Month: November 2023

The cold chill during these beautiful autumn days
signal the coming of winter. You’re probably winter proofing your home and
slowly rotating in your chunky sweaters and heavy coats so that when that first
snow hits, you’re ready.

But are you making plans on how to stay fit during the
winter months? After all, getting at least 30 minutes of activity a day reduces
the overall risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and high blood pressure in
adults 50 and over.

Plus, the stronger and more flexible you are, the more stable and balanced you are. Luckily, there are plenty of fun ways you can stay active over the winter season.

Do at Home Workouts

You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home to get in a good workout these days. All you need is a little space, some workout clothes, and a mat. Start off with some gentle exercises that build up your flexibility and balance, such as yoga and tai chi.

There are plenty of free online videos you can find for beginners. Make sure you are practicing good form at all times. The best way to ensure this is to do your exercises in front of a mirror while watching a video.

Once you get the hang of each pose, you can easily
transition in between them and even start adding in more challenging options.

For strength building, start off slow with some resistance band training. You can perform
multiple exercises all with just a single band and some video tutorials. If you
find that you’re outgrowing your current band, you can purchase another one
that offers more resistance.

What sets resistance band training apart from
dumbbells and even using your body weight is that you’re challenging your
muscles from different angles, which ultimately helps you more in everyday
tasks. After all, you’re not just moving your arms and legs up and down, you
use a wide range of motions.

Play in the Snow

While the joy of snow wears off for most people once
they turn into adults, that doesn’t have to be the case. Snow can still be fun.

It’s all about making sure you’re dressed for it by
wearing insulating, water-resistant jackets, boots, and gloves. And, of course,
don’t forget a hat and scarf. You’ll want to find one that covers your entire
head. After all, 60 percent of heat escapes through your head!

So, when you think about staying active in the cold months, you probably think winter sports. What are the first images that pop into your mind? For most, it’s probably skiing, skating, and snowboarding. All three are great winter activities, but there are many other options available to you that don’t require expensive tickets to ride a ski lift or use a rink such as:

• Snowshoeing
• Cross-country skiing
• Curling

If you don’t have the spare money to spend on
equipment, just put on your boots and go for a walk in the park! You’ll be
surprised how much exercise you get just walking through the snow!

Join a Gym

Not everyone has a nearby gym to help them stay active in the cold months, but if you do, winter is a great time to sign up. Many gyms and community centers have classes specifically designed for senior citizens that are low-impact but still get your heart pumping.

Joining a gym can be intimidating at first, especially
if you have never gone to one before, but the staff are there to help you and
the members themselves are more focused on their own workout than other people.

Many gyms also offer one free session with a personal
trainer. Take advantage of this option to learn about the various machines and the
proper form for each one. The last thing you want to do is injure yourself
while figuring out how to work the equipment.

Once you know what to do on each machine, you can get
started for real. Incorporate strength training and aerobic training for best
results. Stick to the machines, at least in the beginning, as these help ensure
you are using proper form and targeting the proper muscles.

As you become more comfortable with lifting, you can
transition to free weights if you want. There’s no shame in sticking with the
machines!

Volunteer for an Organization

Working out is not the only way to stay active. Getting out of the house and involved in your community is something else to consider. Many seniors suffer from depression, isolation, and loneliness due to various reasons ranging from health to mobility to location.

Some studies have found that senior
citizens who reported these issues saw a 45 percent increase in their risk of
death and were at a greater risk of mental and physical decline. Unfortunately,
once winter rolls around, these issues only increase due to inclement weather. 

Socialization is important for people of all ages, but
especially so for seniors who often feel forgotten. While some cities and towns
do offer events for seniors, if your area doesn’t have something like this,
you’ll have to proactively search for opportunities.

Find a cause that speaks to you and see if they need
any help during the winter season. The best part about volunteering is that
you’ll be able to interact with a diverse group of people.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What are some activities you plan on doing this winter?
Have you signed up for a gym yet? Do you plan to go with a friend? We’d love to
hear your thoughts! Let’s discuss more in the comments below!

The holiday season is one full of emotions: joy, laughter, and love, but also stress, grief, loneliness, and busyness. It’s a time of celebrations and events where sweet goodies abound. It’s a season of baking and cooking all of the treasured family recipes and traditional dishes that help us to remember years past and those who are no longer with us physically.

All of these things can make it hard to stick with our healthy routines as we wind down the year; often leaving us entering the new year with extra weight, feeling run down, worn out, and not like our best self.

But it doesn’t have to be that way!

You can navigate the holiday season and enjoy yourself without entering the new year feeling run down and out of shape. Check out these tips to help you reduce stress and thrive this holiday season.

The Power of No

During the holiday season, there are so many activities we can participate in, but when we are overwhelmed by our schedules and events, extra activities can add stress to our lives.

Be careful about the invitations you accept. Be sure that you are truly excited by the events that you agree to attend. Drop the desire to please everyone and accept every invite and embrace the power of no.

“I’m so sorry but I won’t be able to attend.” You don’t need to provide a reason or explanation. Allowing some down time for yourself during a busy season can be one of the best things you can do for in terms of self-care. This may even give you more energy for your workouts, cooking, shopping, and family time. 

Avoid Skipping Meals

When attending or hosting a holiday gathering, it’s easy to skip meals leading up to the event. Whether it’s because you are so busy cooking and prepping for the event, or because you think skipping a meal ahead of an event will save you calories, or you simply run out of time to eat ahead of a gathering.

Skipping meals is a quick recipe to becoming hangry. You know the feeling. That feeling when you are so hungry that only 3 spoonfuls of peanut butter straight from the jar will settle you while you are looking for what you are really going to eat. Wink Wink. 

Strive to eat a balanced snack or meal leading up to holiday gatherings or on busy days. A balanced snack includes healthy fats to keep you full along with fruits and veggies and/or lean protein.

Examples of a balanced snack that won’t let your blood sugar spike, creating cravings, and leave you hungry are veggie sticks and hummus, greek yogurt with berries and nuts, an apple with sugar free nut butter, or rolled up turkey and cheese with lettuce and tomato. Plan ahead to bring something like this with you if you are on-the-go. 

If you enjoy a balanced snack before your gathering, you won’t be so hungry that you overeat and can truly savor the items you enjoy and that bring up fond memories. 

Breathing Exercises and Gentle Stretching

When you are in the throes of a stressful situation it is not the time to add a new coping strategy. Be proactive and start a new habit now. Adding some breathing exercises and/or a gentle stretching routine will help you to reduce stress.

Breathing exercises can be as simple as breathing in for a count of 3-4, hold for a count of 3-4, and breathe out for a count of 3-4. Do a few rounds. When adding a new routine, the best way to ensure you will stick with it is to pair it with an activity that already comes naturally to your routine.

Maybe each time you sit down to have a meal you do 2 rounds of deep breathing first. Or each time you are driving in the car, or first thing when you wake up or while the coffee is brewing, or right before bedtime. Having a routine in place that helps to reduce stress before you enter stressful situations will allow you to reach for that routine more easily when things get tough. 

Gentle stretching is another way to improve your mobility and flexibility in your body but also a good grounding technique to reduce stress. Check out this 10-minute gentle stretching routine:

Create New Traditions or Family Recipes

I love it when I see people create new traditions that keep them active during the holiday season. You can still enjoy the holiday time even if you don’t keep everything exactly the same as generations past.

Go for a hike to enjoy nature in a different season, participate in a 5K as a family, take a walk to see the decorations and lights together, and don’t be afraid to add some healthy recipes to the mix at your holiday table.

This doesn’t mean you have to ditch your grandmother’s biscuit recipe, but maybe one of the dishes that feels like tradition can be upgraded to a healthier version that becomes the new family favorite. 

Stick with Your Exercise Routine

I know, I know – you don’t need one more thing to do this holiday season. Between gathering, shopping, baking, cooking, and more, it can feel like exercise is the last item on your to-do list. But sticking with your exercise routine can actually give you the energy you need to feel your best during a busy season.

Not only that, but exercise can give you good endorphins to help you reduce stress. Check out this quick low-impact 10-minute exercise routine:

Don’t let the holiday season leave you feeling run down, tired, and worn out while carrying extra pounds into the new year. Try these tips this holiday season and register for my next FREE workshop: The 3 Secrets to Avoiding Stress + Weight Gain while enjoying the Holidays to the Fullest! (….and start 2024 feeling great!).

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What stresses you the most around the holidays you celebrate this time of year? How do you relax and find your balance amidst the chaos?

Alcohol is linked to 7 types of cancer and more than 60 diseases. Earlier this year, Canada reduced its “low risk” guidelines to just two drinks a week. The WHO states that to be healthy we should not drink any alcohol at all.

But what about our looks? What about the vanity argument?

Celebrities like Jane Fonda, Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep are proving that we can look great into our 70s and beyond. I’m not sure how much alcohol these ladies consume, but I’m guessing it’s not a great deal.

Many of us non-celebs do our best to follow a healthy lifestyle. We exercise daily, we eat organic, we do yoga and have regular facials.

Then we drink wine.

An alcohol-free lifestyle has many benefits, including improved mental health and increased energy levels, but it can also provide some unexpected beauty benefits.

5 Ways Sobriety Improves Your Looks

Here are five ways that sobriety can help you look and feel your best.

Better Skin

The diuretic effect of alcohol will lead to dry skin and premature wrinkles, leaving your skin looking dull and grey. Facial redness and broken veins are common in drinkers. Americans spend an average of $1,754 a year on beauty products and treatments when a cheaper and more effective strategy would be to simply eliminate alcohol!

Within just a few weeks of not drinking, your skin will improve. Your complexion will be more hydrated, and any redness will fade. Body skin will plump up, and you’ll find you need less body lotion.

Without the negative impacts of alcohol, toxins don’t have the same chance to build up in your system, leading to healthier-looking skin. Taking this step away from drinking not only helps with skin health but also gives your complexion a natural and healthy glow – setting you up for looking your best!

Better Sleep

We need 7 cycles of REM sleep each night to feel refreshed and energetic the next day. A drinker will get only 2 or 3 cycles, and if you drink every night, the fatigue will build up over the years. Quite simply you are never getting a decent night’s sleep. That fatigue will show up in your face however skilfully you apply your make-up.

You may feel that alcohol helps you to feel sleepy, but even if it helps you get off to sleep, you will experience poor quality sleep. Not only will you miss out on REM sleep, but you may wake-up at 3 a.m., feeling anxious as the alcohol leaves your system.

Admittedly, it can sometimes take a while to get off to sleep if you are used to drinking in the evening. Hang in there and your normal sleeping patterns will reset, and you’ll soon be sleeping like a baby!

Getting better quality sleep at night is a great way to boost your energy levels. Ditch the booze and you can ensure that you’ll get the restful and uninterrupted sleep you deserve.

Better Shape

Alcohol hampers our efforts to lose weight in several ways. Not only is it full of sugar, but it stimulates our appetite and can lead to snacking on unhealthy foods. An experiment showed that a group of people drinking wine with their meal consumed far more calories than the control group who were drinking water.

Exercising and dieting to stay slim is a losing battle if we are drinking. Alcohol is a poison, and the body’s job is to remove it from your system as soon as possible. That’s why your body will not even begin to burn calories from food until it has metabolised those glasses of wine that you drank with dinner.

Alcohol is high in calories which provide no nutritional benefits, so replacing this calorie intake with healthy food options will make a significant difference to your general health and your figure.

Better Face

The effects of alcohol on the skin go beyond an immediate flush or puffiness – it can also cause premature aging over time. If you’re a drinker, you may suffer from chronic inflammation which can worsen wrinkles. You’ll also increase your risk of developing rosacea, an inflammatory skin condition that causes redness and swelling in some regions of the face.

Within just a few weeks of sobriety your skin will look clearer and more hydrated, and your face will lose its dryness, redness and puffiness.

Once you become aware of the effects drinking has on the face, it’s quite easy to spot the heavy drinkers when you look round a room full of people!

Better Hair… and Brighter Eyes

The diuretic effect of alcohol can dehydrate our hair as well as our skin. Damage easily occurs to dry hair such as split ends, hair breakage and hair loss.

So, alcohol contributes to dry and brittle hair. Sobriety will lead to improved nutrient absorption which will benefit hair health and promote shinier, stronger hair.

Excessive drinking can result in bloodshot or tired looking eyes. Alcohol causes bloating and puffiness, and of course, the fact that our sleep patterns are disrupted leads to dark circles around our eyes.

Within a couple of alcohol-free weeks, your eyes will become brighter, clearer and regain their sparkle!

Try the 100-Day Selfie Test!

Not convinced that an alcohol-free lifestyle will improve your looks? Then put it to the test.

When people join Tribe Sober, we recommend they take a selfie and then another one after 100 alcohol-free days.

The results are amazing!

Clearer skin, sparkling eyes and no sign of puffiness.

Try it and see.

Alcohol and Our Mental Health

Our mental state also has a big impact on our looks, of course. Just think about the way that you can assess most people’s mood by a quick glance at their face!

Anxiety, depression and anger all show in our facial expressions.

Some of us spend years in therapy, discovering ways to deal with our social anxiety and low moods, and we drink wine…

Yet what’s the one thing we can do to improve our looks and our mental health?

The simple (if a little scary) answer is that we need to stop or at least moderate our wine habit.

Even a couple of glasses of wine a night will add up to more than the so called “safe” limits of alcohol which works out at just one and a half bottles of wine a week.

Getting older is tough enough without pouring ethanol on our symptoms.

So many of us self-medicate with wine. Using it to numb our feelings of depression and anxiety. Well, here’s the thing. Alcohol is a depressant so, although you may experience a brief chemical high, there will be a price to pay, whether it’s a 3 a.m. wake-up call or a hangover the next morning.

As for anxiety… drinking alcohol is like pouring gasoline on your anxiety.

Sobriety is the secret to staying younger longer – it’s the best thing we can do for our health, happiness and appearance as we age.

So, ditch the drink and let sobriety be your springboard to a healthier and happier (and better looking) future.

Ready to Try an Alcohol-Free Lifestyle?

When we make a major lifestyle change, we need to connect with others on the same path. We need a Tribe! Tribe Sober has an international community of 400 members – all supporting and encouraging each other as they build their beautiful alcohol-free lives. Use the coupon code “sixty” for a 20% discount on Annual Membership. More info here.ac

Listen to the weekly Tribe Sober podcast – available on Apple & Spotify.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

How many years have you been drinking? Do you drink consistently – a glass or two of wine most evenings? Have you ever tried to take a break to test your dependence? Have you noticed an impact on your looks after a taking a break? Do you ever worry about your drinking? Are you aware of the health dangers of alcohol as you get older?