That's Fit

Before moving to New York City, I lived in San Francisco. There one morning, my yoga teacher Larry Schultz talked about why he practices yoga every morning. He called it the "art of sequencing." In essence, by making healthy choices first thing everyday, you boost your feeling of wellness. In turn, you'll be gentler on yourself and others. This in turn generates a sense of happiness that will also help you make better decisions as the day progresses. Then, by the time you climb into bed at night, you'll be tired, but peaceful and happy.

This doesn't mean you have to wake up and tie yourself in a knot. It doesn't even mean you have to do yoga. Whether it's eating a healthy breakfast, rocking out to some tunes while getting ready for work, or putting on a nice outfit, any small healthy decision can boost your confidence and overall outlook on life.

There's a great quiz about making feel-good choices on AOL Body.

When I took the quiz, I got 8 out of the 10 ten questions correct. Two areas where I can improve are: Making enough time to relax with my friends, and always leaving the house in a killer outfit looking my best. What can I say, I'm a sucker for comfort. But, I'll work on both and see how I feel.

Carpe Diem!

We're always looking for fresh and innovative ways to blog about news and trends fit for helping you live a healthy life. Now, thanks to Saturn, we bring a new voice to our efforts with the launch of our That's Fit Weekly Podcast. Each Friday, we'll go from blogger to broadcaster as we discuss topics relevant to pursuing your health and fitness goals.

Holidays got you down?That's Fit's very own Life Fit Expert, nutritionist and author, Laura Lewis helps bring it all into perspective with her Recipe for a Good Life. It's all about keeping life in the balance in the midst of the ups, downs and stress of the holidays! Need a lift? A little inspiration? Then... Listen on...

Have comments on our current shows or ideas for future podcasts? Or, do you have a burning health and fitness question you'd like answered on an upcoming installment? Comment right here and we'll do our best to provide the helpful information you're looking for!

There are several ways to receive the That's Fit Weekly podcast: Subscribe to our RSS feed, through iTunes, or just click on the MP3 file link directly below! -- your choice!

Receive That's Fit Weekly Podcast using one of these methods:
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Host
Laura Lewis

File Format

05:31:00 length, 5.05 MB size, MP3 format (128kbps)

One Small Step is our attempt to show you all how easy it can be to improve your health, and the health of the planet. Each week, we'll take one more little step and encourage you to take it with us. In honor of this week, I'll commit to:

Improving Posture:

Yeah, I know. We've all been told by our mothers hundreds of times to sit up straight and stop slouching, but how many of us actually listened? I know I often find myself slouched over the computer or lounging with back bent across the couch. But good posture is important. Not only can it make you look thinner and more confident, it can help keep your spine in good health for years to come. Check out this article for more information. It has great suggestions on improving your posture at work, when sleeping, etc.

Are you with me?

One Small Step is our attempt to show you all how easy it can be to improve your health, and the health of the planet. Each week, we'll take one more little step and encourage you to take it with us. This week, I've finally agreed to listen to my husband and:

Get ultra-local.

Yes, I love the concept of the Eat Local Challenge, but this isn't just eating -- it's drinking coffee, and going to the dentist, and buying my favorite books. I guess you could call it "shop local." So today, when I went to get my hair cut, I didn't go downtown to the chic Aveda stylist where I got my hair done for my wedding (and the one who usually cuts my hair oh so well). Instead, I went to the corner barbershop -- literally, on the corner two blocks from my house. No energy was expended in getting there, and Tammy (along with "Bip", her partner) lives in the neighborhood. She gets her coffee at my favorite coffee shop -- she's about as local as you can get.

It was my husband's idea. I'd been encouraging him to go to the dentist about a mile up the street, instead of the one several miles away we'd been seeing; we've heard such great things. He went even further.

One Small Step is our attempt to show you all how easy it can be to improve your health, and the health of the planet. Each week, we'll take one more little step and encourage you to take it with us. This week, I'm thinking about my prodigious waste generation and commiting to:

Stop taking food to go.

I was on my way home from an errand (walking, naturally), and noticed that new, funky coffee shop on 28th. I'd run for a few miles and needed a cup of water and was entranced with the vegan cupcakes in the pastry case. "I'll take one to go," I said.

A few minutes later, I was walking down Holgate, holding an empty paper bag with a few traces of vegan chocolate frosting (awesome, by the way) and an empty plastic water cup. Suddenly I realized how much waste such a small decision -- to take my food and drink to go -- had generated. Had I stayed at the coffee shop for five minutes, I could have foregone the paper bag altogether and drunk deeply from a real glass, creating far less waste, saving money for the business owner, and even better: enjoying the ambiance for a little while.

I committed then to change my ways, and get it for here whenever possible. Maybe I'll see you at the Funky Door sometime ... the cupcakes are on me!

One Small Step is our attempt to show you all how easy it can be to improve your health, and the health of the planet. Each week, we'll take one more little step and encourage you to take it with us. This week, I'm taking a cue from my four-year-old and commiting to:

Pick up one extra piece of litter every day.

I live on a busy street, and as soon as my oldest son had gathered a repertoire of 10 words, he'd learned "whassat?" Naturally, his attention was drawn to the variety of delightful shiny colorful litter that decorated our sidewalk and we encountered on our daily walks. "Whassat?" he'd say, and I'd wonder if I could just say, "a culture of disrespect." But he saw it otherwise. Can you even imagine something so beautiful as a Gummy Lifesavers wrapper? An empty soda can?

He wanted to pick up these beauties, and though I wanted to rant and rail on the uncaring "neighbors" who left their trash behind, I had a minor flash of brilliance: I'll teach him to do his small part to make our world better. Every time he'd ask about a brightly-colored foil wrapper, I'd explain that it was garbage, and we'd make a game of searching for a place to put it.

One Small Step is our attempt to show you all how easy it can be to improve your health, and the health of the planet. Each week, we'll take one more little step and encourage you to take it with us. In honor of this first week, I'll be oh-so-literal and commit to:

Walk, don't drive, to one meeting, appointment, or errand every week.

I could enumerate the reasons. Save gas. Reduce emissions. Save money. Improve your health. Breathe deeper. Stay local. But instead I'll take you on a walk with me.

I'm a recent convert to the cult of knitting, and this requires frequent trips to the various yarn stores around town for just the right silky woollen stuff. My favorites are (naturally) hand-dyed and made from all natural fibers. It makes me feel good, to create something beautiful for my children to wear instead of buying it off a particle-board rack at the Gap. But these excursions to knitting stores? They're a real resource hog, and I'm not just talking about the high cost of Noro Silk Garden.

It was a warm Thursday night, my husband was working late and my boys (ages four and 14 months) had fully converted to late summer bedtimes. They couldn't sit still and I had to have one more skein of yarn for my latest project, a late wedding present for my sister Jenny. The old me would have packed the boys in the car and skedaddled to Mabel's, where they have yarn, a variety of yummy iced teas, and best of all: a toy box. But this is the new me.