exercise tip - clean up!

we know exercise is important for a healthy lifestyle - the heart and stroke foundation recommends 30-60 minutes most days of the week.  but who has that kind of time??  or the money for a gym membership or yoga classes or home equipment or, or, or...

not every form of exercise needs to be super structured or costly.  there are lots of ways you can work a few minutes of exercise into an otherwise routine day, without spending any extra cash.  one of the easiest ways is to clean your house!

mopping, vacuuming, and scrubbing the blasted tub (not my favourite) can all be pretty high energy and get the heart pumping.  changing the sheets, doing the laundry, and wiping the counters take more moderate energy, while dusting, doing the dishes, and tidying up would be considered low energy.  whether it's daily or weekly, you should be able to get a decent 30-60 minute workout just by taking care of your home!

as an added bonus, a clean house is a pretty good stress reliever, at least for me.  it's much easier to relax in a tidy environment when i know everything is where it should be.  and the physical exertion of cleaning will help relieve stress too - especially if you take all your frustrations out on that blasted tub instead of on whoever caused them!

and, if you need more incentive, i reluctantly read this article yesterday on the BBC news site.  apparently a recent european study concluded that "housework cut breast cancer risk by 30% among the pre-menopausal women and 20% among the post-menopausal women".  after sharing this with the dear husband, he smiled and said "so, for your health, i should leave all the housework to you?"  he  quickly got himself out of swatting range and immediately volunteered to vacuum the living room.  what a guy.  :)

heart health

in the past year, my husband's two living grandparents have both gone into the hospital - one with heart issues and one with a major stroke.  it's completely changed their lives and the care they need, as well as adding a lot of extra stress to the family.  while we kind of expect to face it in our families eventually, it can still come as a shock, especially if you and your family aren't prepared.  and now as i walk with a close friend recovering from her heart attack, this is becoming a major topic of conversation in our home!

since my friend's heart attack, i've been visiting the heart and stroke website almost daily.  i can't believe the wealth of information on there!  there are tons of great recipes (many of which i'll be posting here) and healthy living tips.  there's also valuable information on the warning signs of heart attacks and stroke.  this is especially important information for women since the signs are different and harder to associate with heart trouble.  

three main contributing causes of heart disease (and a whole host of other medical conditions to boot) are poor diet, lack of exercise, and too much stress.  i'm becoming a firm believer that it's never too early to begin taking good care of your heart, after all no one else can do it for you.  you can start by taking a good honest look at your diet, exercise, and stress level and picking something you can know you can change in each area.  don't go for a huge one-day lifestyle transformation - because unless you're superman, i'm pretty sure you'll just be setting yourself up to fail.  pick something small that you can do in each of those three areas, and then keep building on your successes.

in our house, one of the easiest changes we've made was to stop snacking on cookies, crackers, and chips and start snacking on fresh fruits and vegetables.  we can get a bag of apples or oranges for about the same price as two bags of cookies or chips, and i don't have to worry about portion sizes or poor self-control.  they're easy to grab when we're running out the door, they're great to share when someone stops by, they're awesome to add to salads, smoothies, baking, or breakfast - you just can't get all that from a bag of chips!  it's taken a few months to get used to, but now i even find myself craving fruit when i'm looking for a snack (this from a complete salt addict!).  without really even realizing it, we've changed our habits and our preferences.  score!

what about you?  what are you doing to take care of your heart?  and what is your best low-budget tip for healthy living?