That's Fit

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday, The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

It's time to SLOW down. Life will fly by too fast if you don't slow down and pay attention to being "in the moment." Think about it. When you rush, you become stressed. Stress leads to ill health because consistently pushing your own "pedal to the medal" elevates cortisol levels. I know, I bring up lowering cortisol levels quite often but some say it's easier said then done. To give you a little push in the right (and healthier) direction, here are Seven Slow Down Strategies you might want to implement this week. If I told you slowing down will help you to be leaner, would you do it? Then do it for weight reasons. Just slow down!

• Get up earlier. Set your alarm clock for 30 minutes earlier than normal and take your time getting ready. Who knows, you might actually enjoy sitting down to breakfast and drinking your morning cup of "joe" or tea along with an egg or two and a slice of whole grain bread and a bowl of berries. Have a "slow" breakfast!
• Take your time getting to work. There is no comparison to how you will feel if you slow down and take your time commuting to work. Make it a point to look around. Take in the sites. Look up at the sky. Smile at someone. Take it easy.
  

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

You're an addict. You really are. As members of the human race, we naturally aspire to be happy, joyful, excited, buzzed, elated and "out-of-this-world-blissed out!" We love our "feel good" brain chemicals. Who wouldn't really? Whether we realize it or not, we all strive to attain just the right balance of dopamine, serotonin, cortisol, growth hormone, essential fats, insulin and other naturally occuring "bio"chemicals in our bodies. Fitness lovers, myself included, love the high that comes along with a great workout, right? I know I do. At the end of a particularly stressful day the "pre-workout" Laura looks very different before doing forty-five minutes of cardio and thirty minutes of free weights. I am all smiles ... and naturally high.

The hunger to feel good has a flip side. Hence addiction is a huge problem for many in our society. I should know. My genetic heritage is laden with those who have struggled with alcoholism and prescription drug abuse. My Grandpa Len died from it. He was such a great guy too and I adored him. It's too bad he died at age 57. I still miss him to this day.

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

Purple it up babe. Yup. Drink it up. Eat it up. And you may just be thinner, look younger, get healthier and live longer than "non-purple eaters." Is it important to ramp up these foods in your diet? You bet! Read on for some pretty cool reasons you need to include more fruits, veggies, herbs and even flowers rich in anthocyanins in your daily diet:

• Foods containing these natural red, purple, pink and blue pigments have been found to be powerful in fighting free radicals in the body. What do free radicals do? Cause disease, increase the aging process and cause a myriad of health problems. Foods with purple power are known "super foods!"
• Anthocyanins are involved in neurogenesis and have been found to enhance neuronal signaling capabilities and improve communication among neurons. Blueberries are known to enhance memory function. The blue pigments protect the brain and help neurons!

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

What if I were to tell you your body depends upon good "bugs" to help you to stay healthy? To help you digest your food properly? To manufacture B vitamins in your gut? To prevent acne, lower cholesterol, ward off intruders? And would keep you happy, healthy and shore up your immune system? Would you eat them?

Now I am not talking about eating crickets, ants or larvae, although I understand that to some people in various parts of the globe these types of bugs may be considered a delicacy or even common dining fare. Heck, to get a glimpse of someone eating weird foods watch the Travel Channel's Andrew Zimmern's show ... I watch with one eye closed!

The kind of bugs I am referring to happen to be a part of a huge population of good bacteria (only three and a half pounds worth!) that lives in your digestive tract. I know you have seen the commercials for yogurt beverages that contain version of "good bacteria" to keep you healthy and frankly, I am thrilled to see the American public coming around to this very important food element that is essential to living a long and healthy life.

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

Heads up to all you dieters who believe drinking non-calorie beverages such as diet soda, coffee, and tea instead of water will help you lose weight: With all calories and activity levels being the same, water drinkers win when it comes to weight loss!

Results of the first ever study to discover -- and validate -- that drinking water helps the body lose weight, independent of diet and physical activity, made it's debut this month in the journal of Obesity.

In a previous study, called the Stanford A to Z weight loss study, researchers enrolled 311 women and examined the effect of different types of diets (Atkins, Zone, Learn program, and the Ornish Diet) in an attempt to discern which was most effective for weight loss. Atkins was the winner, by the way. The study was highly-controlled and patients met regularly with dietitians.

Where did they come up with the results on why water is the winning weight loss elixir? Researchers went back to the same study for a secondary review and examined the data of 173 premenopausal overweight women (ages 25-50 years) and reanalyzed the impact of water intake and weight loss. The patients were divided into two groups, those who drank less than one liter of water per day and those that drank more than one liter of water per day. After the data was analyzed, researchers found that no matter what diet the women were on, an increase in drinking water to more than one liter of water per day was associated with a two kilogram or five pound weight loss over a twelve month time frame.

This week as your "Daily Turn On," turn up your metabolic furnace by drinking water instead of diet soda. Forgo the coffee, tea and other non-calorie beverages and drink up good ol' H2O! Before you know it, you just may drop a few pounds. A liter a day makes the pounds go away!

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

Warning: This post may change the way you work out in the gym forever! A recent article in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research shows the results of a study where individuals who worked out with weights, taking one second in the concentric or contracting phase of a "lift," such as in a bicep curl, but slowed down their eccentric or extension phase of the motion to THREE seconds, experienced a faster metabolic rate for up to 72 hours following their workout as compared to "normal lifters." Study participants with normal lifting behavior, executing one second "up" and one second "down" lifts, experienced a much shorter time span for an elevated metabolic burn! Why?

Those who took longer extending weights away from the body with a very slow motion were more sore than their "one second" up and down counterparts. And being more sore equates to an elevated metabolic rate as the body is working very hard to repair damaged tissues. Remember, when you work out with weights, you are purposefully breaking down muscle fibers so they will rebuild to become stronger. The slower extension of weights caused the most stress on muscles and in turn, had the most gain with cranking up the ol' metabolism!

Oh, and if you think spending all that time on the treadmill or elipitical will be just as effective, think again. Yes, you'll burn calories during that cardio workout while you are sweating bullets, however, things slow down much more quickly in the metabolic department as compared to when you are dedicating quality time to your muscles. In a typical cardio workout muscles are not as challenged or broken down as they are when you hit the weights.

This week, hit the gym at least three days and turn up and turn on your metabolism by slowing down those weight extensions!

*Want to know which exercise would be the best for you to do in order to burn off last night's splurge of creme brulee"? Check out AOL Health's "Exercise Estimator" to find out!

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

I love eggs. I have been eating them for breakfast for as long as I can remember. And can I cook them? You bet! Every shape, size, type and more...I am an egg gal. And the good news is, egg eaters have an easier time controlling their weight! In spite of all the bad press over the years on the wonderful little egg, I hung on, believing that they must indeed be good for me. And boy are they.

Not only are eggs one of the most "perfect" foods nutritionally, researchers found that individuals who ate an egg breakfast did not seem to eat as much as their carbohydrate eating counterparts! Here's the scoop:

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

What if I were to tell you that of all the healthy oils on the market today, one can make you burn more calories ... would you add it to your daily diet? Heck, when I read about this study in Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental -- where guys were given bagels slathered with a healthy oil each morning -- I was intrigued. Researchers measured how much energy was being generated (or calories burned) six hours after participants ate their oily breakfast bagel. The various oils studied were: Flaxseed oil, sunflower oil and olive oil. The end result? Olive oil is the grand prize winner! It turns out oleic acid, from olive oil, is especially effective when it comes to ramping up burning calories (especially from your OWN fat stores!) as compared to flaxseed and sunflower varieties.

Speaking of olives and olive oil I have to say, one of my most favorite moments in my life was when I went biking on the island of Sardinia, off the coast of Italy. After touring the beautiful countryside, we were served a huge picnic lunch that included homemade breads, local cheeses, olive oils, tapenades, wines and more. Imagine, outside, under beautiful trees, the ocean nearby, up on a small mountain chowing down on fantastically fresh local foods. Being an olive fan, I was in heaven! Who would have thought that such a delicious meal would help me burn even more calories than if I had feasted upon flax and sunflower seeds!

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Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.


This week, I want you to "turn on" your body's natural mood elevation system just by smiling. Yup. When you smile, your body "thinks" its happy by kicking out endorphins, lowering cortisol levels and more. Got to love that.

Paul Ekman, Ph.D., named as one of the "most influential psychologists of the 20th century" by the American Psychological Association, found in his research that if a person mimics an emotion, his body will respond as if the emotion is really being experienced. Isn't that cool? And speaking of cool, check this out. When we smile we contract forty-two facial muscles. Believe it or not, just the act of smiling causes a constriction that slows down the blood flow to the brain, via your sinuses, which results in cooler blood reaching your hypothalamus located deep within the brain. Your hypothalamus is the master controller of body temperature and emotion. It appears that if cooler blood reaches "the controller" you will experience more pleasant feelings. If your blood is heated up the opposite occurs and you become more "hot headed", stressed, anxious, angry, and more. Now that's motivation to smile!

Need more motivation to smile? Check out these Ten Reasons to smile.
And what about laughter? Did you know research has shown that four year olds laugh about 400 times per day. And adults? Well sadly, the average adult only laughs14 times per day. What about you? Smiling and laughing are good for you.

Your Daily Turn On directive this week is to smile more! Smile more in your car. Smile at work. Smile while you sit at your desk or just sitting in your bathroom getting ready in the morning! Your going to love how you feel and you'll be healthier too! Oh and if you need a little more incentive, take a minute to view this very popular You Tube video that will either put a smile on your face or make you laugh and laugh. Let me know how it goes! Happy smiling!

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.

I've never been a big soda drinker. Thank goodness my Mother wasn't one of those that would buy cases of the stuff although we did have "Tang" (Anyone remember the instant sweet orange beverage that supposedly astronauts drank? I loved it) yet it was a treat and not something we drank daily. Water was our beverage of choice. It is for my kids as well. And boy would I love to see more people dropping diet sodas and getting on the water band wagon!

Water is essential for optimal health. When you are well hydrated your memory is better, you have more energy, asthma and allergy symptoms may be lessoned, your joints are not as stiff, you metabolize nutrients more efficiently, you'll have less fatty deposits, better digestion and less constipation... just to name a few of the benefits! Soda is a poor substitute for water. Plus, it will make you fat. Even diet soda. This week, I want you to "turn on" your desire for healthy substitutes for the bone leeching, fat causing, chemical beverage YOU call soda. Are there great alternatives? You bet! Read on...

Life is too short not to be fully "turned on." The Daily Turn On! energizes all aspects of "you." Every Monday The Daily Turn On! with That's Fit Life Fit expert Laura Lewis will provide you with ideas and tips to awaken your mind, your body and your life as you journey through each day of the week! Check in each Monday to get your tip for Turning On every day of your life.


Do diet and lifestyle choices really make a difference in how long you will live? Newsflash! Did you know half us will die of cardiovascular disease? What a way to go. My own father has had several heart surgeries, struggles daily with Type II diabetes and recently had a stent put in his leg to save his foot. My younger brother has had two heart surgeries...oh, did I tell you both almost died of heart attacks around the age of forty? Needless to say I am quite passionate about preventing heart disease. I have seen what poor lifestyle choices and bad genetics can do to two people in my life who used to be so vibrant and now they live with the debilitating effects of CV (cardiovascular) disease. And it makes me sad too. I do all that I can to step around my genetic "potholes" in my road of life. I watch what I eat, take supplements, monitor my stress level and workout regularly. And I laugh a lot too.

When I speak to groups or coach individuals on living an optimal life, I am known to ask how they want to die. In a hospital wasting away? Or perhaps surviving a stroke where quality of life is dramatically decreased. Or would they rather die playing tennis, hiking on trails or even having sex? Or doing something else they enjoy like laughing, watching birds, traveling, or even dozing on a hammock under their favorite shade tree? Do you think about that? I firmly believe, as research indicates, a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle can drastically impact how long you live and the quality of your life.

I recently found this excerpt from Cardiovascular Therapy entitled Nutrition 101: Physicians can no longer ignore the healing power of diet and nutritional supplements. The bottom line? Eat like your roving ancestors did... as foragers! Get out in nature, breath fresh air, expose yourself to sunshine and choose foods that are naturally high in nutrients. Eat lean protein at all three meals, have one handful of nuts daily and eat them with berries, veggies, fruits and grains. Have a drink before or during your evening meal (unless you have an addiction problem), avoid processed foods and be physically active for 30 minutes each day. Oh, and to be better safe than sorry, take 1000 IUs of vitamin D and 500 to 1,000mgs of fish oil each day.

This week I encourage you to make a commitment to yourself: To eat more healthfully, avoid eating processed foods, consume more "real" foods and stay active. And "Turn On" your health! "Turn On" your life! Do it now before its too late!