Most of us don’t like to see vacation and working out in the same sentence. Vacation and sleeping? Yes. Vacation and drinking? Yes. Vacation and eating? Yes. Vacation and jump squats? Eh, no. But listen ladies, vacation shouldn’t give us workout amnesia. Here are the 5 simple exercises I do each morning when I am out of town. Doing these full-body moves before beginning your day will help alleviate any guilt you may have when ordering that extra cocktail or opting for the fries instead of the veggies. It is vacation after all!
Jumping Jacks to get your blood pumping: 3 sets of 20 jacks
Push-Ups for upper body: 3 sets of 20 reps
Jump Squats for lower body: 3 sets of 20 reps
In-place lunges for lower body: 3 sets of 10 lunges for each leg
Roll-up crunches for abdominals: 3 sets of 10 roll-ups
See, that’s not too hard. Try it the next time you take a trip. If you already have a routine please share in the comments below!
Occupation: Author, “Clean Cuisine” Cooking Instructor & Recipe Developer, Fitness Instructor & Publisher of CleanCuisineandMore.com (The Clean Cuisine book will be published by Penguin in Jan 2013.)
Hometown: North Palm Beach, FL
H&H Interview with Ivy:
1. What advice do you have for families looking to start eating clean?
So many people have an “all or nothing” mentality and I think that sort of thinking really sets the stage for failure. Instead of striving for “perfection” I think moms should strive to boost nutrition whenever and wherever possible. Instead of focusing on “counting food” (in the form of calories, carbs, fat grams, etc.) it is best to focus on making food count nutritionally—-load up on nutrient-dense foods at the grocery, especially fruits and vegetables. If it is too overwhelming to revamp your family’s eating habits all at once then start by making a commitment to serve one fruit and one veggie with every meal. Then move on to revamping just dinner and do that for 1 month. Commit to making a “Clean Cuisine” dinner for one month and the 2nd month revamp breakfast. But most importantly ditch the “all or nothing” mentality!
2. What are your top 3 go-to Clean Cuisine recipes?
3. What is your guilty pleasure when you get a little coveted ‘me’ time?
Getting a massage or pedicure. I really think it is very important to take time for yourself, relax and recharge. I make it a point to get a massage or pedicure once a week (alternating weeks) and it really does wonders for my mood—and energy levels!
4. What would we be surprised to find in your purse?
Green Vibrance individual greens drinks packets, Costco brand Kirkland green tea & a Lara Bar (favorite flavor is Carrot Cake)
5. What is your favorite reality TV show?
When it comes to TV the joke with my friends is that I live in outer space…I never watch TV, except for in the mornings I have the Today Show on while making coffee and breakfast or the Food Network on while making dinner. I have never liked TV (I do like movies though! Just last night watched Eyes Wide Shut with my husband—strange movie, but good!)
6. What is your favorite cocktail of choice? You can still drink when you eat clean, right?!
Ha ha, YES! You do not need to be a teetotaler to “eat clean”. Although I don’t really drink cocktails I do have a glass of wine on a nightly basis. People are always SO surprised that wine doesn’t make you gain weight but there is solid research that it doesn’t. Here’s a link to an article I wrote a while back with references: Does Wine Make you Fat?(note: wine does increase risk of breast cancer, so I wouldn’t recommend it on nightly basis if you have a strong family history of breast cancer)
But, on the occasion when I do make cocktails my absolute favorite is my watermelon concoction which is so easy to make—just put 3 cups of chopped super cold seedless watermelon cubes in a blender and process until smooth. Add vodka to taste. Pour mixture into a pitcher and add 1 cup chopped fresh mint. Put pitcher in freezer for 20 minutes. Drink ice cold.
7. What is the funniest thing your son has said or done lately?
Hmmm….the funniest thing Blake said a while back was that “Daddy is very smart at doing operations on people, but mommy is super smart at cooking.”
8. What is your favorite quotation?
“Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”—Anonymous
9. How do you instill the importance of an active lifestyle with your family?
Lead by example. There really is no other way. You can’t preach healthy living…you just have to do it. You can mention at the dinner table why vegetables are healthy and you can talk to your kids while you are jogging with them how running will make them strong and healthy—but you can’t preach about these things unless you are DOING them. My son is now 10 years old, he is incredibly athletic and healthy (he’s been on antibiotics just once in his life)—at this age he now totally “gets” that the whole healthy living thing has made a difference. I don’t need to preach to him!
10. Who is your favorite celebrity mom and why?
I don’t have a favorite and to be honest I don’t know a whole lot about them…but it seems like Kelly Ripa, Gwyneth Paltrow, Heide Klum and Gabrielle Reese are all very loving and devoted moms who seem to approach fitness and nutrition in a healthy positive manner.
11. What is one thing most people don’t know about you?
Hmmm….I think most people probably know just about everything! I’m pretty open!
12. What is your secret to staying Hot & Healthy?
I definitely don’t think of myself as “hot” but I do think I look good for my age (35 years old). I have several habits that I think have helped me keep youthful-looking skin and keep excess pounds off:
Eating lots of fruits and vegetables (fruits and vegetables have phytonutrients that help protect the plant, but they also help protect YOU, the plant-eater and many phytonutrients act like antioxidants that combat the free-radicals that accelerate aging)
Strength Training. Ever since I was in high school I have done some form of strength/ resistance training exercise—you just can’t stay tight and toned as you age (especially after having a baby!) if you don’t strength train.
SLEEP!!! I get a solid 8 hours every night. I make sleep a priority because I know nothing is more rejuvenating than a sound sleep.
Drinking a “Greens” Drink once a day for flood of nutrients and anti-aging antioxidants. Here are two of my favorites.
I am on the fence about the new Footloose coming out. I just don’t see how it can stand a chance next to the 1984 classic. For a little Friday fun, let me know how you think the new cast stacks up.
You will be happy to know that they are using the same old yellow VW beater. Some things are irreplacable.
“Mommy, you’re not going to throw that away are you? I made that just for youuuuuuu!”
We’ve all heard it. Sometimes it’s a tiny toddler plea, other times it’s our own mother’s guilt. It can be hard to let go of anything created by our little nuggets. But face facts: You simply cannot keep everything your child brings home. As a certified professional home organizer, I’m here to give you permission to let go of (almost) all of your child’s artwork via a fun solution with a hidden lesson. You can thank me later.
CONTAIN THE ART
No, I don’t expect you to throw away everything (though I applaud you if you do!). I do expect you to have boundaries, however. Having one 30-quart plastic memory container per child is setting a boundary. When that container is full, it’s not time to buy another container. It’s time to purge.
In the case of artwork, throughout the school year, whenever your child brings home something that looks like it took a little time, drop it in the container. NOTE: Do not keep every worksheet or paper with scribble on it. Do not feel bad about not keeping it. Praise the “work” then throw it out when your child isn’t looking.
EDIT THE ART (Great early-summer project!)
At the end of the school year, bring out the art/memory container and go through it with your child. Use a Flip or some other device to record him or her holding up each piece of art and talking about it. Who was their art teacher? What inspired them to paint a purple, cross-eyed elephant driving a dump truck? These are the things that we really wish we could preserve, not the actual art. We want to hold on to their squeaky, little voices and sweet, twisted minds.
After going through everything in the bin, have your child select his or her ten (and ONLY TEN or fewer) favorite pieces of artwork. These ten pieces will be the ones you keep forever in this same bin. If you are thinking that ten doesn’t sound like a lot, imagine you have two kids, and keep 10 pieces per kid per year from PreK – Grade 12. That’s 280 handprints, paper mache penguins and canvas self-portraits to store!
It’s important to have the child be a part of this selection and editing process. Oftentimes, my mommy clients keep their favorite pieces that a child has created. If the pieces are displayed in a frame or shadowbox in the home, bravo! But too many times I find these “keepsakes” shoved in multiple plastic tubs or shoeboxes in the garage. I have to ask, “Why?” If the client tells me she’s keeping it to give back to the child one day when he or she is an adult, then shouldn’t the child have a say in which pieces they might want back one day? What if you keep a piece he or she is not particularly proud of or that was done mostly by a friend?
Having your child be a part of the editing process also helps teach an important lesson: You Can’t Keep Everything. Prioritizing and editing are valuable life skills that will carry them through college and adult life.
CELEBRATE THE ART
Now the fun part! Send out an evite to your friends, your child’s friends, neighbors, local family members and even your child’s art teacher inviting everyone to an Art Show at your home.
Put your child’s ten best pieces (the ones previously selected) on display in one room you’ll call The Gallery. These are for viewing only. Put the remaining pieces on display in another room where they will be for sale. That’s right, For Sale! Use sticky tack to post art on windows and walls without damaging either. Have your child price his or her art (use small Post-Its) anywhere from .5 cents to $5.00. Be sure to have plenty of lower-priced items so little kids who attend the show can make some purchases. And yes, if you simply must have a piece your child gave up, you can purchase one or two for yourself, but you must properly frame and display these pieces if you love them that much! Don’t throw them back in the bin. Serve wine for the adults (any excuse for wine!) and sparkling cider for the children.
Purging art, what was once a dreaded chore, is now a great opportunity for you to host a fun summer party, and for your child to feel important, get a little well-deserved praise and earn some summer spending money.
RELEASE THE ART
After the art show, any pieces that did not sell get rolled up into tubes and mailed to family members who could not attend the show. Larger pieces on construction paper or made from paper bags can be repurposed as wrapping paper.
Voila! You’ve just gotten rid of most of your child’s art, guilt-free!
Here’s the part where you can thank me. Feel free to write to me at heather@yourhomeeditor.com if you like this idea, or if you have another better one. I’m always on the lookout for fresh organizing tips to share on my Your Home Editor facebook and twitter pages.
*To read Heather’s bio and see her beautiful family click here. Thanks, Heather!*
