Welcome Andrea…our new “Smiling Green Fitness Expert!!!” Andrea is full of great ideas to help all of us in our quest for great health while living a green and natural lifestyle, and will be sharing her expertise and as our fitness contributor every six weeks! I am so excited to have her here today to share her insight into fitness and overall wellness. Thank you Andrea!
Andrea Metcalf is a healthy lifestyle and celebrity fitness expert. She is featured on Oprah.com as one of the only female health contributors and appears weekly on Better TV, Meredith’s syndicated lifestyle entertainment version of BETTER Homes and Gardens brands. She has had over a dozen appearances on the TODAY Show as well as Good Morning America’s Health show. A contributor to MORE magazine and creator of a successful weight loss and fitness program in Chicago based on her upcoming book, Naked Fitness, Vanguard Jan 2011, she is a certified trainer, Pilates, and Yoga instructor. A mother of three, passionate advocate for boomer health, and contributor to NBC Chicago’s local news, you can find Andrea teaching, inspiring and moving people throughout the country. www.andreametcalf.com
If you live in a major city, your fitness and health might be a bit more compromised than living in a rural location in living green. This year’s focus for World Health Day which started April 7th promises to focus on that environment specifically. So here area few things you can do to stay healthy, living in Chicago or in any metropolis.Take public transportation. Two great things happen when you participate in public transit. First, you reduce your carbon footprint by reducing polution and conserving energy. Secondly, you probably have to take a few extra steps to reach the station which will give you a little exercise.Both are good reasons to start!Get outside to nature. Even if you work in a highrise building, you need to get outside and breathe at least once a day. It may not be easy to find some grass or beach nearby but the fresh air with not only open yoru airways but nature has it’s own energy pathways that you can feel.Take yourself away – If you have ever stood on the beach, on top of a mountain or have been in the middle of the forest, you can harbor that experience and visualize yourself there to help reduce stress and lower blood pressure. Try to close your eyes and see, hear, smell and feel the memory of that experience or dream up a new one of your own. It just takes a few deep breaths and a little imagination.Eat healthy. The best thing about a city is the variety of foods and cuisine available. Make it your goal to eat fresh seafood and veggies at least once a week. Vegetables are high in fiber and water to keep you full and fish, especially salmon and cold water ones, are great brain food.
Exercises I thought you might like are pictures of Sun Salutation. Yoga is a great way to reduce stress and it is an easy practice for outdoors or a yoga hike.
Follow these exercises in a series while taking deep breaths with each movement.
Standing mountain pose
Forward bend from waist/Forward bend knees bent
Step back right foot to low lunge
Step left foot back to plank
Hold plank and lower to bent arm position
Press arms through to Upward Dog stretch
Lift hips high and press back to Down Dog
Walk feet to hands to forward bend position
Stand tall to Mountain pose
Image Credits:
Studio Seven One Five
http://thenewjew.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/sunsalutation_yoga-healthinfo_7april091.jpg
http://www.beanproducts.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/Natural%20Fitness%20anti%20burst%20exercise%20ball%20action600cropped.jpg
