7 Tips to Power Up in 2017!

Baby boomers and older adults–looking for easy ways to up your fitness game this year? Ideas that don’t take hours of commitment or weeks of behavior change? Ones that help you forget you just got a year older (like me, this week!)?

lisa harris fitness trainer baby boomers
Fitness tips–don’t feel a day older this year!

Here are 7 tips to help jumpstart your wellness in 2017:

1) Include protein in your morning meal–eggs, Greek yogurt, cheese or even beans can help control after-dinner cravings!
Studies show that eating protein for breakfast can help control snacking at night, especially grabbing for high-sugar/high-fat foods.

2) Add spices to your meal. They’ll wake up your food and support your immune system!
Turmeric is especially helpful in controlling inflammation, which is connected to chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Turmeric is often used in Asian dishes, is the main spice in curry and adds a yellowish color to food.

3) Make your 100 trillion gut bacteria happy with yogurt, sauerkraut or kimchi. They’ll return the favor by controlling against obesity and diabetes!
Your gut “bugs” outnumber all the cells in your body by a factor of 10! Scientists are realizing how important they are in everything from controlling appetite and diabetes to minimizing depression.

4) Eat a vitamin C source with your protein food–like tomatoes with pinto beans–to enhance iron absorption (good-bye anemia)!
While there are many vegetable sources of iron, they are not as well absorbed as those from animal products. To increase utilization, include a vitamin C food or cook in an iron skillet.

5) Lift heavy weights at least twice weekly to maintain your independence as you get older and improve your body composition–less fat, more muscle!
Strength training is vital for independent living as we age. We lose 3 – 5% of muscle mass per decade after age 30 if we don’t make a point to lift or push weights, be they dumbbells, machines or body weight.

6) Stand up and walk once every hour. Within 90 seconds, you’ll start to push blood sugar into working muscles!
Our bodies are built to move, but we have gotten so lazy.  As a result, we’re drowning in chronic diseases! So do yourself a favor: set an alarm on your phone or computer to get up every 30 – 60 minutes; walk to another room during commercials; stroll while talking on the phone. Blood levels of circulating fats and glucose (blood sugar) start decreasing within a couple minutes.

7) Re-wire and grow your brain with daily exercise!
Exercise brings more blood, oxygen and fuel to your brain. It causes new brain cells (neurons) to spring up, more connections between existing neurons and more volume in areas of the brain involved with memory and critical thinking. Both cardio and strength training are vital to support an aging brain.

To discover other ways to power up this year, give me a call!
We can discuss some practical tips and discover if any of my programs or classes are a good fit for you.
If you’d like to schedule that call with me, just CLICK THIS LINK, and let me know in the message that you would like a 1-on-1 call with me right away and I will be in touch to schedule that – oh, and leave me your phone number in there too since email is not as reliable as it used to be! Thanks.

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