system boost that he needed. And the good news is that you don’t have to already be sick to drink the Sambu Guard. The directions state “Take 1 tbsp. up to 4 times daily to support immune function especially during cold weather”.

Now if you’re feeling even more adventurous than a trip to the health store for an immune system boost, you may be interested in making your own homemade elderberry syrup with the recipe posted at 5 Orange Potatoes. Please let me know if you’ve had any success with Sambu Guard or if you have any other immune system booster ideas!

Dr. Sue McCreadie and Angelle Batten, Holistic Health Councilor, will speak about how real food nutrition and probiotics heal the gut. These ladies are also the co-creators of www.NourishMD.com.

Location:

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
134 N. Division (corner of Division & Pearl)
Grand Rapids, MI

Vinegar is a great cleaning product (as you may remember from previous posts on using it to wash linoleum floors, windows, cat litter boxes, etc. It is an inexpensive, versatile household cleaner and I’ve recently come across a website sharing many more uses for white distilled vinegar than I’d ever thought possible (1,001 to be exact!).

To keep this post as readable as possible, I will share with you a list of only the ones that I thought would be easy, effective, and most helpful in the household:

• Mix equal parts vinegar and water and rub on boots and shoes to remove salt/water stains
• Add 1/2 cup vinegar to the wash machine during the wash cycle to stop lint from sticking to clothing
• Spray full-strength onto perspiration stains on clothing before adding them to the wash machine
• To rid clothes of a smoky smell, add 1 cup of vinegar to a bathtub filled with water and hang clothes over the tub to absorb the steam
• Apply warm vinegar to a cloth and rub on cool iron to remove scorch marks
• Sprinkle cotton clothes with distilled vinegar before ironing them to remove any musty smell
• Spray barbecue, spaghetti, or ketchup stains with a white vinegar and water mixture before washing
• Use vinegar to clean your bathroom (items and sink) by soaking razors, toothbrush holders, etc. in vinegar before scrubbing. For the sink, cover it well with vinegar using a sponge. Let it set for about five minutes, then scrub and wipe down
• Add 1/4 cup vinegar to the last rinse cycle in your wash machine to prevent yellowing of clothes, remove soap, and work as a fabric softener
• Run the washing machine with 1 cup vinegar (and no clothing) to remove soap scum and clean the hoses
• To deodorize and clean a drain, pour 1 cup baking soda, then 1 cup hot vinegar down the drain. Let this sit for about five minutes, then run hot water down the drain (you can also do this with the garbage disposal)
• Use a cloth soaked with full strength vinegar to clean counter tops
• To remove a tough label, put a cloth soaked with vinegar over the label overnight. It should come off easily in the morning
• To clean a sponge or loofah, soak it in a vinegar and water mixture (with mostly vinegar) overnight. In the morning, rinse it well with cold water and let air dry in the sun (if possible)
• Spray full-strength vinegar on door knobs and wipe them with a cloth to remove germs

Hopefully, these tips will make some of your household tasks easier. Please feel free to share if you have any other creative vinegar uses!

As the cold winter settles in, there is nothing like a nice, hot bath to warm up the body. I found some great ideas to try out including herbal bath bags and soothing milk baths. Since I haven’t found a “healthy” bubble bath yet (as pretty much anything that bubbles contains sodium laureth sulfate), I think these are about as close as I can get to a relaxing, healthy soak.

When reading about the homemade herbal bath bags, I realized that it is a great idea not only for myself but for gifts (especially with the holidays coming up). You can use cheese cloth, muslin, or organza to hold approximately 1/3 cup of the herbal mix you choose. Once filled, tie the bag tightly so the herbs cannot get out and after use, the bags can be washed and used again.

There are a variety of herbal blends that you can create, such as those below (most of them will make more than 1 bag’s worth):

• Lavender Oatmeal – 1 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup dried lavender
• Rosemary Oatmeal – 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup chamomile tea, 1/4 cup dried rosemary
• Herbal Blend – 1/2 cup each of lavender, rose petals, rosemary, and sage
• Extra Herbal Blend – 1/2 cup each of lavender, sage, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, and mint

There are two ways to use the herbal bath bags- you can either make a tea to add to the bath or simply run the hot water over the bag and then let it float once you have enough water in the tub. If you make the tea, bring a quart of water to boiling (in a non-aluminum pot), then remove it from heat. Add a herbal bath bag to the water, cover the pot, and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Add this hot water to the bath (being careful not to burn yourself) and then add the bag to the tub water if you wish.

Milk baths are another option and sound just as relaxing and comforting as the herb baths. Simply mix the ingredients and pour them into the running bath water. For a honey, milk, and almond bath combine 1 cup powdered milk with 2 cups hot water, 1/4 cup honey, and 1 Tbsp almond oil. For a lavender milk bath, mix 1 cup powdered milk with 2 cups hot water and add 1/8 cup dried lavender.

Since I haven’t posted another good smoothie recipe since the Springtime Smoothie in April, I decided it was high-time for a new one. Since the beautiful, fresh-picked berries of summer seem like a distant memory, I’m thankful that I have a decent stock of them in my freezer, particularly for smoothies!

This recipe is quick, easy, and delicious. All measurements are approximate and you can add any amounts or types of fruit that you’d like (of course, organic is best). I found that the ingredients below make an almost “Raspberry Julius” tasting type of drink if you’ve ever tried one at Orange Julius.

Add 1 banana, the juice of one orange, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, and 1/2 cup frozen raspberries in a blender or magic bullet (this is enough for one serving only). Blend well and enjoy! Yes, it is that easy and wonderfully delicious.

To keep it simple, I use a very small juicer I bought on Amazon for the orange to make clean-up quick and easy (getting out the large juicer would be a huge waste of time in clean-up for just one smoothie). I like that I can quick juice the orange, toss the juicer parts into the dishwasher, and enjoy my drink in minutes.

Reading Sarah’s post on oregano for mucus relief reminded me of an article I saved to share with you earlier this month in Better Homes and Gardens called “The World’s Cures”. The article discusses the remedies below that have been used since ancient times to alleviate uncomfortable conditions.

Sore Throat- gargle water mixed with 1 Tbsp honey and 1 Tbsp vinegar every two hours. The honey works as an anti-inflammatory and the vinegar helps to get rid of secretions, correct pH balance, and decrease the growth of bacteria.

Upset Stomach- alternate between drinking peppermint and chamomile tea every hour until your stomach feels better. The chamomile will help relax the stomach and the peppermint contains menthol which has pain-fighting properties.

Chapped Lips- mix the juice of 1/2 lemon with one Tsp sugar and rub this on your lips. Let it sit for two minutes, then rinse off and apply a light coating of liquid glycerin on your lips. The lemon and sugar will exfoliate and help healing, while the glycerin will seal in the moisture.

Minor Burns- mash a clean tomato and apply it directly on the minor burn and cover with a bandage. The tomato has Vitamins A & C as well as nutrients to help heal the burn. Another option is to apply honey daily to a minor burn which will help prevent infections.

Nasal Congestion-combine in a bowl 1/2 Tsp honey, the juice of one aloe vera leaf, and one clove of garlic juiced with a garlic press. Place two cotton balls in this mixture and then place one loosely inside each of your nostrils. The aloe will moisturize the sore nostrils while the garlic and honey offer antibacterial properties.

Acne- mix 1 avocado, 1 Tbsp honey, and either the yolk (for dry skin) or white (for oily skin) of the egg in a small bowl. Apply this mixture to your face and let it sit for five to ten minutes. Rinse and repeat weekly as needed. The avocado is moisturizing, the egg will help heal the skin as it is loaded with Vitamin A, and the honey has the antibacterial properties to help acne.

I don’t have a very green thumb, so I was particularly interested in a an article from babyfit.com on a few easy, homemade fertilizers you can mix right in your kitchen. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a direct link to the article as usual since it was only an e-mailed article called “DIY: Houseplant Fertilizer”. You can bet; however, that I will be trying these out especially as I am struggling to keep my beloved aloe plant and a few favorite herbs alive.

The three easy fertilizer methods featured in the article are as follows:

• Mix 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar with 1 gallon of water and use this to water your plants. The apple cider vinegar lowers the pH of the water and contains up to fifty trace minerals
• Add one ounce of each of the following to a one gallon container: nettle leaves, kelp powder, and comfrey powder. Then fill the container with water and allow this mixture to “steep” in a dark place. Use this tea every few weeks in watering your plants
• Add water to your leftover coffee and pour it right onto your plants (yes, I couldn’t believe this either, but here are some testimonials I found!) This only needs to be done every week or so- make sure to use one part coffee to four parts water. If your coffee is already weak, one part coffee to two parts water is okay

I’d be excited to hear if any of these work for you or if you have any other good ideas- I know I sure could use them!

After discovering a bit ago that my Tom’s “natural” toothpaste contains sodium lauryl sulfate (not sure how I missed that before!), I decided it was time to make my own. I found an easy recipe using only 3 Tbsp baking soda, 2 Tbsp coconut oil, a pinch of stevia, and 5 drops each of peppermint and spearmint essential oils.

I combined all of the above except spearmint essential oil (which I didn’t have) and placed it in a small glass jar. As recommended, I “dry-dipped” my tooth brush (since coconut oil is anti-bacterial, etc.), ran some water over it, and brushed away. Although the toothpaste didn’t foam or bubble (due to the lack of chemicals), my teeth felt nice and clean. Since I left out 5 drops of spearmint essential oil, the flavor was slightly lacking and before I use it again I will add either 5 more drops of the peppermint or buy the spearmint.

I think I whipped this up in less than five minutes and it looks like it will last me quite some time. It was much cheaper than Tom’s too, which I think I purchased for $5-6. I also compared it to the Tom’s other ingredients, which were very similar, including the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and peppermint oil. Let me know what you think if you try this out!