Physical Health and Body Archives - Page 11 of 22

Neck Yoga Exercises + Easy Coconut Cookies

One part of our body that gets ignored often is our neck. It’s like a shadow to our face. …so neck yoga is needed and the best poses are below.

And a recipe you’ll love that you can prepare in in 5 minutes and bake in 10-12 minutes.

Jump to Recipe

How to make easy coconut cookies below (that are so easy that NO recipe is needed!)

Our necks vary in length even though we have the same number of neck vertebrae as giraffes. 🦒And our neck sizes vary as do our Adam’s apples that are larger in males than females.

Our necks serve us to not just help support us in eating apples. 🍎Without our neck, we couldn’t use our brains. And we wouldn’t be connected to our body.

So regularly doing neck yoga exercises protect this vital body part and can work out some of the kinks from our bad computer postures and pillow sleeping habits.

Restoring your neck is a gentle way to get your groove back. And if you haven’t been in your yoga routine recently, this could be a good way to start again. Plus you can do it anywhere and everywhere. That can’t be said for many yoga poses.

And yoga is a great way to get your relaxation and breathing space back. 🧘🏻‍♀️

Sometimes all you need is just 5-10 minutes of yoga to reset your day and how you feel. So let’s begin… ⏲️

Take baby steps, Child’s pose is a great way to begin if you have floor space and a mat. It’s a calming move to set your relax neck intentions.

For neck yoga benefits, instead of tucking your neck down, try an Active Child’s pose where your neck is upward and out forward like the neck of a plane at take off ✈️

You can look at your pointed hands and fingers stretched forward on the mat. The intention can be to focus.

FYI, beginner poses like this are healthy good for anyone Advanced or Beginner.

You can use balancing (Hatha) poses. And go with a flow (Vinyasa) where you insert a Downward Dog in between the face down mat and face up poses… or anything you like if that’s too much or intimidating.

Yoga is flexible and hopefully when you do any yoga, you’ll become more joint-muscle flexible as one of the main benefits.

You’ll feel less soreness all around if any, and hear less joint cracking when you bend a certain way. Usually you’re benefitting more than one area at a time.

And the neck is no different.

But if you want to isolate the neck yoga exercise, moving your head side to side and from shoulder to shoulder like sunrise to sunset is a good regular practice. 🌅

It’s a healthy mantra to get you loose and let go of the unhealthy or tricky areas of your life situations. And yoga is great to manifest new habits and old thought patterns that don’t serve you any longer.

Making a tradition a habit is not a good idea if it keeps you stuck. And making a good habit a tradition is!

So now that you’re warmed up for neck yoga, here we go:

Front facing down mat:

1.Active Child’s pose

As mentioned start with the Active Child’s pose. If your tendency is looking down most the day, then this will carry a good stretch in your neck. Look as far up to the ceiling or sky as you can.

2. Table pose

This is a neutral pose that you can take into standing or front down poses. In Table pose, look up to the ceiling. Feel the back of the neck yoga stretch.

Besides yoga habits, another habit you can do is when you’re waiting in neutral, look up.

I do this when I’m waiting for the warm water to brew for tea making. Or when I’m filling the water filter with water.

Habit stacking neck yoga with waiting is a good idea. Even when you’re looking at your phone, try to get in the habit of holding your device up.

3. Mountain Pose 🏔️

You can ease into a Downward Dog and then stand up in Mountain Pose with hands in the air or prayer hands, and look up to your hands or ceiling.

3. Bow pose

Torso body facing down on the mat, bend your knees. With legs up in the air that you can move around, send your arms to your back and grab your ankles.

You’ll feel a nice stretch along your torso and back, and if you look up you really get to take advantage of the neck yoga bend.

Then transition to a seated position with Downward Dog if you like.

Bottom on the mat:

4. Boat Pose

Look up and legs up in the air so you’re in “V” shape with your bottom as your anchor. Your neck gets a nice stretch.

Instead of counting breaths, when you hold the pose, you could think of something today that you’re grateful for that you otherwise would’ve missed in a busier moment. That’ll add stress-drop points to your day. 🌻

5. Fish pose

This is a fun water animal pose. On your back, arch your back and let your head dangle downward so you’re looking at the wall behind you and upside down.

This is something you can do on your beach towel in case you’re on vacation 😉 And you can roll up your towel to use as a temporary pillow so your head drapes over the rollup (mimicking your neck yoga pose in Fish) that takes the pressure off your neck.

6. Seated Leg stretch

And finally to finish off, while seated you can stretch forward to touch your toes in front of you or as far as you can stretch.

Look up (and out as far as the eye can see) and you’ll feel the effects.

And after doing these 6 look up neck yoga poses, you’ll feel lighter.

And you could be ready for a treat like these summer light delights that are suprisingly healthy with superfood coconut goodness.

Coconut Cookies 🥥

Coconut lover? Move over macaroons (and macarons!). You’ll love these healthy, lower-fat cookies that need NO recipe or butter…

These healthy coconut toasted cookies are so easy to make with 4 ingredients and even less steps 👣: coconut flour (plus about a TBSP of AP flour), coconut oil, an egg, and shredded coconut.

Mix these ingredients together by hand and make a loose cookie dough that will have falling crumbs.

Shape into small circles, and bake on a no-stick baking sheet. Bake until sides are lightly toasted brown.

For the toasted coconut, if you want to be sure they don’t over toast while your cookie is still toasting 🥠, you can use this ‘lil trick:

Add shredded coconut to cookie tops about 5 minutes before the cookies are done. Then flip the cookies upside down on the baking sheet.

They look like crab cakes as an illusion. They’re coconut cookies.

And after you’ve been looking down on your baking tray, habit stack back to your look up neck yoga 🙆🏻‍♀️

Low-Sugar Coconut Flour Cookies

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 cup coconut flour
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 large egg
1/4 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
1 Tbsp shredded coconut, sweetened

Instructions

Combine ingredients.
Bake at 350°F for about 12-15 minutes until sides are golden brown.

Simple Pitta Season Reminders

Pitta season is usually when heat starts up in the summer, but sometimes that can be sooner.

We’re reminded of our planet. And we can celebrate with cooling foods like pineapple, cumin, and yogurts. A Hawaiian pizza with pineapple below.

Celebrating a brownie with pineapple, cherry, and Greek yogurt funfetti never gets old! 🎉

Heat, heat, heat. And more heat.

That’s what Pitta season is about. Along with the bloom and celebration comes heat that is deceivingly dangerous. The solution: cool moisture. And I have some reminder hydrating tips below.

You may not be a Pitta, but Pitta season is a scorcher. Jumping in a cooling pool will give you a few minutes of relief but won’t help you from leathering up or collecting sun-kissed freckles… that I probably don’t need to remind you, catch up with you in sunspots and wrinkles when you get to the mirror.

So in that vain, prevention is always the best and easiest method.

Especially when you’re on vacation, you may forget how much moisturizing love the skin really needs.

Your best bet is to moisturize throughout the day when you get a break. And if you get heat rashes or inflammation.

And if you’re like me and tend to forget the SPF before heading out, do it first thing and bring it with you.

We can’t get away with SPF 0 or 2 like we once did, especially if you want to look good at mid-life. Try 50 (or 52 😉).

And when you’re back home, revive your skin by washing off the layer of SPF skin protection not needed indoors.

Steam is going to restore you and your skin back. And your critical-minutes after shower routine minutes will set the tone.

The right moisturizing lotion after showering helps to embalm the moisture.

There’s no one-size fits all for products (and that’s probably one of the reasons why there are so many options available). And once you find your formula or brand that works for you, stick with that.

And, use a spritzing facial spray. I like rosewater (good for Pitta moods). If you don’t like the scent, you can choose a mint cooling spray.

That sets you on your merry way to start the second half of your day.

Mint btw, is also good for keeping away some flying insects that can really kick up the Pitta annoyed emotions.

Also, Witch Hazel has become a favorite oldie but goodie astringent that draws oil out that irritates (Pitta) heated and dry skin.

And if you like floral scents like jasmine, lavender, or rose, go with that which also helps the body cool or calm from a mind-body perspective.

It’s also a good reminder to: stop and smell the flowers.

Or magnolias in my case (known for symbolizing joy, love, and purity):

Look at this moisture-rich magnolia flower 💮

When you’re out, you also want to use an SPF lip balm. The higher SPF, the better.

At home, I use Burt’s Bees brand when no SPF is needed.

And a lip scrub, and then dab a little honey on the lips that moisturizes and keeps lips supple… trust me I’m all about the lip management with full lips. 🫦

I learned early on that lips don’t tan. 😅

And honey also has been used for centuries for skin inflammation as well as dehydration.

As you age, you notice the drier spots. The good news is your moisture-love efforts, accumulate.

Same with drinking water. If you use an aluminum bottle over glass, that can be super cooling.

And keep plenty of juicy fruits around as sweet snacks, such as healthy tropical fruits: pineapple, kiwi, and peeled-off skin grapes.

Remember to keep these quick reminders in mind during warm Pitta seasons. They could save you from dehydrating and provide easy-fix headache remedies… we don’t need to complicate the simple.

Zucchini Pasta + God Winks Encouragement

Zucchini pasta is one of the God winks to encourage healthy eating. It’s using food from the land that starts with wheat. Zucchini is a food you can grow or admire in gardens.

God winks appear all the time and in front of us if we’re paying attention.

Small miracles of God often speaks in nature like in bright sunflower blooms 🌻 and occasional rainbow skies 🌈 And in science like the rare total eclipse 🌘 and even in a pair of daily ducks going about daily life.

God winks in nature like these common pair of ducks. They are the many wonders that keep us wondering!

We also sometimes forget that God winks in our food where nature provides plant-based foods.

Like these authentic whole wheat zucchini pasta (fettuccine) getting drying-ready for cooking (recipe below 🧡).

Jump to Recipe

zucchini pasta you can make at home with or without a pasta maker.

I believe everyone needs encouragement in this life. It’s part of the healthy and happy journey. And one special form of encouragement that you may already turn to is the God winks that are specific to your life…

The daily favors, blessings, miracles… whatever you want to call it… like driving by a surprising display of flowers instead of the usual path to radiate the day 🌷

When something special, small or not happens in your day, you’re reminded that you’re watched over.

You know that you were given luck in some way by the Universe if you allow your beliefs to take you there and you push your ego aside that can thwart your efforts in your mind.

God is love and the ego is fear. And how you noodle yourself out of those times where it’s hard to see the love, will get you to more God winks sooner because you’ll see them. 👀

And if you’re intentional and relaxed like you would be if you’re making zucchini pasta, those moments can help you pause and set a reminder.

To tune back into the higher channel where your good “luck” is.

…Where you see favor in life, whether you bypass a long line that was just there seconds before you got there. …Or, you’re lucky with your online submission that comes back favorable.

Your timing is perfect and the opportunity is for you.

And that was no coincidence.

That is meant to be encouraging to your day if you don’t miss it.

These can be a part of your every day, if you pay attention to the discernment message that the Universe sends. As you live longer and practice deciphering more you will get better at this!

In Christian living, it’s the Holy Spirit helping us out or the spirit in you.

There’s no mystery or woo-woo, it’s just the way it is on our planet and was established, all documented during Biblical times.

And we can this live out daily in our version of modern Biblical living if we choose.

An interesting thought: the book that made it in every hotel room (I worked in hotels) is full of good daily instruction.

Most of us don’t give it daily thought.

I know I didn’t for the first quarter of my life until the words came to life when I learned the content that helped align my life.

And in your life, the more wondering and connect the dots to the wonders and little miracles, the more you’ll see them and get God wink favors. Not everyone sees a rainbow in front of them. 🌈

And whether you do or don’t think you receive favor, your life will have ups and downs.

But if you know in the end that all will be well, that provides a sense of peace. And we all can use more of that if we want to live a life of meaning. Or when we feel discouraged.

So when things aren’t exactly working out the way you thought they would or you feel stuck, look up for the God winks. They will keep you going.

Align your prayerful thoughts and whether you speak them aloud or just think the thoughts especially while in public or around people.

When we stay on the channel of our daily, small thoughts that are mostly negative because it’s on the worldly level of this limited life, then we lose time with negative moods or emotions.

We keep ourselves from growing and getting to the next level. If we think and reach higher, we’re better off.

And we gain more then in the time it takes for us to try and do it by ourselves. If we plan about the future, that may not happen the way we thought if we don’t check in first with our heart and soul.

This is a simple exercise you can try.

Find something in your situations that has given you some tension or hasn’t worked out. You have several productive options. You can try again or look for a new solution.

An example is a tool that has broken. You can try to fix it. If you look at it from another angle, sometimes you figure it out.

But if you get upset or frustrated, then nothing gets accomplished. If you spend the same time praying, the solution comes to you.

It’s the same way you can pray off your worry, as Norman Vincent Peale taught in The Power of Positive Thinking.

It works because of your productive mindset and calm mood, but is also because of the higher-reaching power working in your life.

Another example, and one that was recent for me is new baking challenges. As someone who likes to experiment, not all bakes turn out. And when I wondered what happened, I use the bake as a lesson. It reminds me of what can go wrong. So instead of being disappointed, I see it as a way to grow.

Because in order to grow, there is always a struggle or sacrifice of sorts to varying degrees. You have to give up perfection or success in order to get better. You let go (or let God and reject ego).

Or you spend more time invested in learning than you thought. And this is how you get good and skilled at anything… by the failures and challenges. You don’t learn as much from the ones that turn out and where you get a few minutes of joy from right away. Never judge a book by its cover. Give things a second chance.

But joy does keep us encouraged and engaged in the balance of everything in life.

And these joyful zucchini pasta-ccines are very balanced with protein and fiber full whole wheat. 😋 You can make this with or without a pasta machine. Zucchini is high in Vitamin C and an anti-inflammatory food.

Print Recipe

Zucchini Fettuccine Whole Wheat Pasta

This is a great homemade pasta making recipe to get your veggies in (or for picky eaters) or if you have a leftover zucchini you don't want to go bad. Homemade pasta is easy to make once you get the hang of it and you can enjoy same day! And as grocery prices rise on pasta, this is an economical way to get fresh pasta with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen!

Course dinner, lunch

Cuisine American, Italian

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

blender or mortar and pestle (optional)
cup measuring cup (optional)
pasta machine or dough roller

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour (can use gluten-free flours) per serving
1 egg per serving
generous pinch of salt
1 zucchini, cooked and mashed

Instructions

Make a flour mound. Make a deep well with a spoon or the measuring cup you used. Add egg and salt.
Knead. Add blended zucchini to the pasta dough.
Make a dough disc. Let rest for at least 20 minutes.
Divide the disc into two halves. Roll out pasta as thin as you can without getting holes. If using a pasta machine, start on a medium/wide setting such as "5" and then run through thinner setting such as "3." That may be the thinnest setting.
If rolling by hand and dough roller, roll evenly to about 1/16".
Let strands dry out enough so you can still make a curled nest or can break (like packaged processed pasta). These took about 2 hours.
Cook like you would packaged pasta for about 20 minutes on medium heat for "al dente" pasta. Whole wheat pasta will take longer than other plain flour homemade pasta. You can store uncooked pasta in fridge for 2-3 days. Buon appetito!

When Dental Worry Is Healthy For You

Onions are good for teeth as they’re antibacterial and spinach has teeth remineralizing properties, so chomping on a few leaves is a good thing! 🥬

Have you ever thought about the worse that could happen in a situation like dental worry, but it didn’t end up so bad?… Or end up at all?

…And that’s usually because your worry prevented a bad outcome. Some worry is healthy… it’s built into our DNA human-ness.

But in society, we tend to demonize all worry when it can help us to magnify an area we should focus more on, and then put the thoughts to rest.

Worry is healthy when it prevents growing problems. And worry is healthy when it helps us come up with better solutions.

When it falls healthy short and is outta balance, is when the scales need to tip back to peace and calm.

Don’t let your worry take over your Vata mind and from living life… because long-term stress is an inflammation cause in the mind-body connection that shows up in or on the body as a warning.

When you’re conscious knowing what you’re doing and thinking, you activate your subconscious to help you out in the back of your mind.

…EVEN when you can’t connect the dots.

Your subconscious mind is like your passenger seat helper who’s providing directions even when you’re focused on what’s in front of you.

…So, when I didn’t get to the dentist because of the pandemic and several moves later, I thought I would have a bad report.

A month before I could get into the busy dentist’s office, I did everything to keep my teeth and healthy smile at their maintained best… flossing with multiple flosser types, brushing, rinsing, and even scraping. And if you have teeth and dental worry about your teeth, then you may floss more often.

These days, it’s so much more easy… we have much better dental supplies from convenience stores than we did as kids… or imagine what they did back in the Stone Ages?

And those memories and dental worry kept me magnifying on healthy habits leading up to the Big D-Day…

At that dentist chair moment, time stood still and I was pleasantly surprised with the assessment. I had nothing to dental worry about.

It was a compliment when I heard the word “good” from my new dentist, and was even asked about how I take care of my teeth.

She asked me what I did. And my response was, “I do everything!”

I shared my routine and healthy daily teeth habits that make up for the food and coffee acid, and sugar buildup. Really the best tip is to brush more often softly or with an electric toothbrush. 🪥

…There’s nothing new under the sun. ☀️

But I also told the dentist about teeth healthy foods I ate to fortify the good and diminish the bad. We add back healthy for a more neutral effect.

So often we forget that foods act as secondary toothbrushes when we can’t get to our toothbrush.

You don’t need to dental worry if you brush after eating sugary foods.

And with acidic sources… you can soften the blow. For ACV, use an eyedropper or a straw where you drop the liquid to the back of your throat.

And certain foods are teeth helpers that have Vitamin D, calcium, and other minerals that re-mineralize natural teeth enamel.

That’s double bonus points for bones and teeth. 🎯

Stronger teeth enamel helps prevent common inflammation or an infection spreading inflammation.

Because inflammation or worsened infections in the mouth can cause problems just like inflammation in other parts of the body.

To counteract, they say that flossing can add 4 years and so can eating beans. (They these days are healthy social media sources that’s common knowledge). But at worst, you won’t lose 4 years, so it’s worth the effort gamble. 😉

And if you’re wanting to be more anti-inflammatory and hang onto any wisdom teeth, check out this anti-inflammatory food guide for your easy grocery shopping essentials.

Healthy Habits Today Matter Big-Time for Tomorrow

Healthy habits matter today big time for results tomorrow. And we can get a good dose of influence from the Blue Zones (discovered by Dan Buettner), where their habits feel like worlds apart from our modern, Western world.

But we can adopt their healthy ways. And I share a few of mine below along my journey including a healthy potato habit I have. 🥔

As for healthy habits, I’ve been eating whole-wheat bread and foods since I was young. I don’t think I ever had a slice of white sandwich bread. It was wheat, rye, or pumpernickel… but never white.

Whole wheat cherry glace pancakes with frozen Greek yogurt for Sunday brunch! 🥞

I’m so glad I didn’t let those past years of dissatisfied field trip bag lunches hold me back. Those and other healthy habits are happy keepers.

Below you’ll learn about some Sunday brunch inspo that came from healthy habits and endings too.

And what you create as eating healthy habits today becomes your tomorrow’s habits. And can be part of happy memories.

Some of them stick around from when you were younger, and still work. They need no replacement.

When I was younger, working smart was en vogue. Why?… je ne sais quoi.

…Maybe we were trying to learn how to cut corners? But working hard never went outta-style. Work was (and is) what made the world go round but talking about grunt work especially would be like going rogue.

And today, in a sharing society, we learned that there are no shortcuts. The good stuff is in the work and comes from the working hard process. So glad we kept the healthy habits. 🌱

And even the tough work proved useful for growth and experience.

Especially when we’re young, we need all the experience we can get…

In those years, I walked everywhere. I had no wheels. I walked to the bus, to the dentist, to school, on the paper route, and to my friends’ houses.

And when my high school friend got a new set of wheels, a brand spanking new red Cabriolet convertible for her 16th birthday, she offered to pick me up in the mornings to take me to school. It surprised me when I turned down that exciting offer.

My young mind told me that I shouldn’t count on that routine. Our young intellects were at work even when we weren’t fully conscious. 😉

And in a higher gear, I knew I made the right choice.

At that moment I solidified the habit of counting on myself… and not taking shortcuts that breed laziness.

No lazy (Kapha) mind is a better mantra…

And a good way to break out of that mold is to exercise even when we don’t feel like doing it. You always feel better after the burn.

An easier way is to step outside. Because there you don’t feel the sting. You don’t count calories burned. Your wristband does it automatically for you.

And you breathe in new air and let your senses do the rest.

And when you naturally go up and down steps, you’re doing exercise without having to convince your brain to work. It’s automatic to your mind and legs.

Simply, if you want to get to where you’re going, you need to take steps… or even better, the stairs. Fair, right?

Too often we automatically think of exercise as cardio and keeping up our heart rates. That’s just one type.

And the kind that makes a difference will be the exercises and moves you do.

Another habit area is consistently showing up.

Your presence becomes known. And you’re seen as someone who’s accountable and takes the time to be available. We all like to know people like this.

It’s a form of welcomed dependability.

And there are ways we all can be consistent whether it’s online or in-person. And where we can be part of our community.

For some years, I was part of organizing a regular brunch group. It fit what I was doing. I was helping others plan their hosted events, so why not host my own? It was volunteer mixed with fun healthy habits.

What made the group special was that we (I had a co-lead with me) opened the event to everyone. There were always newcomers to the group and the DC metro area. And the restaurant of choice had to set up several tables.

It was fun to try out new local restaurants including swanky Michelin Blue Duck Tavern places, historic National Press Room restaurants, and mod-deco fare ones on the Potomac River. Many celebrated Cherry Blossoms 🌸 like this one (speaking of en vogue):

And we met restaurateurs like this distinguished chef who put foodie restaurants on the maps in the 90s before Jose Andres.

Restaurant lunch time for brunch isn’t usually busy like dinner so that was a good fit for all. And being plugged in that way became part of healthy habits that season.

And during those years, as a theme, I was also inviting my own bunch to the restaurants where I ran the group events.

Similarly, if you take a look at your healthy habits, you’ll notice some repeats. Your regular habits that stick become what sticks out in your life tomorrow and years later.

Taking inventory of your healthy habits will help show you the gaps so you can have a fulfilling life.

You can consider:

Where are you spending most of your time?

What do you wish you were doing more of?

Are you plugged into your local community in some way?

How are you helping the world?

Just some food for thought as you go about your week.

For anti-inflammatory food shopping inspo, check out this 200 anti-inflammatory food grocery guide/list. 🛒

And these spuds could be part of your healthy habit start.

Healthy Loaded Baked Potato Skins

This used to be one of my favorite lunch meals when they had a loaded potato fixins' bar at my work. The skins are often tossed out and are loaded with fiber and vitamins that can be cooked, baked and enjoyed in our daily meal healthy habits!

Course Side Dish, vegetables

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

Russet potatoes (or favorite potatoes)
Greek yogurt
Herbs (chives, thyme, and/or tarragon recommended)
Alliums (scallions or minced onions)
olive oil (optional)

Instructions

Cook your potatoes until soft on the stove.
Cut each potato in half and face down halves on baking sheet drizzled with a little EVOO if you like.
Bake on 350°F until browning occurs.
Let potato cool sligthtly and then add your healthy Greek yogurt topping and herbs to garnish and enjoy!