Hotel Room Exercises for the Busy Executive

November 20, 2011 by Edwin

Introduction

During my 15 year career in the tech industry, I traveled hundreds of thousands of miles across multiple continents. When I was at home, I was always fortunate to have proper fitness facilities nearby and I made sure to exercise often. However, I traveled 50% of the time and needed a set of simple but effective exercises that would keep me energized throughout my business trip and help me battle jetlag.

As a result, I created a comprehensive set of bodyweight exercise routines that kept me fit while on the road for many years. These routines became the basis for what I now call the ALMA Bodyweight Circuit – a series of exercise routines (of varying levels) that can be performed anytime, anywhere, with only your own bodyweight.

ALMA wellness‘ health coaching clients will learn all of these circuits, but for our online readers, here is the ALMA Bodyweight Circuit – Level 1. The initial goal is to complete this circuit three times in one training session. Once you can complete this circuit five times in one session, then I recommend moving onto Level 2.

ALMA Bodyweight Circuit – Level 1

Jumping Jacks (30 repetitions) – great exercise to get blood flowing to all parts of the body

Press Ups (10 repetitions) – the most complete exercise to train your chest, shoulders, arms, and core muscles. Also see this article for more variations.

Sit Ups (10 repetitions) – one of many exercises to train your abdominal muscles

Squats (10 repetitions) – great exercise for your glutes and thighs

Tricep Dips (10 repetitions) – primarily trains your triceps and a little bit of your shoulders

Plank (hold position for 10 seconds) – one of the best exercises to train your core muscles. Improving your plank will help you improve your press up.

Repeat this exercise circuit for a total of 3-5 circuits

Reduce Stress by Removing Clutter

November 20, 2011 by Edwin

Introduction

For me, being organized reduces my stress levels. It minimizes the distractions on my desk or in my home and I find myself far more productive. In today’s world of advanced technologies and focus on being eco-friendly, I have adopted a very minimalist approach to life through digitization. Here are several of my key recommendations to remove clutter from your home and office and therefore reduce a little bit of stress from your life.

Removing Clutter

1) Scan + OCR: Get rid of paper by using a double-sided color scanner and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. As soon as you take notes at a meeting or receive a document or notice that you want to keep for later reference, immediately scan it and store it on your computer. The OCR software makes all of your files searchable and will even help you save time organizing files into file folders. You can also use services such as Evernote (which has OCR functionality) for easy organization of website articles, receipts, blog posts, etc.

2) Cloud Services: Instead of just storing files on a single computer, use a service that enables easy synchronization between multiple computers or digital storage on the Internet (Cloud Storage). These services can even synchronize files with your mobile device for viewing anytime, anywhere. Check out these popular services: DropBox, Google Docs, Amazon Web Services, Apple iCloud.

3) Virtual Assistant: Removing clutter does not just apply to physical things, but to your time as well. If you have an office assistant that helps you with work-related tasks, then why not have an assistant that helps with personal admin tasks? This assistant doesn’t even need to be in your own city – they can be ‘virtual.’ Your virtual assistant can help make dinner reservations, search for the best locations for family holidays, or even find that hard-to-find gift for your daughter. Look for your virtual assistant at one of these online marketplaces for freelance professionals: Elance or Gharmakai.

For even more suggestions how to simplify your cluttered life, check out the book The Simple Guide To A Minimalist Life which we also highlight in the Recommendations section of our website.

Top 5 Tips for Healthy Air Travel

November 19, 2011 by Edwin

Introduction

No matter how healthy you are we’ve all experienced the negative effects of jetlag, from trouble sleeping to pounding headaches. In most cases, air travelers experience milder effects of jetlag such as dehydration and lack of energy.

Small changes to your flight habits can have a significant positive impact on preventing jetlag. Here are our top 5 tips for healthy and comfortable air travel.

Top 5 Tips for Healthy Air Travel

1) Hydrate: Keeping yourself hydrated in the dry airplane cabin is the easiest way to mitigate the impact of jetlag. Avoid alcohol during, before or immediately after the flight and drink water throughout the flight by keeping a bottle at your seat. If necessary, bring your own empty bottle and have the flight attendants fill it up as soon as you board.

2) Block the Noise: The high decibel constant buzz of the airplane is a big cause of jetlag and the poor quality earphones in cattle class seats are the fastest way to send a headache straight to your head. Instead, bring your own pair of noise cancellation headsets or wear ear plugs when sleeping or reading.

3) Maintain Blood Flow: How many people actually sit in their office in one chair for an entire 10 hours? Probably none of us. Then why sit in a plane seat for that long? Instead, sit in the aisle seat, stand up frequently and walk around, or at the very least shake your legs out and do simple upper body stretches in your seat.

4) Reduce stress: Give yourself plenty of time before your flight to reduce stress of unpredictable queues for security or immigration. If you want to remain productive, then schedule a phone call right before your flight or bring along 30 minutes of work to do after you’re sitting comfortably in the frequent flyer lounge or at your gate.

5) Treat Your Body Well: Sitting in a small seat or carrying a heavy messenger bag is the perfect way to get your body twisted like a pretzel. We suggest that you use luggage carts for your heavy luggage and even for your carry-on when wandering around the departure hall. If you can spare the time, get yourself a massage when you land to relax your muscles and get your spine back in-line.

How To Lose Weight By Eating More

November 19, 2011 by Edwin

Introduction

One of the main reasons why so many dietary programs fail to achieve results is because they force people to remove foods from their diet. These foods are often among the most desired items in a person’s daily routine and removing these foods makes the dietary program undesirable. After only partially completing the program the person may stop the program altogether and return to their old eating habits. Unfortunately, this story is all too common.

Crowding Out

At ALMA wellness, we follow the opposite approach. Instead of removing items from your diet, we add items. We add low glycemic index (GI) foods that burn slowly and provide your body the appropriate amounts of energy that it needs throughout your 16+ waking hours. You can still eat the foods you like, but only after you eat the nutrient-rich foods we recommend. This is a concept called Crowding Out.

By eating nutrient-rich foods throughout the day, your cravings for salty snacks in the afternoon or sweets in the evening will decrease and you will be less likely to run to the convenience store for a quick sugar spike. By all means if you want the sweet dessert after dinner then go ahead. But we believe that if you follow the approach of Crowding Out then your desire for that sweet dessert will likely decrease.

I personally love the taste of chocolate and I don’t mind eating some creamy mint-chocolate chip ice cream from time to time. But what surprises most people is that I’m able to take just a single bite or a single spoonful and that is enough to satisfy my taste buds. My body no longer wants anything beyond that first bite.

Cravings: The Secret Language of Bio-Machines

November 18, 2011 by Edwin

Introduction

Human bodies are self-healing machines that have very specific responses to stimuli. If we pay close attention to these responses, then we would realize that our bodies are telling us what nutrients it needs and how to heal ourselves.

Even though our bodies talk to us all the time, the vast majority of people do not understand the language, let alone know that the body is trying to tell us something at all. A dry throat tells us that we’re already dehydrated and a growling stomach tells us that our body needs nutrients. These are easy signals that we all learn as children. However, food cravings are much more difficult vocabulary to learn.

Cravings

Food cravings tell you that your body is lacking key nutrients or that there is an imbalance with your tandem foods. Here are a few examples of common food cravings and perhaps what your body really is trying to say to you:

1) Sweet cravings: You eat too much refined sugar or processed foods which are digested quickly in your mouth. Your body is telling you it needs more sugar or complex carbohydrates. Solution: Eat low GI foods such as whole grains and leafy greens and your cravings for the simple sugars will decrease.

2) Salty cravings: You may be dehydrated, your electrolyte balance is off because of excessive perspiration, or you may not be getting enough minerals in your diet. Solution: Drink water, drink coconut water or sports drinks after exercise, or add mineral supplements to your diet.

3) Ice Cream cravings: Ice cream is very often an emotional comfort food which you eat when you are stressed, exhausted or sad. Solution: Sometimes all you need is to write down how you’re feeling in a diary or talk to a friend. Sometimes all you need is a hug.

4) Crunchy, Dry, Potato Chip cravings: You are angry and don’t have another outlet for your aggressions. Solution: Eat healthy crunchy snacks like whole-grain pretzels or plain popcorn. Alternatively, you can find a friend to vent with or a boxing gym to punch your stress away.

Top 5 Snacks for the Office

November 18, 2011 by Edwin

Introduction

With busy schedules, back-to-back meetings, and tight deadlines it’s no surprise that busy executives eat at odd times or forget to eat at all. It’s also no surprise that the need for quick energy drives most people in this situation to grab the fast-burning simple sugars at the local fast food joint or convenience store.

The better alternative is to keep a stash of low GI (glycemic index) snacks at your desk which you can eat throughout the day between proper meals. Low GI foods burn slowly and will greatly reduce the desire to binge on simple sugars or caffeine.

Top 5 Snacks for the Office

1) Fruit: Bananas are a great source of carbohydrates and are easy on the stomach to digest. Other whole fruits or vegetables such as grapes, carrots and apples are also easy to eat and will provide you energy as it digests slowly throughout the day.

2) Whole Grains: Make yourself a mix of nuts, granola, or dried fruit. Keeping a box of breakfast muesli in your desk works just as well.

3) Popcorn or Pretzels: Ditch the Pringles and grab a bag of whole wheat pretzels. It gives you the same crunch but is a much healthier option. Plain popcorn is one of the healthiest snacks as long as you avoid the excess salt and butter.

4) Leftover dinner: If you had a well-balanced dinner of brown rice, leafy green vegetables and protein, save yourself an extra portion for the next workday and eat it in the late afternoon.

5) Water: When you experience ‘hunger’ pains in your stomach, sometimes what your body is telling you is that you’re dehydrated. Before grabbing the solid snacks, have a full glass of water and see if the hunger persists.