Straighten and strengthen your lower back

My yoga pose of the month – Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

Basically, you mimic the position of sitting on a chair.

The foundation of every correct position is a strong, straight lower back. In this chair pose, we learn to straighten and in the process, strengthen our lower back and legs. 

Benefits

1) Strengthens the ankle, thighs, calves and spine.

2) Develops core strength

3) Stretches and create space as well as openness in shoulders and chest

4) Stimulates the abdominal organs, diaphragm and heart

5) Reduces flat feet


Beginner's tips
To help you do the pose more comfortably, try practicing it near a wall. Begin with your back to the wall (a couple of inches away). Adjust your position in such a way that, when you bend, your tail bone is just touching and is supported by the wall.

Other online articles which you can refer to :

1) Active.com

2) CNY Healing Arts

3) Yoga.wiz.com

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Have you taken your calcium for the day?

No time for breakfast every morning? Why don’t you make a habit of storing a box of milk in your fridge. Do your marketing on Sundays.

Each morning, whether or not you have the time for breakfast, first and foremost have a glass of milk. On days where you are too busy to prepare or stop by somewhere to grab breakfast, at least you know that you have already coated your tummy with a glass of milk to provide you the energy and basic nutrients that your body need to power up for the day.


Most importantly, you provide your body with a daily dose of calcium it needs for healthy  bones and teeth.  It's always better to start off right, early in life. Even a small glass a day is good enough. However, avoid chocolate milk.

If you are not a fan of milk, alternatively, you can do the same with :

a) soya bean (soy milk)

b) yoghurt (preferrably low fat yoghurt)

These stuffs don’t need time to prepare in the morning. And milk can be purchased from anywhere at anytime of the day such as at 7-11, petrol stations, mini mart, grocery stores, even late at night.

Cheers!


1) More info on the role of calcium in your diet, please click here.
2) 15 Tips on how to prevent osteoporosis, click here.

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Gentle morning stretches to energize your day

Picture taken from here

Stretching early in the morning immediately after waking up has benefits for your body, mind and soul.

After sleeping for hours, your muscles tend to become stiff and tight. Early morning stretches help to loosen and realign your muscles. This is also a gentle way to increase blood flow to your entire body and calmly help your body and mind to switch from a rested state to a woken state.

Stretching can increase flexibility, improve circulation and contribute to your sense of well-being.

Since it’s an extremely difficult task for most people to wake up a little earlier, just to slot in a mere 10-15 minute stretching, it is always good to have a pre-set of physical postures or poses, so that you can continue to relax or dream on while you practice the stretching without interruption in the movements.

Here are two highly recommended sites, which I found to be extremely good.

1) Yoga Stretches
For people who prefers a gentle stretching routine, yoga style, click here for the video instruction.

                                           Picture taken from Yoga Journal - May 2011 Edition

You can ignore the breathing coordination that coincide with each movement, but do remember to breathe deeply, slowly and continuously.

Initially, you WILL have problem remembering all the sequential poses. Here is what you can do. For the first week, do the first and second pose. Then incorporate the third and fourth pose once you think you are able to take on more challenge.

I've always preferred the yoga series of twelve physical postures, as these alternating backward, forward bend movements, often with some twist and side tilts postures flex and stretch the spinal column through their maximum range, giving a profound stretch to the entire body.


However, if you feel that the entire 12 posture series is too long or too tedious for you, you can practice up till pose no 3 (the downward dog pose) and remain in that pose for a full 2-3 minutes before you wrap up with child pose. It would be better if you could practice up till pose 6 at least. Don't forget to switch sides.

2) Pilates Poses
For people who doesn’t mind a bit of pilates exercise routine, for just 5 simple poses.

Always remember to change sides to ensure there is balance

You can click here for further instructions

Picture taken from here. Click here for further instructions too

Picture taken from here

Picture taken from here

Once you're done, even for 5 minutes, congratulate and reward yourself with a healthy home made breakfast followed by a cold refreshing shower!

Here's a healthy breakfast suggestion - the breakfast parfait! It consist of low fat yoghurt with cereal, nuts, seeds, fruits and oat (last item is optional). It's easy and quick to prepare. Buy those cereal that contains 45% of nuts and seeds, so that you just need to prepare the fruits.

Not your cup of tea? Have a smoked salmon and egg sandwich instead then.

                                                   Picture taken from here

Mexican burritos. Click here for more healthy and appetizing options

Have a great day!

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Eat breakfast like a King to overcome your Monday blues

Monday mornings always seem to be here too soon. No matter how much we moan or groan, there is no escaping the M days.

Here is a tip on how to chase the blues away.

Plan your Monday breakfast over the weekend, to ensure you eat like a King on that  morning. Having a good start and a good meal on the first morning of the week will get your spirits up and help you charge on with full steam ahead.

Now when I say to eat breakfast like a King, I mean that it should also be healthy (one that has all the important components such as calcium, carbo, protein, vitamin C). 

This is what I would consider as breakfast for a King (in this era, at least).

Option 1

                                                Click picture for a clearer view

Option 2

A plate consisting of all the four pictures below would be a great choice too, as long as you do not pile on too much of them (especially item 3 - the cold cuts and meat). In fact, with most of us working in the office, that item can be non-present as the other three is actually good enough. Remember, keep it all in one plate, that's all you need.

Option 3

A bowl of cereal (weetbix & all bran) with nuts, seeds & raisins and low fat milk. Do not forget to take some fruits, this will complete the entire breakfast.

Option 4

Muesli or whole grain cereal with low fat milk and fruit

Option 5

Fruit breakfast with a glass of low fat milk, the easiest to prepare. Can be prepared overnight.

Option 6

Salmon and egg sandwich




Option 7

Yoghurt parfait with nuts and seeds. Healthy..!!

Some of you might prefer to down a cup of coffee in the morning, but I would very much prefer a cup of tea, which in my humble opinion, is healthier. 

                                                     Picture taken from here

Tea reduces stress level and enhances your metabolism rate. I would normally reserve my cup of well-deserved coffee for the afternoon.

Of course, to plan and execute a healthy and hearty breakfast, would mean having to get up a little earlier to prepare, which most of you would wince even more. But think of it this way, you’re gonna get a good delicious healthy breakfast. And DO NOT forget to ENJOY it slowly...!

And once you are able to do it, it would mean you’re ready for work when it’s time to get ready to go, rather than still agonizing in bed and trying to drag yourself out of it. Of course, you could do this to help you jump start your day.

1) Hop out of bed the moment you wake up in the morning. Lingering in that comforter will only draw out the agony.

2) Take a cold refreshing shower before you head down to prepare your breakfast

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint