5 Simple Ways to Burn Off Belly Fat

That beer gut may signal deeper troubles.

There’s fat all over your body, not just between your ribcage and your waistband.

The adipose tissue that resides under your skin is a connective tissue called subcutaneous fat, and it sort of jiggles when you flick it or pinch it.

But there’s another kind of fat that’s harder to spot unless you happen to be sporting the telltale protruding belly. That tissue is called visceral fat because it forms around your viscera deep in the belly near your internal organs. It doesn’t jiggle; it’s firm to the poke.

Men are more prone to depositing fat in this abdominal danger zone than women, who tend to wear it in their butt, hips, and thighs.

Visceral fat is the worst kind of fat not only because it’s so stubborn to get rid of but because it acts like a toxic waste dump spewing harmful chemicals and influential hormones right next to your most important body parts.

These secretions can increase inflammation in your body and make insulin less effective at dealing with blood glucose from the foods you eat, putting you at greater risk for diabetes and heart disease.

Here’s more unwelcome news: Visceral belly fat reduces testosterone levels and also damages the lining of blood vessels, compromising blood flow—and you know how important both are to maintaining a strong sex drive and firm erections.

Okay, so now that you’ve had your biology lesson, let’s switch to health class because there’s a lot you can learn to do to start attacking that dangerous belly fat and slimming your middle.

But first, a little motivational exercise: Grab a tape measure and figure out your waist circumference. Take your shirt off and wrap the tape measure around your waist, slightly above your belly button and parallel with the floor. Exhale and check the measurement. The tape shouldn’t be tight. If you measure more than 40 inches (the benchmark for men), you are at greater risk for obesity-related diseases, according to the National Institutes of Health.

What’s more, an analysis of waist size and mortality in 650,000 adults published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings determined that men with a waist circumference of 43 inches had more than a 50% greater risk of death than did men with a 37-inch waist.

If your own tape measure test sends you such a wakeup call, below are some actions you can take today to start eliminating dangerous visceral fat from your midsection.

And if you’d like to take a deeper dive to lose those holiday pounds and get back in shape, we recommend a new, comprehensive New Year-New You guide called Lose Your Gut! The 21-Day Plan to Banish Belly Fat Forever from the editors of Men’s Health.

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Belly Off Step 1: Follow the Leaders

Goose your motivation and find useful tips by reading weight-loss success stories of readers like you in Men’s Health. Check out this guy who dropped 40 pounds without giving up his favorite foods. And consider these common strategies used by participants in the National Weight Control Registry, which tracks more than 10,000 people who have lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off for long periods:

• 78% eat breakfast every day.
• 75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
• 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
• 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.

Belly Off Step 2: Pack on More Muscle

What looks good under a tight T-shirt can keep belly fat at bay.

Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derman

Skeletal muscle is an active tissue that plays a key role in taking up glucose from your bloodstream, burning calories and increasing your metabolism. The more you have, the more you may be protected against insulin resistance and prediabetes, both of which are strongly associated with abdominal fat.

A study in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, for example, found that every increase in the ratio of skeletal muscle mass to total body weight was associated with an 11% reduction in risk of insulin resistance.

Men's Health

The Workout, Meal Plan, and Mindset You Need to Ditch Your Spare Tire and Get Lean

The Lose Your Gut Guide amazon.com

That’s why building and maintaining muscle becomes increasingly important as you age: less muscle makes weight loss more difficult and weight gain a lot easier.

“Peak muscle mass is between ages 20 and 35 and people start losing muscle in their late 30s,” says Roger Fielding, PhD, senior scientist and director of the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology and Sarcopenia Laboratory at Tufts University. “But we know that resistance exercise can have a profound effect on the quality of life and how successfully you age.”

A large study of more than 10,000 adults published in the journal Obesity demonstrated the impact of weight training on waist circumference over the course of more than a decade. The researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that people who spent 20 minutes a day weight training gained less abdominal fat over 12 years than people who spent the same amount of time every day performing cardio exercises.

Belly Off Step 3: Manage Your Cravings with Protein

Caving in to cravings can easily pile on the pounds if you satisfy your hunger with calorie-dense processed snacks and chips and baked goods. But being strategic about your snacks and timing them right can tamp down cravings and help you lose weight. One of the best snacks for accomplishing this is protein because it stimulates hormones that make you feel full and prolongs that feeling.

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Consider this 2014 study in Nutrition Journal that compared a high-protein snack of yogurt to energy-dense, high-fat snacks of crackers and chocolate. Researchers found that participants reported much greater reductions in afternoon hunger after eating the yogurt versus when they ate the chocolate and cracker snack.

And the high-protein snack led to participants consuming around 100 fewer calories at dinner than they did after eating the high fat, high carb processed snacks.

Belly Off Step 4: Speed Up to Burn More Fat

You’ve probably heard this before, but are you doing it?

Halfpoint Images

We’re talking about really pushing the limit of your cardio capacity by doing high intensity interval training (HIIT). Studies like this one in the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research have shown that you can burn up to 30% more calories doing a speedy exercise session (think running sprints) versus doing a lower-intensity steady-state workout (think walking or jogging) of the same amount of exercise time. HIIT is easy to incorporate into your weekly exercise routine.

For example, when running or cycling, simply alternate short bursts of intense all-out effort for say 20 to 30 seconds with slower and longer recovery segments of a minute or two. You’ll find that your workouts will be shorter by necessity due to the increased intensity of effort.

And you may notice your belly shrinking quicker than ever, suggests a 2018 meta-analysis of 39 studies involving 617 subjects published in Sports Medicine. The researchers reported that MRI scans showed significant visceral fat loss following the HIIT exercise interventions and concluded that “HIIT is a time-efficient strategy to decrease fat-mass deposits.”

Belly Off Step 5: Practice Diversity and Inclusion in Your Gut

You’ve got tons of bacteria crawling around in your intestines already but improving the diversity of that community of bugs in your gut is another powerful belly-slimming strategy.

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“Microbiome analysis has revealed a relationship between nutrition, the gut microbiota and a number of human diseases including obesity,” writes National Institutes of Health nutritionist Cindy Davis, PhD, in the journal Nutrition Today.

She points to research suggesting that the composition of bacteria in the gut differs between lean people and those who carry a lot of abdominal fat and that diets high in fat and refined carbohydrates promote the growth of bacteria linked to obesity. One study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science linked low bacterial diversity with significant body fat and inflammation.

The researchers discovered that obese participants had more harmful gut microbes called Firmicutes that promote fat storage and 90% fewer Bacteroidetes, a class of bacteria that breaks down starches and fiber for immediate use as energy. You can improve your ratio of fat burning to fat storing gut bugs by eating more fiber-rich plants.

Try fermented cabbage foods like sauerkraut and kimchi, which are a terrific source of probiotics. A recent review of 20 studies involving nearly 2,000 adults in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition found that eating probiotics reduced both body weight and body mass index in overweight people. Another great way to build a more diverse environment in your gut is eating a fiber-rich Mediterranean-style diet full of vegetables and especially beans, one of the very best foods to build up your Bacteroidetes diversity.

For more belly fat-melting tips and strategies, download Lose Your Gut! The 21-Day Plan to Banish Belly Fat Forever.

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Source: https://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/a35036152/how-to-get-rid-of-belly-fat/

Paul McCartney's tips for staying fit in his 70s - and it's not what you'd think

Nimble as a ballerina, with the skin of a particularly soft baby thanks to his wife’s moisturiser, Sir Paul McCartney is 72 going on 27.

He’s a father of five and grandfather of eight and has five decades in the business behind him. But this icon of rock royalty feels as fit and healthy as ever.

As well as dumping the dope he famously smoked for years, he has also adopted a punishing daily gym regime.

And so it is that a pair of denim-clad legs and a Beatle bottom are wobbling precariously before me.

One of the planet’s most famous men is demonstrating his headstand technique – “my secret claim to fame” – in the backstage dressing room before his triumphant homecoming show in Liverpool.

It is quite possibly the most surreal moment of my career. Like Macca circa 1967, I think I might even be hallucinating.

“I feel pretty fit,” he says, still upside down with his back towards me. “I’m not the sort of person who particularly needs a trainer. I’ll just watch what the trainers do and then copy them.

“I do a bit of the cross-trainer, a bit of running, a bit of cardio and then I do some weights, some abs on the Swiss ball, before ending up on the mat doing a few stretches. And then standing on my head.

“That’s my big claim to fame! I ­actually learned it in the 60s, it was a yoga thing, and my argument is I need flexibility not strength.

“But what’s cool about it is that I’ll be in the gym with all these guys doing really big weights, whilst I’m there doing not big weights, and afterwards, when I’ve done my headstand for about five minutes, these big guys will come up to me and say, ‘That was pretty impressive, man!”

As if to prove his point, Paul starts flailing his legs around in a variety of splits movements.

“After about three minutes I start doing this”, he says before effortlessly returning to the ground, and rejoining me on the sofa in his Japanese-themed dressing room.

On my head: Paul McCartney

As he munches on a handful of dried fruit and nuts, I don’t quite know where to go from here. I am literally speechless.

“I’ve totally thrown you, haven’t I?” he grins. Yes, Paul, yes you have.

A famously staunch vegetarian, he is an excellent ambassador for clean-living and, in the words of one of his crew, he “has more energy than anyone I have ever met”.

While the Rolling Stones, U2 and Coldplay average 25 songs per gig, on Macca’s current Out There tour, about to sweep across Europe and America, he performs an astonishing 38 songs over the course of nearly three hours.

Described by one reviewer as a “Duracell bunny”, he was on invincible form during his incredible sell-out concert on Thursday night .

Though he once used so much cannabis he was locked up for 35 years ago, those days are long gone.

“I don’t do it any more,” he explains. “Why? The truth is I don’t really want to set an example to my kids and grandkids. It’s now a parent thing.

“Back then I was just some guy around London having a ball, and the kids were little so I’d just try and keep it out of their faces.

Indian summer: Paul McCartney and George Harrison sit at the feet of guru Maharishi with McCartney's girlfriend Jane Asher

“Instead of smoking a spliff I’ll now have a glass of red wine or a nice margarita. The last time I smoked was a long time ago.”

First introduced to smoking weed by Bob Dylan in August 1964, Macca later claimed the drug got him “thinking for the first time, really thinking” and helped his songwriting.

A few years later Paul and the other Beatles – John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – had all tried LSD and then, while stunned by the sudden death of their manager Brian Epstein, they got involved with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, also known as the “giggling guru”.

The band travelled to India to join their new spiritual adviser and though they parted with Maharashi on bad terms, they do credit their stay at his ashram in Rishikesh with weaning them off LSD and inspiring scores of new songs.

In 1980, Paul was imprisoned for nine days after he was found with half a pound of cannabis trying to enter Japan – the only time he ever spent more than a week apart from his late wife Linda.

After thousands of protests from fans and numerous visits from his lawyers he was eventually released without charge.

While a stint in jail is undoubtedly a fairly humbling ordeal, Paul is one of the few stars who does not need taking down a peg or two.

Despite his fame, success and wealth (£710 million at the last count), he remains remarkably sane. And, well, nice.

Strong marriage: Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda (Image: PA)

When I congratulate him on “not being a tosser” (the word just slips out) he laughs.

“That’s quite a recommendation,” he says. “I might put it on my CV”.

It is also telling that the majority of his 300-strong crew on his current, record-smashing tour have been with him for more than 30 years.

Sir Paul McCartney is one of the good guys.

That he’s stayed this way, he credits to his family and to his third wife, Nancy, 55, who he married in 2011.

An independently wealthy New York-born businesswoman, she has no desire at all to be in the public eye.

“Nancy is great at keeping me grounded because she’s very level-headed,” he says.

“When we met I wondered how she’d react to it all.

"She got some great offers to do stuff in magazines for just being who she was – Mrs McCartney – and stuff that a lot of other girls would be like, ‘Woah, I’ve gotta do that!’

“But she said no. She’s the head of a trucking company and she basically said, ‘No, I’ve already got a job’.

"And when we went to event where there were a lot of paparazzi, she would just hold back a bit and shove me forward."

Happy couple: Nancy Shevell and Paul McCartney (Image: Getty)

He adds: “Nancy’s got a low profile and wants to be able to walk around unnoticed. She’s sensible, and it’s refreshing. She is very grounding.

“Who wears the trousers in in our house? We both do. Oh go on, then... she does!”

Indeed, he also has Nancy to thank for his fresh-faced appearance.

When I ask if he moisturises (because OF COURSE this is what you ask a Beatle) he sheepishly confesses to borrowing her creams.

“Nancy’s got some stuff so yeah, I do moisturise now,” he smiles.

“I do it thinking it is completely poofy, but she assures me that men do it now.”

Unlike many of his internationally famous contemporaries, Paul also stays grounded by ditching his security guards and going cycling by himself.

He also describes his Liverpudlian family as “wiser than any president or prime minister I have ever met.”

He adds: “I do get recognised but if I’m just going for a quiet little country walk, I might meet a bird watcher or two but they’re not going to bother me.

"They are far more interested in the peregrine falcon.

“I have quite a lot of family and when I was growing up it was in a real, good, ordinary family – you couldn’t really get away with anything.

Musical royalty: Paul McCartney returns home to perform at the Liverpool Echo Arena

“A lot of people can’t be bothered going back to their home towns, but I really value it.

“If you’re lucky and come from a good family, then that’s how you learn. You do just think, ‘OK, I won’t be a complete tosser.’”

The 21-time Grammy winner, who takes a language lesson in every country he visits so he can address the crowd in their native tongue, has picked up an eclectic group of friends along the way.

Among them are fellow Scouser Cilla Black, and Sir Cliff Richard, who rose to huge fame in the late 1950s a few years before the Beatles.

So what does he make of Cliff’s recent troubles which have seen him publicly investigated over allegations of a historical sex offence.

He says: “The last time I saw Cliff was when we were in Nashville.

“He was making a record out there and he came to the show. But I’ve read what people have read and I don’t really know, I don’t really know where we’re up to with that.

“It’s really down to whether it’s true or not – but because I don’t know whether it is or not, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

“He’s always seemed like a really cool guy to me, a nice guy.”

And on the subject of nice guys, Sir Paul would know – he does, after all, manage it standing on his head.

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/paul-mccartneys-tips-staying-fit-5788063

Brushing your teeth at this time of day will drastically change your health

Staying on top of oral hygiene can be challenging at times. With so much of our non-leisure time spent home now since everything moved remotely, it can be difficult to find the time to partake in necessary nightly rituals that promote health and hygiene for you and your family.

Flossing can be a bloody bore and brushing twice a day as recommended by dentists everywhere can be difficult to manage while balancing work, life, and school from home. If you’re a working professional constantly moving from one project to the next and have little time to tend to your teeth research suggests brushing your teeth once at night before bed.

Let’s get into the reasoned data behind this and find out what other overreaching benefits you can enjoy when you follow dentists’ orders.

Why dentists recommend brushing before bed

A resounding consensus from dentists urge folks to brush their pearly white’s before bed and here’s why according to Ellie Phillips DDS who warns us about uncouth hygienic practices.

“Bacteria change every 12 hours so in order to keep the population under control, you should be brushing ideally every twelve hours. The one time you don’t want to skip brushing your teeth is before you go to bed because the ‘most dangerous time’ for your teeth is when you’re asleep.

That’s the most dangerous time for teeth because your saliva flow is reduced, and your mouth becomes more acidic. And many people breathe through their mouths at night making their mouths even drier. Saliva is the main protector of our teeth.”

I suppose we can all agree that most likely more than 4 out of 5 dentists agree with the previous sentiment. Since saliva protects our teeth we are better able to prevent oral travesties during the day when we can actively move the saliva around during the waking hours.

It’s obviously better to brush your teeth twice a day and floss regularly but as mentioned before if your schedule is far too packed to make that happen please don’t forget to do so before getting some well-earned sleep.

The benefits behind good oral upkeep

There are the immediate benefits of brushing your teeth regularly such as better breath, a whiter smile, and less expensive trips to your orthodontist. Some more benefits of brushing more often include a lower risk for developing dementia, it helps fight pneumonia, less chance of suffering from kidney disease, and there is a better chance you won’t have to deal with the myriad challenges faced after receiving a diabetes diagnosis.

How does good brushing techniques aid those in lessening their chance of developing neurodegenerative disease dementia? A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society took a poll asking elderly participants how often they brushed their teeth. Those who admitted to poor dental hygiene habits have a 22 to 65% greater chance of developing dementia compared to those who brushed and flossed daily out of the 5,500 patients studied over an 18 year period.

Nightly brushers also fight off pneumonia better than those who don’t brush as often! Those who put forth more effort into taking care of everything behind their charming smile had a 40% less chance of coming down with a bad case of pneumonia. You can find the full groundbreaking 2003 study here in Annals of Periodontology.

Who knew brushing your teeth every night could mitigate the risk of developing kidney disease and diabetes! Poor brushing habits lead to gum disease and adults that suffer from gum disease are 5 times more likely to deal with the uphill battle of fighting kidney disease. If you’d like to find out more about this troubling correlation look at the full study published here.

If you’d like to find out how better periodontal upkeep helps prevent diabetes check out this recent 2020 study published in the medical journal Diabetologia. Brushing at night with a soft-bristled brush results in an 8% decrease in the chance that a person develops diabetes since gum disease and diabetes also have a correlative relationship, usually informed by poor diet habits as well.

The takeaway

I understand brushing your teeth may seem like a throwaway thing to keep up on to ensure we stay healthy. However, it’s not just social downfalls, like bad breath, you’d be faced with if you skip brushing altogether because you’re too busy. More chronic conditions can arise if you don’t brush as often as the American Dental Association recommended twice a day for 2 minutes each time. When 4 minutes of brushing a day seem to be too much for you to keep track of please consider brushing at night to protect your teeth when they need it most. At the very least your sink won’t look like the slasher shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho after flossing.

Source: https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/brushing-your-teeth-at-this-time-of-day-will-drastically-change-your-health?ltm=ZCiZi6lyZWd2cNejVfppwL82GsJCkA0dvAAp/oasikQDIu%2Bcdb4zH0jn5UmhI/6s&subscriber_type=member&utm_content=dnl-11-18-20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=dnl-11-18-20&utm_source=member&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter

Always Hungry? The Top 10 Foods That Fill You Up

 

Always snacking/ Got a craving?

We’ve all been there: you only ate an hour ago, but your stomach gives a warning gurgle, and before you know it, you’re in the throes of a full-fledged snack attack.

While eating small meals throughout the day is ideal to keep your metabolism high and your blood sugar leveled, it’s also important to infuse those meals with foods that fill you up–foods that are high in fiber, protein, and heart-healthy fats so that you feel satisfied and don’t crash before your next meal.

Here are 10 of my favorite foods that’ll help you stay on course!

Foods That Will Keep You Full Without Tipping the Scale

1. Avocado

If you’ve been holding off from incorporating this fruit (yes, fruit!) into your diet, allow me to convince you with the facts: avocados are little packages chock full of essential nutrients like potassium, vitamin C, and folic acid.

Related: 5 Benefits Of Eating Avocado

They’re naturally sodium and cholesterol-free, and they also contain heart-healthy unsaturated fat.

Plus, their high fiber content means they’ll leave you feeling satisfied longer!

Chop them up and incorporate them into your salad or quinoa, add some slices to the side of your omelet or breakfast wrap, mix up some guacamole to top on fresh fish, or even throw half an avocado into your daily fruit smoothie for a decadently creamy texture (you won’t taste the difference, I promise!)

In fact, avocados are so versatile, you can even use them as a healthier substitute for the saturated fats of shortening, oil or butter in your baked goods, or mayonnaise on your sandwiches (a one to one ration works perfectly).

2. Chia seeds

We’ve come a long way since keeping these seeds as pets!

If you’re looking for good foods that fill you up, don’t let their tiny size fool you: chia seeds are densely packed with protein, fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and calcium.

Related: 10 Protein Snacks Every Health Nut Should Eat

They also expand when placed in a liquid, creating a tapioca-like consistency when stirred into almond milk or yogurt. The effect is essentially the same in your stomach, as well, which helps you feel full.

These seeds impart a delicious, nutty flavor, so sprinkle them in your smoothies, on your granola parfait or cereal, into your rice or stir fry, or even into your bread dough.

3. Kale

The darker and leafier the green, the more antioxidant-packed it is. Which is why kale is way up there in the world of superfoods.

This veggie is insanely versatile – you can wilt it and top it with an egg, mix it up in a salad, blast it into a smoothie or add it to soup.

Related: 6 Health Benefits Of Kale

4. Almonds

Put down those pretzels! Unhand that bag of popcorn!

Almonds are what you should be snacking on: they’re packed with fiber and protein.

I love a handful straight out of the bag, but they’re also amazing chopped on top of yogurt parfait, toasted and tossed into a salad, or even paired with blackberries to satisfy a sweet craving.

Just be mindful of serving size: 1 ounce of almonds (or 23 almonds) is about 165 calories.

5. Legumes

Chickpeas, lentils, black beans – it’s all in the family.

Beans are a cheap, easy way to infuse protein and fiber into your meals.

Mix up lentils and green beans as a side dish with fish, whip up some homemade hummus to snack on with carrot sticks, substitute black beans for flour (a one-to-one ratio) when baking brownies – the possibilities are endless!

Related: 6 Health Benefits Of Kale

6. Dark chocolate

When it comes to foods that fill you up, this one has got to be the best. Who says you can’t indulge your sweet tooth while still doing your body good?

The darker the chocolate, the closer it is to its original form of cacao, which is crammed with healthy flavonoids and theobromine.

The more it’s diluted down with milk, sugar and butter, the less potent its benefits – so stick to 70% cacao or higher. Dark chocolate has been proven to lower blood pressure, and it’ll leave you feeling fuller than milk chocolate will.

As with anything, moderation is key – but pairing pieces with fresh strawberries or melting a few squares into a cup of hot low-fat or almond milk makes for a delicious (and healthy) cocoa pick-me-up!

Related: 5 Remarkable Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolate

7. Eggs

Start your day with these little pods of protein.

Research suggests a breakfast of eggs will leave you feeling fuller before lunch, and could even curb your mid-day food intake.

Plus, a high-protein kick-start will help you maintain glucose control throughout the day – a great way to manage craving-causing blood sugar spikes.

Scrambled, wrapped, sandwiched or hard-boiled – the more creative you get, the less apt you’ll be to skip them for the empty calories of carb-based cereals or pancakes.

8. Apples

Like a broken record, it bears repeating: fiber keeps you feeling full! And apples are an amazing source of the nutrient; you’ll get about 4 grams per medium-sized apple.

Related: 15 Simple Ways To Eat More Fruits And Veggies

Add to it the fact that the fruit has a high water content, and it’ll make sense when I say: bite into one 30 minutes before a meal, and you’ll find you eat less.

These little globes of goodness don’t need to be relegated to the snack section, though. You can cube them in salads, sauté them into an omelet (trust me, feta cheese makes a surprisingly delicious pairing), or scoop them in almond or peanut butter for dessert.

9. Scallops

Call them the apples of the sea – scallops are 80% water, which helps aid in filling your belly faster.

Add to it that they’re lean, packed with protein, and low in calories, and it’s easy to see why you should make these delicious mollusks a part of your dinnertime routine.

Sear them and place them on a bed of quinoa or wilted greens, toss them into a salad, or skewer them on the grill with seasonal veggies.

10. Sweet potatoes

These orange-hued spuds have more slowly-digested complex carbohydrates and fiber and less calories than their white counterparts, so swap in some sweetness for a mashed or roasted side dish.

Related: 5 Delicious Fall Foods That You Need In Your Kitchen This Season

Remember: there’s fiber in the skins, so leave them on!

The Takeaway

Don’t give in to the craving. You can combat the munchies by eating these wholesome (and delicious!) foods that fill you up and keep you satisfied all day!

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Courtney Grove, MPH, RD, LDN is the Corporate Dietitian at Nutrisystem, Inc. Courtney has over eight years of experience with public health management and the implementation of community-based obesity prevention programs for both youth and adults. Prior to joining the Research & Development team at Nutrisystem, she worked with the Health Promotion Council of Southeastern PA, as well as managed her own private practice.

Source: https://inspiyr.com/foods-that-will-fill-you-up/

Starting to Exercise Again After Lockdown

 Expert advice on taking it slow to prevent injuries.

Q. How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?

A. Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now, after months spent sheltering at home during the coronavirus pandemic. Start slowly, they suggest, and then rev up your workouts, also slowly.

Many of us, admittedly, have been sedentary during the pandemic. According to data from the company Fitbit, which makes activity trackers, American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January.

This inactivity leaves most of us less fit than during those halcyon days of last year, with predictable consequences when we surge back to our favorite sidewalks, paths and gyms.

“We already are seeing new patients” hobbled by overly enthusiastic recent workouts, says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) and an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

But there are steps we can take to ease our way back into regular exercise safely, she and other exercise experts say. Most involve patience. “You can’t go from zero to 60 as soon as things open up,” Dr. Rho says. In epidemiological studies of sports-related injuries, the risks of harm skyrocket when people abruptly increase the amount or intensity of their workouts.

Instead, Dr. Rho says, “Start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid.” If you previously ran five miles, she says, plan on covering two or two and a half miles, at a slower pace than you once maintained.

Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Speed its regain and stave off leg and back injuries with basic body weight exercises, she says, such as squats, lunges, planks and hip raises, which can be completed in small spaces and require only a few minutes. (See The Times’s 9-Minute Strength Workout, which includes these and other exercises. )

How can we help you lead a better, more fulfilling life at home during the pandemic?

Cyclists also should cobra stretch, she says. “Most of us have been sitting much more” during the pandemic, she says, contributing to back tightness, which is amplified by the bent-over posture of cycling. So, before riding, lie prone and push your chest up from the ground until your upper body resembles a striking cobra, she says. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat a few times.

Dawdle through any resumption of weight training, too, says Brad Schoenfeld, an associate professor of exercise science at Lehman College in New York, who researches resistance exercise. “If you have been doing almost no training” during the pandemic, he says, “plan to start at 50 percent of the volume and intensity of your prior workouts” when you return to the gym.

Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home, both Dr. Rho and Dr. Schoenfeld say.

After the first week, gradually lengthen or intensify your training. Dr. Schoenfeld suggests returning to about 75 percent of your former lifting loads by the second week of renewed resistance training and 100 percent by week three. Endurance athletes may require a month or longer to safely reach prior training levels, Dr. Rho says.

If you have other questions or concerns about your readiness for exercise, the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab currently is offering free, 15-minute online consultations with a physical therapist or other clinician. You can find more information about the program at their website.

Source:  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/well/move/coronavirus-exercise-lockdown-quarantine-sports-weights-running-injuries.html

Many Americans will eventually need long-term care. Here's how to pay for it

 

Chances are, you aren’t seriously thinking about how to pay for long-term care when you are older.

Most people only think about it at two points in their lives: when their parents need it or when they start to get much older and realize they need to have a plan, said Carolyn McClanahan, a physician and certified financial planner at Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.

Yet someone turning 65 years old today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care services in their remaining years, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Women need 3.7 years of care, while men need 2.2 years.

The average lifetime cost of formal long-term care is $172,000, according to PWC.

“The big thing that you at least need to think about is your aging, periodically, and how you are going to plan for it,” said McClanahan, a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.

“Not just the cost, but the whole logistics for how you’re doing to thrive as you get older.”

More from Invest in You:
The big lesson Suze Orman learned from her recent health scare
How to take the mystery out of picking a retirement savings plan
7 financial steps to take after the death of a spouse or loved one

That means before you go down the road of how to pay for it, think about the optimal situation for your older years. Will you want to stay at home no matter what or are you willing to move into a facility that will care for you? Do you have family members willing to help out to keep costs down? Do you live in an area where it is cost-effective or do you need to move? What is your health like?

“If you have significant health issues you are not going to have longevity,” McClanahan said. That means you have to have a conversation with your family about what your desires are about medical intervention or moving into hospice care.

You have to spend down to a very low level of assets in order to qualify for Medicaid.

Then, think about how to pay for your plan. You can save for it yourself, known as self-insuring, or buying some type of long-term care insurance policy. Government benefits, such as Medicaid and Medicare, have specific qualifications.

Government programs

Medicare will only pay for long-term care if you need skilled services or rehabilitative care for up to 100 days in a nursing home or a short period of time with skilled home health or other skilled in-home services.

Medicaid is reserved for those who qualify under their state’s program. Financial eligibility is based on your modified adjusted gross income and is tied to the federal poverty level.

“You, in effect, have to be impoverished,” said Aaron Ball, head of insurance solutions, service and marketing at insurance company New York Life.

“You have to spend down to a very low level of assets in order to qualify for Medicaid.”

The government looks back five years into your finances and would determine if any assets transferred during that time make you ineligible to receive benefits.

Check your state’s Medicaid website to see if you qualify, which you can access through Medicaid.gov. You can also go to MedicalPlanningAssistance.org to check eligibility.

Self-insurance

The big issue with putting aside money for the possibility of long-term care is that you need to have enough money to be able to do it.

Elder care isn’t cheap. The annual national median cost for a private room in a nursing home was $102,200 in 2019, according to Genworth Financial.

For an assisted living facility, it costs a median yearly $48,612. The median national annual cost of a home health aide was $52,624, the insurance provider found. The cost varies by state, so research the state you plan live in during retirement

Peathegee Inc | Tetra images | Getty Images

You should have at least two years worth of care covered, McClanahan advised. If you are really healthy, though, it means you may live longer and have a higher risk of dementia, she said. In that case, plan on having enough money saved to cover five years of care.

“The problem is now you have segregated this money you are not using for your life, so you have to understand the risk and benefit of that,” she said.

Also, if you are going to need care, make sure to actually use the money.

“Some people, when they actually get there, they are so afraid of spending the money, they don’t get the care they need, or the family doesn’t want you to spend the money because of their inheritance,” McClanahan said.

When calculating how much to put aside, don’t forget about other streams of income you’ll be receiving, like Social Security, pension or an annuity.

Long-term care insurance

About 7.5 million Americans have some form of long-term care insurance, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

The average annual premium for a 55-year old couple is $3,050, according to the association’s 2020 price index. For a single man, age 55, the average cost is $1,700, while a 55-year-old single female is looking at an average annual premium of $2,650. The initial pool of benefits is $164,000 each and reaches $386,500 by age 85.

However, costs vary depending on your age, health and the policy, among other factors.

Typically, people start to think about buying insurance between the ages of 45 and 55, New York Life’s Ball said.

Luis Alvarez | DigitalVision | Getty Images

It’s especially a good option if you haven’t started putting money aside in your younger years, said Tom Henske, CFP and partner at New York-based Lenox Advisors. It will be hard to accumulate the money you need if you only start saving at age 60, he said.

“A long-term care event would devastate your financial plan,” Henske warned.

There are different types of long-term care insurance products available.

Traditional long-term care insurance is strictly for paying for long-term care. Costs have risen over the years, in part as insurers realized they initially underpriced their products.

“The problem is it is expensive and you don’t know whether you are going to end up needing it,” McClanahan said.

Hybrid plans include both life insurance and long-term care insurance. If you die without using it, at least the family receives a death benefit. The downside is it doesn’t pay as nice of a benefit as traditional insurance does, McClanahan said. She suggests buying the policy in a lump sum. The younger you are, the less you’ll have to pay.

A new product is also making its way into the marketplace, aimed at those who don’t have enough saved for long-term care but don’t want to lay out large premiums, said New York Life’s Ball.

It has coinsurance and deductibles more akin to health insurance, which helps reduce the premiums, he said. In the case of New York Life’s product, the average premium is $1,600 a year.

Making the decision

Deciding how to pay for your eventual long-term care comes down to your specific situation.

“If you have no children to fight over your money and you don’t care about leaving people money, then it is a much easier decision to self insure,” McClanahan said.

“If you are the type of person that might not have enough money to last a lifetime, then you might want to buy a policy.”

Even then, wading through types of insurance can be confusing.

“Talking to a professional is really helpful,” Ball said.

“They can help you evaluate your options and demystify this process.”

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/17/how-to-pay-for-long-term-care-like-nursing-homes-home-health-aides.html

Suze Orman's money do's and don'ts for the crisis economy

 Suze Orman's money do's and don'ts for the crisis economy

As COVID-19 continues its rampage against Americans' health and financial well-being, Suze Orman says it's one of those times you need to face fear and become a "warrior."

The personal finance author, TV personality and podcaster acknowledges that it's a tough task, as jobs disappear, hours are shortened, markets gyrate and retirement savings are threatened.

Still, she says you just need try to look past the "now" and stay focused on your long-term financial goals.

Here are 18 do's and don'ts Orman has been sharing, to help you survive the coronavirus financial crisis.

1. Do put your bills on hold, if you can

During the coronavirus crisis, government programs have offered consumers relief from their usual financial obligations, and many creditors have been more understanding.

"If you can’t pay your bills, or could really use some short-term relief, call anyone you owe money to and ask them what help is available," Orman says, in her "Women & Money" podcast.

Call your credit card issuers to find out what they can do for you, because some have suspended interest charges. "Are there long wait times on customer service lines? So what? You’ve got time," says the money maven.

Taking advantage of offers to put off bill payments shouldn't hurt your credit score, but check your score regularly — which you can do for free — just to be sure you're not getting dinged.

2. Don’t panic-sell your stocks

When the stock market's coronavirus crash began in February, Suze Orman's initial reaction was that investors should "rejoice," because they could buy great stocks at bargain-basement prices.

"Could stocks keep going down? Of course," she writes, in an article on CNBC.com. "But since World War II, we have had 12 bear markets. The average loss was around 35%, and though stocks fell for an average of a bit more than a year, they typically had made back their losses in another two years and then rallied to new highs."

In fact, this year it took only a few months for the S&P 500 to rally to new all-time highs.

If you're ever panicking over your investments, you might get some help fighting the temptation to sell by hiring an affordable financial adviser of your own. Those services are available online now — so you don't have to worry about social distancing.

3. Do look into refinancing your mortgage

Have you been paying attention to falling interest rates? The Federal Reserve chopped a key rate to virtually zero, and consumers have been snapping up the lowest mortgage rates on record.

If you own a home and haven't refinanced yet, consider shopping around for a new loan — especially if the rate on your existing mortgage is 3.75% or higher. This year, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have been well south of 3%.

But "do not refinance and extend your years," Suze Orman warns, in an interview with People. In other words, if you've got a 30-year loan that you've been paying on for five years, don't take out another 30-year mortgage.

4. Don't blow your 2nd federal stimulus check, if you get one

Earlier this year, the federal government gave Americans up to $1,200 in cash to relieve economic pain from the pandemic and stimulate the economy.

Leaders in Washington are negotiating over a possible second round of "stimulus checks." You'll want to conserve that money if you get it, particularly if you're unemployed, Orman says.

"You should seriously save every penny you can. Do not go taking that stimulus check and using it all to pay off all your credit card debt, if that's all the cash that you have," she tells NBC's Today show.

Instead, she says sort your bills into two piles: essential and nonessential. Pay only the essential ones, and pay as little as you possibly can — including on your credit card bills. You might cut the cost of that debt by rolling it into a low-interest debt consolidation loan.

5. Do keep investing more money, if you can afford it

Not only should you not sell stocks, but you also shouldn't stop putting more money in. "If you aren’t yet retired, now is not the time to stop investing. Focus on the long term," says Orman.

If you're making regular automatic transfers from your bank account into an investment account, or if you've got a portion of every paycheck going into a 401(k) or other retirement plan, just keep doing what you're doing.

"I can’t tell you when stocks will recover, but if you have time on your side, the focus should be on the fact that they will eventually recover," the personal finance expert writes, in the CNBC article.

If you are retired, she says you probably have at least half your portfolio invested in bonds, and you likely have a heap of cash investments, too. She says those accounts are "safe" and solid.

6. Don't keep too little in your emergency savings

Right now it's probably very difficult to beef up your savings for emergencies, but Orman is hoping consumers will come away from these difficult times with a new determination to put aside even more money for when things get tough.

Most experts say you should have enough saved — maybe in a high-yield savings account — to cover three to six months' worth of expenses. Suze Orman says the coronavirus crash calls for a new standard: a three-year emergency fund.

She explained it this way, in a HerMoney podcast with personal finance expert Jean Chatzky: "In the last years a bear market (that is, a 20% decline in stocks) from where it goes from the top to the bottom, back to the top again is usually 3.1 years."

Orman says you need a financial cushion for a bear market because you don't want to be forced to sell stocks when markets are falling, and you don't want to raid your retirement money either.

7. Do leave your retirement money alone

If you have an IRA or a 401(k) or other employment-based retirement account, Orman says you shouldn't tap it unless you absolutely have to.

She tells Deadline that retirement balances may be beaten-down now, but they'll come back — and you don't want to miss out on that rebound.

"If you take the money out, you’re racking in a 20-some percent loss right now, and you’re going to pay income taxes on that money, which will be another 20% or so," she says. Not to mention that with a 401(k) or a traditional IRA, withdrawals before age 59 1/2 trigger a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

"If you take that money out and spend it, if you’re not frugal, if you’re just still living your lifestyle on some level, you will miss the best opportunity and the best time to have your money in the market that there’s ever been in about 10 years," Orman says.

8. Don't get carried away with online shopping

With so many of us still largely stuck at home to avoid getting sick, it might be tempting to combat cabin fever with some online retail therapy.

Suze Orman says resist those urges. "Stop acting like everything is OK and that you're continuing to spend, even though you're inside your home," she says in her podcast.

Before you decide online shopping will make you feel better about the current situation, consider some tough questions: "If you didn't make another penny for the next year or two, would you be absolutely, financially fine? Would you be able to pay all your bills? Would everything be OK?" Orman asks.

If you're bored, don't spend money on the internet but earn some free gift cards there instead, by joining a rewards program called Swagbucks.

9. Do be careful about making big purchases right now

Even if you've got the money, now is not the time to be buying a new car or a new smartphone, Orman says.

“You want to cut your expenses, fine. But stop with major purchases right here and right now, because the future is unknown, and this is the time for you to conserve in every possible way,” she says, in her podcast.

The author and financial personality has put her own household under financial lockdown. "I have asked for absolute conservation of water, of electricity, of every possible thing," she says. "If the grass has to die, the grass is going to die. If your pool isn't heated, your pool isn't heated. Stop it, people.”

If you're determined to spend, you might pick up something really practical — like life insurance, to protect the people who depend on you. Orman has said term life insurance is "incredibly affordable," and it's easy to buy online.

10. Don't go without health insurance

You've been laid off? If you had health insurance, you can keep it going. You don't want to be left without coverage, especially not in the middle of a national health crisis.

"You can now take over the payments that you were making and your company was making on your behalf, to the health insurance policy that you currently have. That’s called COBRA," Orman says in the Deadline interview. "That will last for 18 months."

The author of the new book warns that COBRA is expensive. Orman says one option is to look for a policy in the Obamacare marketplace at HealthCare.gov.

Depending on your income, you might qualify for a subsidy to cut your Obamacare health care premiums. If you're not eligible, you could shop for a low-cost health insurance policy outside of the marketplace.

11. Do use credit cards, but use them wisely

Though you want to keep your spending under control during this period of financial turmoil, it's all right to fall back on your credit cards if you find yourself in a bind.

"If you don’t have enough money in your emergency cash fund to cover expenses, use a credit card for essential purchases," Orman writes in the CNBC piece.

"But if you do this, do everything possible to pay the minimum due each month. Staying current — paying the minimum is fine during a crisis — is key to maintaining a good relationship with the card issuer," she says.

If find yourself relying on a credit card, try to use one with cash-back rewards, so you’re essentially saving money each time you use it.

12. Don't assume the job market will snap back to normal

Suze Orman has some sobering words for people who've been laid off because of the COVID-19 outbreak and are now sitting at home: Some of your jobs may not be coming back.

"Are we looking at a total change in the jobs that do come back, jobs that don't come back, and where those jobs are performed? Yeah, I think we absolutely are looking at a total revamping of how business goes on after this over," she said in her March 26 podcast.

So, work on your resume and try to learn some new skills during your downtime. See if you can pick up freelance or gig work that might lead to something bigger later on.

"I do not expect us to go back to business as usual," Orman warns.

13. Do respect the recession

Months after the pandemic started hammering the economy, experts say the U.S. is still looking like a nation in recession. Massive layoff notices continue to come, including 28,000 job cuts announced by the Walt Disney Co. in late September.

Orman says you need to be concerned, even if you're still holding on to your job.

She says that's something her driver knows all too well — he was thrown out of work by the last recession. “My driver used to have a $200,000 a year job back in 2007, and now he’s a driver, and he’s still a driver,” the money guru says.

So, get a side hustle, save as much as you can, and take other steps to protect yourself from the COVID-19 downturn.

14. Don't miss out on a chance to convert your IRA

With a traditional IRA, you make contributions to the retirement account from your pretax income. Withdrawals will be taxed as current income after age 59 ½. But with a Roth IRA, the money is taxed upfront, so withdrawals are often tax-free.

"Many of you have been wanting to convert from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA," Orman says on her podcast. "If that is the case, when the markets are down significantly like this, this is the time."

The reason is that the amount you take from your traditional IRA and put into a Roth will be taxed as income.

"When the market is down, and stocks have gone down 50% so maybe, rather than having $20,000, you have $10,000 now," Orman explains. "So, when you convert, you would only owe taxes on $10,000."

15. Do put dividend-paying stocks in your portfolio

Orman says the market crash is a good reminder of why you should have some dividend-paying stocks in your investment portfolio. Even when the market tanks, you'll still have some returns to show.

She says many good, quality stocks pay dividends. "There are so many out there that are paying 4.5%, 5% right now, that they've been crushed for no reason. Just because the market's gone down, they went down," she says, in her podcast.

The dividend yield is a company's annual dividend divided by its share price. If the business pays an annual dividend of $1 per share and its current stock price is $20, that's a dividend yield of 5%.

Dividends are usually paid out quarterly. So if you're invested in a company paying $1 per share annually and you have 1,000 shares, you receive $250 every three months that can be reinvested into the firm.

16. Don't miss out on the break from student loans

The government has allowed borrowers with federal student loans to put their payments on hold through the end of the year, and has slashed the interest to 0%.

Orman says it's a great opportunity, even if you're not struggling with your loans.

"If any of you are in that situation and you can afford to pay your student loan, don’t," she said on Today. "Take the deferment; it’s not charging you any interest on it, and take the money that you should have been paying towards your student loan ... and put it in your emergency fund."

If you've got private student loans from a bank or other nongovernment lender, interest rates have plunged this year — so you could refinance your student loans to slash your payments and interest costs.

17. Do consider paying off your mortgage

If you're able to swing it, paying off your mortgage can be a smart defensive move during these uncertain times, Orman says.

"Then, the money that you are paying towards your mortgage every month, I want you to put that exact same amount of money back into your savings," she said, in the Today interview.

But she says the strategy doesn't make sense unless you've already built up eight months' worth of emergency savings. And, you shouldn't be carrying a lot of other debt.

She says once you've disposed of your mortgage, you'll want to open a home equity line of credit that you could tap for additional resources in case of a financial emergency.

18. Don't confuse 'want' with 'need'

Now is one of those times when it's particularly important to understand what you need, as opposed to stuff you just want. It's a distinction that Suze Orman often talks about.

"I can afford a new car, but why would I want to waste money like that? Just because you have money doesn’t mean you should waste money. You should never waste money," she told Jean Chatzky, in the HerMoney podcast.

That's especially true at this moment, with layoffs mounting and incomes shrinking.

But still, "we are wasting so much money," Orman says. Going back to the car example, she says instead of buying a new one she'd rather spend $2,000 to fix up her current car.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/suze-orman-s-money-do-s-and-don-ts-for-the-crisis-economy/ss-BB19Zdn6?li=BBnbfcN#image=2

New Year's Resolutions: The No Bullshit Guide to Living Your Best Life

Bad news. There’s no magic diet, perfect workout, or new gadgetry in these pages. Shocking for a post about New Year’s resolutions, we know. But our guide to having a better year is void of gimmicks.

What you’ll find: more than 25 simple, expert-backed methods you can start now to get you healthier in body and mind this year. Fair warning: Simple does not mean easy.

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

1. Get Strong

It’s not that you need to haul a mattress up a flight of stairs, but it’s nice to know you can. Even nicer is having the muscle and cardiovascular power to do it in your 50s or 60s. Functional movements—lifting, pushing, carrying heavy objects—are a measure of true strength, achievable by doing tried-and-true movements consistently. Mattress aside, building muscle is key to long-term health, protecting almost every system in your body. It’s also a powerful tool for the mind. Strength training seems to help people suffering from depression, anxiety, and other mental issues, suggests a paper from the University of Georgia. Here’s your guide to getting strong, designed by Adam Rosante, a trainer in New York City and author of The 30-Second Body.

How it works: Follow a 3-2-1 breakdown

Resistance train three days a week, do high-intensity interval training twice a week, and do low-intensity steady state training once a week. Rosante recommends sticking to this breakdown for four weeks, then reassessing and adjusting accordingly. Play the long game and tinker with your workout schedule until it fits into your life. That means you don’t need to work out six days a week; instead, double up and do 30 minutes of resistance followed by a 20-minute HIIT treadmill workout or a 30- to 45-minute low-intensity brisk walk to check off two separate workouts.

3 Days a Week: Resistance Training

There are eight basic movement patterns: squat, hinge, lunge, push, pull, rotational, anti-rotational, and carry. Each workout, choose 4 or 5 moves from the following list. Swap movements as desired, like subbing in pullups for inverted rows, or goblet squats for front squats. Perform 3–4 sets of 8–10 reps using a weight that allows you to complete all the reps but no more. Hit all of the patterns at least once a week.

The first round of moves are:

• Front Squat
• Deadlift
• Reverse Lunge
• Pushup
• Inverted Row
• Wood Chopper
• Pallof Press
• Heavy Suitcase Carry

The Plan

Jot down a plan that’ll carry you through the next 3–4 weeks. Include which moves you’ll do on each of three days, and sketch out weights, sets, and reps. Log workouts as you go to track progress. It’ll take about 2 or 3 weeks to feel stronger.

After 3–4 weeks, switch things up. Create a new workout based on the fundamental movement patterns. Try new weights, like switching dumbbells for kettlebells, or trying out sandbags and ViPRs. Do that for 3 or 4 more weeks. You can keep this up all year.

2 Days a Week: High-Intensity Work

Examples: Airdyne Bike, Hill Repeats, Lap Swimming

HIIT workouts rev your heart rate to 80–95 percent of your max. If you don’t have a heart-rate monitor, your effort level should feel like an 8 out of 10. Go hard 10–15 seconds, then back off to a lower intensity for 20 seconds to a minute. Continue alternating for up to 20 minutes.

1 Day a Week Low-Intensity Work

Examples: Casual Bike Ride, Leisurely Hike, Restorative Yoga

Move, but take it easy. Your max effort should be a 3–6 out of 10. It’s a good opportunity to do something low-key with your family.

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

2. Prioritize Sleep

Just like better workout gear, bedroom gear can help to optimize sleep, says Terry Cralle, a registered nurse with the Better Sleep Council. Here’s where to start:

Replace Your Pillows: Do this every two years. Pillows get smushed over time, and they carry microbes and dust, which can bother people with allergies or respiratory sensitivities.

Get a White Noise Machine: Even if you don’t totally wake up, noise at night can fragment your sleep, which is why you can technically get enough shut-eye but still wake up tired.

Go Dark: “It’s so important to have a completely dark sleeping environment and prevent light leakage from disturbing your sleep,” Cralle says. That means turning your digital alarm clock to face the wall, turning off hallway lights so nothing comes beneath the bedroom door, and installing blackout curtains.

Aim for 7.5 Hours: That’s the approximate amount of hours of sleep a person needs per night, according to a consensus of sleep experts. If you’re not a great sleeper, doctors often recommend trying natural sleep remedies before seeking a prescription. Try sipping tart cherry juice, which contains naturally occurring melatonin—a sleep hormone. Look for a kind that doesn’t have added sugar. We like Cherrish, a blend of Montmorency (tart) and Bing (sweet) cherries—96 per bottle. Drink some two hours before bed.

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

3. Get Off Your Ass

American adults spend more than three-fourths of their waking hours in sedentary activities like sitting, according to a study of nearly 8,000 people. Too much sedentary time is a huge health hazard, linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and premature death. Assuming you can’t quit your desk job, try to vary your postures and move more. For a start, we recommend an adjustable standing desk. They can be pricey, so check if your company has a corporate wellness program to foot the bill. If not, the brand Fully has a simple standing desk converter for $149. To keep your day active, alternate 8 minutes standing with 20 sitting and 2 minutes of movement like walking or gentle stretching, says Margaret Hanson, an ergonomist at the U.K. consulting firm WorksOut.

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

4. Take a Tech Break

This is the year you stop allowing devices to run your life. Tech can hurt sleep, productivity, relationships, and mental well-being. There’s even more reason to do it if you have a family. Get in the habit of cordoning off your smartphones. Do a 20-minute email check-in right after dinner, minimize weekend screen time, and put phones on Do Not Disturb when you’re out doing activities—callers who ring twice will get put through, so you won’t miss emergencies. If you’re unsure whether you’re an addict, see what it’s like to go without tech. Leave your phone at home when you go for a run, or pop out for groceries. How uncomfortable you are untethered gives you an idea of your dependency. We’re not suggesting you give it up entirely. Emails need replies; Google Maps is a lifeline. But it’s healthy to take time off. Consider a digital-detox vacation—go somewhere with spotty or no service to reconnect with nature.

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

5. Eat a Legit Breakfast

Yes, the Starbucks Spinach, Feta & Cage Free Egg White Wrap is great in a pinch, but fast and hassle-free meals at home are totally doable. There are a few criteria to a good breakfast, according to Willow Jarosh, a registered dietitian in New York City. It should be robust enough to carry you through workouts or the first part of your day, and contain a good balance of macronutrients as well as healthy produce—vegetables, if possible. Here are three of her top picks.

Overnight Oats

The concept is simple. In a mason jar or other sealed container, combine rolled oats, milk or yogurt (which softens the oats), some add-ins like nuts, dried or fresh fruit, plus spices or vanilla extract. Seal and refrigerate. The next morning, stir and eat. Or portion out several on Sunday to have through the week. Here’s our go-to combo:

Cherry-Pistachio Overnight Oats

• 1⁄2 cup 2 percent milk
• 1⁄2 cup plain lowfat yogurt
• 1⁄2 cup rolled oats
• 1⁄2 cup frozen cherries, thawed
• 1⁄4 cup unsalted pistachios
• Season with orange zest, ground cinnamon, and ground ginger to taste

Breakfast Fried Rice

If you’re already in the habit of cooking a second portion of dinner to eat for lunch, do the same for breakfast. Make an extra cup of grains—such as quinoa or brown rice—plus a big helping of vegetables. In the morning, crack two eggs in an olive oil–coated pan, and scramble with the leftover grains and veg. Top with sliced avocado and sriracha. Make it to-go and roll in a tortilla for a breakfast burrito.

Low-Sugar Smoothies

Don’t balk when you read this recipe and see cauliflower. It’s delicious in smoothies, adding a thickness akin to ice cream (seriously). And it’s packed with vitamins and fiber for satiety. To cut down on time in the a.m., at night toss everything except the banana and cauliflower in the pitcher of a blender and refrigerate. Then in the morning, add produce, blitz, and enjoy.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

• 3 ounces firm tofu (about 1⁄2 cup cubed)
• 1 cup 2 percent milk
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 tbsp raisins
• 1⁄2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1⁄2 cup frozen cauliflower (don’t thaw)
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• Season with pumpkin pie spice, turmeric, and pepper

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

6. Talk About Your Feelings

If you haven’t heard the news, it’s good to talk to someone about what’s going on. Even better if you can start a dialogue when things are stable and going well. “It’s about building a connection to a professional who knows your story before things get tough, so they can actually help you in that moment,” says Kelli Harding, M.D., a psychiatrist in New York City and author of The Rabbit Effect. But finding an hour a few times a month can be a separate challenge. If that is what’s standing in your way, try telemedicine services, which facilitate video chats with licensed therapists. (We like Talkspace.) Check with your insurance—many have telemedicine options, so you avoid the rigmarole of insurance approvals and co-pays. While these services are convenient, they’re not a total replacement for in-person interactions, Harding adds. And be a little patient with the process. You may need to shop around for a person you’re comfortable with, which is the key to a successful, sustained relationship.

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

7. Embrace Gratitude

Saying “thank you” isn’t just a social norm. It’s physically good for you. “Kindness and gratitude impact health on a physiological level,” says Harding. “Studies show practicing gratitude lowers blood pressure, boosts immune system and energy levels, and helps you sleep better. The vast majority of our health is actually being determined by positive connections to other people.” Maybe practicing gratitude sounds touchy-feely, but it’s simply expressing thanks—to a coworker who had your back in a meeting, to your kids for cleaning up their rooms, or to a friend who picked up the bar tab. If you’re not up for a public airing of gratitude, try this: Before you go to bed, jot down three things you’re thankful for in a notebook or on your phone, and reflect on it for a few minutes. Research suggests it may actually help you sleep better.

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

8. Touch Your Toes

Mobility is the foundation of all physical activity, but it’s the first thing people neglect when they’re short on time. To move well, you need healthy muscles and ligaments, as well as good range of motion within the body’s key joints, says Austin Martinez, director of education for StretchLab in Southern California.

But how mobile are you, anyway? Touching your toes is a good rough guideline. “It’s a way to measure progress towards increasing mobility over time,” Martinez says. “How hard it is to actually reach your toes varies person to person, but the more frequently and consistently you’re stretching toward this goal, the easier it will be.”

Improved flexibility, mobility, and range of motion have been shown to decrease the risk of injury, especially key if you’re an active person (think runner, skier, hiker). Get a baseline measure: Fold forward, keeping back straight, and see how close to your toes your fingers get. Then do this three-move routine once a day. Test your toe-touch progress once a week.

Ten-Minute Mobility Routine

1. Seated Straddle
What it works: hamstrings and lower back
How to do it: Sit on floor, legs locked out in a V position, toes pointed up. Reach forward with both hands, allowing a slight bend in lower back while engaging core. Hold for 30 seconds, then back off. Repeat twice.

2. Pigeon Pose
What it works: piriformis (a muscle at top of hip joint), glutes
How to do it: Kneel and place hands on floor in front of knees. Slide left leg behind you so knee and shin are flat on floor. Bend right leg, with knee pointed at a 45 degree angle, right heel under left hip. Walk hands out in front of body, resting chest over right knee. Hold for 30 seconds, release, then switch sides. Repeat twice.

3. Hip Flexor Stretch
What it works: hip flexors
How to do it: Kneel, then lift right leg and place foot on ground. Keeping back straight, squeeze left glute, shifting torso slightly forward, without chest tipping over. Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides. Repeat twice.

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler for Men’s Journal

9. Finish What You Start

The main selling point of multitasking is that it’s efficient. But we’ve been sold a bill of goods. “Your brain can’t focus on multiple attention-requiring tasks at the same time,” explains Dave Crenshaw, author of The Myth of Multitasking. “Every time you do that, you’re actually switching back and forth between tasks.” And toggling can cost as much as 40 percent of someone’s productive time, according to research cited by the American Psychological Association. Tasks take longer, there’s more room for mistakes, and stress levels rise, Crenshaw says. These breakdowns can have a negative effect on your working relationships with colleagues, too. Stop using to-do lists. Instead, make scheduled commitments to complete tasks on your calendar. Leave plenty of unscheduled buffer time so that when interruptions occur—and they will occur—there is time to deal with them but still stay on schedule.

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Source: https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/new-years-resolutions-the-no-bullshit-guide-to-living-your-best-life/