An apple a day....

We all know the saying "An apple a day, keeps the doctor away." But do you know if that is a myth of actual fact? Let's explore the apple!!

Some people may think that the saying is just a way to help kids eat some more fruits and vegetables. But there is truth to the matter! And while we can't say that it really will keep the doctor away, we can show you all of the benefits that come with eating an apple a day!

So out of all of the reasons out there to eat an apple, let's concentrate on just a few here for your health. Did you know apples will help reduce cholesterol? That was a new one for me!! One medium apple has roughly 4 grams of fiber in it. Some of that comes in the form of something called pectin. This is a type of soluble fiber that has been linked to studies for lowering levels of LDL or better known as bad cholesterol! One of the main reasons for this is because it blocks the absorption of cholesterol according to studies shown by WebMD, which allows the body to utilize it rather than to store it!

Next up, let's look at how apples can help your lungs.. Yes your lungs!! Now this one has to do with the skin on the apple, so if you are peeling that off you might want to rethink that! Some people need to peel the skin off as they can not digest the skin, but if your body can handle it, you should enjoy it! Five or more apples a week, has been linked to improving lung function due to quercetin. This is an antioxidant that is found in the skin of apples, onions, and tomatoes!

Do you feel like your family is getting too many colds, looking for a healthy way to boost your immune systems? Start eating more apples! They are not as high up as oranges, but an apple can still boost your Vitamin C with over 8 milligrams in a medium sized apple. This is roughly 14% of your daily recommended intake!

I recently read an article in Good Housekeeping which discussed how apples are good for your brain. They reported that the fruit has been linked to acetylcholine production, which communicates between nerve cells. That could help your memory and lower your chances of developing Alzheimer's.

I could go into detail for each and every thing that an apple does for you, but we don't want to spend all day reading this! :) There are many other health benefits as well that you can go ahead and research or let me know if you would like to continue this into a Part Two blog post and I will give you some more information. 

Before we go for this week, I also want to touch the subject of how apples are beneficial for those that may be on a diet. Now if you are like me, i am a big girl, trying to get myself healthier. I would also like to lose some weight while gaining my health back! Apples can not only help with my health, but they can assist me in my weight loss! Let's take a quick peek!

Now one of my personal struggles while trying to be on a diet, is that well... I LOVE food! All kinds of food! The next is that since I have been eating too much and incorrectly for so long I have stretched out my stomach. So when I eat smaller (proper size) portions of food, I am still hungry. However, remember how we were talking about the fiber in those apples? That fiber can help you feel full longer and not cost you a ton of calories while doing it. A medium apple has roughly 95 calories in it. The reason something like an apple will make you feel fuller longer is due to the complex fiber that it has. Our bodies will take longer to digest that instead of simple materials like sugars and refined grains.  Anything with at least three grams of fiber is a good source of the nutrient. The Daily Values guide shows that one should aim to get about 25 to 40 grams a day of dietary fibers.

Now do you recall earlier I was discussing the benefits of the apples skin? Here is another benefit if you can eat this. In the peel of the apple is also ursolic acid, which according to HuffPost UK, and a recent study in mice, this has been linked to a lower risk of obesity because it boosts calorie burn.

If you are struggling with your weight, or have a family history of diabetes, I do hope that you are allowing your primary physician, or medical professional of your choosing test you on a regular basis. If you are borderline diabetic, or worried about diabetes here is another useful fact for you.A 2012 study that was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that there are a few fruits that were linked with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes because of a an antioxidant called anthocyanins that can be found in apples, pears, and blueberries. Anthicyanins are also responsible for red, purple, and blue colors in fruits and vegetables.

Now the final thing I want to touch on is the benefit that apples can have against cancers. There are many cancers that will speak about the benefit apples and other fruits can have with that specific type of cancer. Today, I will just speak in regards to breast cancer. But please know there is much more research out there!! There was a series of studies conducted by a Cornell researcher Rui Hai Liu to give growing evidence that suggests an apple a day may help to prevent breast cancer. She said her research adds to "the growing evidence that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, including apples, would provide consumers with more phenolics, which are proving to have important health benefits. I would encourage consumers to eat more and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables daily."

There are many studies that go into direct details for which fruits have different benefits for different health ailments. I hope you enjoyed reading some of the benefits that an apple a day really can do for you! The way I see it, if an apple a day can even do a portion of all of that, I can easily eat an apple a day for that type of hope! 

Hope you enjoyed this edition of Kay Kay's Motivation! Let me know if there is anything that you would like me to research and post about for you! Always happy to take suggestions!

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Until next time! Go enjoy that apple and a sunny day! Aim to be great today and hit that step count goal for the day! 

Do at least one thing for your health today!

I am lazy and I do not want to do anything....

Welcome to my world! I am lazy and I do not want to do anything. Do you know how often I have had to admit to myself that was MY issue. OR, the ever famous, I just don't have time for that....

So, how true is that, no matter what we are doing with our time, the time still passes. So, what we need to decide is are WE worth OUR time? So many of us will do anything for anyone.... But how often does that include ourselves? What was the last thing you did for you? When was the last time you treated yourself? We need to find time for ourselves as well. Have you ever been on an airplane? You know when they are doing all of the hand signals, and no one can hear them BUT they are telling you what to do in an emergency situation... They stress that you MUST put the oxygen on YOURSELF before your children or neighbors.. And most of us are like NO WAY... BUT If you can not breathe you can not help them at all. And that is a very valid point. We can not continue to help others or be there for others if we are not taking care of ourselves also. 

So, NO this is not going to be easy... But who said anything easy was worth it. :) What I want you to do for yourself right now is to let yourself know that you are going to have bad days, and you are going to slip up. and that IS OK!!!!! Accept it now that you are NOT perfect, and you don't need to be. It is not about beating yourself up for not meeting this goal, or not doing what you intended to do today. We need to start smaller, A LOT smaller. Let's celebrate each small step in the right direction. 

I am not going to focus on the cookie I had for breakfast... (Oops) However, I am going to be proud that I stopped and did 40 jumping jacks, and I did a TWENTY second wall sit! Do those even out for the calories in that cookie, NOPE. But I will celebrate that I took that time and did something positive for myself to make ME better!

I think once we stop making excuses for everything we are able to appreciate all of the small positive steps that we do. I will not focus my energy on trying to make excuses for what I did wrong. I will focus my energy on being positive and knowing that I made some good choices today, and I will keep trying to be better then I was last week!

OK, so HEAR ME on this one first! No one said you have to do one hour!!! DO YOU HEAR ME??? Please don't start there!! If that is where you start and you make it through the hour, you will be in so much pain later and tomorrow and all week, that you will not want to work out again! I can almost promise that! If you want to go for a walk, and you end up walking for an hour, OK. But PLEASE don't push it. The picture above is just to put that image in your head of when we say I don't have time for that.. You have time for 4% of your day to work on your health! And you know what, if you don't thats ok! Maybe you would rather binge watch Netflix. I am not judging, I enjoy my Netflix! Work with it then, Do some squats while watching, do some jumping jacks, march in place, do a wall sit. Incorporate it into what you want to do! You CAN do this!

Now, please always keep going! After the first week or two please don't give up if you don't see results! Please understand it takes more time! You see yourself everyday, and you are your worst critic! So, if you look in a mirror now and can pick out every flaw... then guess what after two weeks of working out when you look in the mirror you are still going to see every flaw. That is how you have trained your mind to think about everything. We have to rewire our brains and change the way we think. Focus on the positive! Now, there will be some tough love, but we all need a kick in the tush here and there. 

Do you know how many times I have started over.. or tried again... I can't even count them all anymore. I only had to start over because I gave up. Hence the new focus of just positive thinking. I was focusing on the negative and was stuck in a very bad habit of, well I already had one cookie, let me eat the rest of the pack and I will just try again tomorrow since today is busted. Now, you see that negative thinking there. I was giving up before I even started. NO MORE!!

Do you love yourself? If you are focusing on the negative, or not seeing the beautiful person you are in the mirror, then you are not loving yourself. You need to start with yourself. You need to truly fully love yourself. At least start to. Start to work on finding the positives. Don't look at the parts of your body that you do not like, Focus on the parts that you DO like! (Again, time to rewire that brain!)

If you are married, or have ever been in a committed relationship, you know they take work, compromise, communication, trust, blood, sweat, and tears. You need to give all of that to yourself and your fitness and health as well! You can't cheat on yourself, you are only hurting yourself when you do. 

I don't even consider the first two choices anymore. My only choice is to give my all to myself. 

Please remember to drink water, start somewhere if you don't already drink a lot of water. It does help!

If you haven't had the best support system do it because they said you couldn't. Sometimes that is the best motivator for some people. 

There are a million different ways to do everything. Everyone will learn a different way. What works for me may not work for you. Let's figure out what does work for you. 

One thing I know that works for everyone... is to try! Think positive, find the good things, move a little, make a small step in the right direction. 

Maybe you don't want to do crunches, or jumping jacks. Do scissor kicks while laying on your side (NO impact on joints there) If you are having a hard time figuring out what might work for you, reach out to a professional or myself and let's research together!

You are NEVER alone! We can all do this together!

Where do you start?

So, you have decided that you want to start working on your health and fitness. GREAT!! That is a HUGE step to take! I am super proud of you! Now, if you are reading this, then you stumbled upon me! Woohoo! Way to go! So, maybe you are looking for direction, you are thinking what in the world do I do next?

If you are anything like me, I am not a big GYM person, the word scares me. Even though it is only three little letters, it is very intimidating to me. So I want to start with things I can do in the privacy of my own home, things I can do without having to purchase hundreds of dollars worth of equipment. Now don't get me wrong, there are pieces of equipment that I adore! I just want to be able to do little things here and there!

The easiest way to me to stay on track is for me to write things down. That may not work for you, it is just what works for me. When I write something, I tend to remember it more. And when I see it that will push me more. Just take a look at the start of my week in my calendar! (Don't mind the white blobs, I had to remove clients names for privacy!)

I am trying to push myself to hit certain goals and to build certain habits. What I am doing may not work for you and that is OK! We just need to find out what will work for you!

Have you heard of a Wall Sit? It is basically like sitting in a chair, but without the chair! Using the wall to support just your back! Please see professional images below as examples. Compliments of No Drilldown and Anytime Fitness websites.

Now, these are not easy! Trust me you will feel it, but always a place to get started that is not high impact. This will strengthen your core and legs. Start out with 10 seconds. And I mean FULL seconds. Count 1 M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I, 2 M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I, etc. 

Now, if you can not do ten seconds, that is OK! You started, you tried, and now you have a new goal to beat for tomorrow to do a little more! It is all about finding a starting place and moving forward from there. 

No matter where we start, we are doing better then we did yesterday! Way to go! 

You found me!

Well hello there! You found me! Bear with me as I am only just getting started on here. If you are looking for motivation to keep going on your fitness and health journey you came to the right place!

The world is so full of negativity and it is so easy to fall into a negative mental place. We are leaving all of that behind and we are focusing on finding the positive. We will be accountable to each other and here to assist each other push forward and make each day better.