A study with findings that exercise is more important to your mental health than money made a splash recently. It did note that there was a diminishing return. Between 30-60 minutes a day was ideal. Those that worked out beyond 3 hours a day suffered more than those that weren’t that active. Take comfort that you do not need to be a professional athlete to be happy.    Build up your endurance with moderate to vigorous aerobic activity or cardio. Use the talk test. Moderate-intensity means you’re breathing hard but can still have a conversation. If you can only say a few words before you have to take a breath, that’s vigorous-intensity.    Include muscle-strengthening activity. These are movements that work your muscles as they move against resistance like weights or push-ups. Even heavy gardening with lots of digging and shoveling counts.   Increase your flexibility with stretching or yoga to protect yourself from injury and improve your posture.   Balance is also a key component of fitness and this can be as simple as standing on one leg.   We live in a society that says more is always better. Let’s remember goldilocks and shift to "just right" is best!    https://health.gov/MoveYourWay/Activity-Planner/activities/   https://www.businessinsider.com/exercise-makes-you-happier-than-money-says-yale-and-oxford-study-2019-4?r=US&IR=T

If you’re new to exercise or an activity, you’ll have to accept that the beginning is just that. Good for you for trying. If you could love being bad at something for 30 tries, you’d have the basic skills for just about any activity in 30 days. You won’t have the muscle memory. So you’re not the kid who grew up skateboarding who then picks up surfing quickly as a teen. By the time you try snowboarding in college, you’re flying down a black diamond slope. You’re the person whose body is going to pull back instead of lean in when you look down that hill and you’re going to fall hard on your bum. It’s going to hurt. We all start somewhere.    I did not play any of the ball sports growing up. My hand eye coordination is terrible. Being mindful means understanding it’s going to take me longer to enjoy it. I won’t have the basic skills right away to have a good game so I need to stick with it and come in with a good attitude.   You also won’t know when to stop and when to go. That comes with experience which you only get by doing. Soreness will eventually become manageable, even welcome because you’ll know just how hard to push.    Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

If you just want to lose weight, changing your diet is most effective. If you want to shape your body and improve your mind, you’ll have to get moving. I’m gearing this week towards those of you who hate exercise. If you enjoy it, then you’re probably already doing it.    Get curious about the world. Find activities that require you to physically engage. Feel free to think outside the box. Art fanatic? Go to museums. Like real estate? Go to open houses. If you like flowers, wander around Lowe's Garden Center. DIY junkie? The Ikea route.    I love a good adventure. My entry into fitness was reliant on hobbies that I wanted to try. Scuba diving, white water rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, surfing, traveling, dancing. I love being tricked into working out.    Wanting to get better at the activities I enjoyed encouraged me to improve my fitness. Now I have a regular rotation of weight classes, yoga, pilates, spin in the mix. It’s maintenance. So when I do  finally go on that bike ride through the french country side I won’t pass out.    Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

There’s a lot to be said about what you should or should not eat but each person has their own individual needs to support their body’s daily activities. When you have a good relationship with food, there’s very little to overhaul because you continually make minor adjustments based on your body’s changing needs. You eat with ease.    Having a good relationship with food is tied to having a good relationship with your body. You’ll naturally want to do what makes your body feel good including exercise.    True or False? You can be in excellent health without having a complicated meal and exercise plan. Absolutely! If you’re currently living on processed food and added sugar and have a completely sedentary life, sure, you’ll need help and accountability to replace those bad habits. But you’re going to have to believe that your body and ultimately you deserve the best that you can deliver.    I notice that I tend to eat better when I’m working out. And while I can’t explain all the reasons, they support one another. My mind and body experience action and it reinforces both sides to do better. Perhaps you find exercise appalling. Stay tuned this week about how to keep moving.   https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-why-more-exercise-makes-you-crave-a-healthier-diet   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

Let’s talk about having good eating habits. Your meal times might be set by circumstance, a fixed lunch time at work or set dinner time with the family and not by your hunger level.   Know the difference between snacks and treats and plan accordingly. When you are having a snack, it’s to manage your hunger. I will often have a snack before I go out to dinner. Why? Because it can be an hour before fork hits mouth from the time everyone arrives until food is on the table. I get hangry. Have healthy snacks available. I always have eggs, bananas and apples on hand.    When you are having a treat like at the movies, enjoy it. But since it’s not to manage hunger, you don’t have to finish it.   I look at my schedule for the week and do some meal planning so I can grocery shop accordingly. How many meals are at home? How many meals are out? This prevents me from being overstuffed or famished. Lots of big meals out on the calendar? I may skip breakfast or lunch. If I see that I’ll miss a meal because I’m in transit, I’ll pack some healthy snacks. Pistachios are my go to.   And if I’m caught off guard by a random surprise, I practice self-compassion. I do my best and then forget about it.   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

Eating rituals are behaviors that encourage positive eating.    I recommend always eating on a plate and with cutlery. I throw some of my nice china in the mix as a reminder that every day can be a special day. It’s a reminder of my good fortune. Even when I have takeout, I transfer it to a plate or bowl. Sit down, slow down. It’s hard to gauge a portion size when you’re eating out of a container.    Another fun ritual is plating my food. Making it look pretty also encourages eating a greater range of nutrients, eat the rainbow. A great example is a Nicoise salad. The french understand that you eat with your eyes too. Salad with green beans, purple onion, red tomatoes, white and yellow eggs, brown olives.    Setting the table is a ritual that signals the food is almost ready. If you have small kids or friends over, have them help. Transferring things like olive oil and vinegar into lovely cruets or salt and pepper into special grinders. Keep fresh herbs on hand for last minute garnishing. Clip some flowers from the garden for the table.    Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

How to optimize your eating environment. For starters, don’t keep problematic foods in the house.    Minimize eating distractions. Step away from your desk and move to the break room. If you work from home, close your laptop. Put your phone on airplane mode. Screen time encourages mindless eating. Set out a placemat at your dining table or breakfast bar and have a proper meal.   Have nice dishes and cutlery that you want to use. When I worked in an office, I also kept a complete place setting for myself at work.   It’s a lot easier to know what your body requires when you’ve learned to serve yourself consistent portions over time. Use your plates and bowls to teach yourself what a serving looks like. A single serving of ice cream is only half a cup. I use the smallest bowl.   A positive eating environment feels relaxed and inclusive. Meal time is when families converse, exchange ideas, share thoughts and eat. Family meals have been shown to improve nutrient intake, academic success, vocabulary, self-esteem and sleeping habits in children. And if you’re eating alone, learn to enjoy your own company.   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

Heartfelt eating is about enjoying food with a happy heart. An opportunity for gratitude. Eating is a chance for you to nourish and nurture your being.   Recognizing food and eating situations that you find pleasant can help inform your future choices. Following my cravings is not the same thing as emotional eating. I want steak, salmon, salad or fruit is different than trying to soothe unpleasant emotional feelings. If you reach for food when you’re not hungry, something emotional is going on. I invite you to notice that you are reaching for comfort or distraction.   Sometimes eating is the activity. One of my favorite things about food is that it can be shared. And the fact that all people eat, means learning how to enjoy meals with others. Don’t be difficult when you eat out. Don’t let your healthy lifestyle interfere with your social life. Flexibility is the willingness to forego a preference temporarily. If someone orders something for the table that doesn’t feel nourishing to you, then don’t eat it. Don’t complain about it. Being overly rigid creates tension in you that makes you unpleasant company.   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

The practice of engaging all your senses to guide your eating-related decisions is called mindful eating. Eating without judgment.   Food is like money. It is neither good nor bad, it’s how you use it. Your experience of it can change based on how you manage it. If you have a poor body-image, you'll want to exercise a lot of self-compassion. And if you’ve been mentally beating yourself up for a long time, be patient as you adopt new beliefs.   Notice your hunger and satiety level. Eat when hungry, stop when satisfied. And keep noticing what you're feeling and thinking when you get to extreme ends of the scale. When you have a healthy relationship with food, this becomes second nature. I’m pretty tuned in now. I had an entire chocolate bar one night after dinner, I didn’t judge it with that was such a bad thing to do. I noticed the sugar craving and thought that probably means I need more protein. Makes sense, I worked out more than usual this week. So I had a bit more protein the next day.   All the neurotransmitters you have are derived from diet. My usual thought after eating is, that was good. I feel satisfaction and enjoyment on a regular basis.   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

Do you have a healthy relationship with food? The freedom to eat anything but still manage to regularly choose foods that make you feel good.   The truth about diets? They work. If you follow them to a T. They’re also unsustainable. If you do go on a diet, reframe it as an opportunity to introduce new habits, get outside your comfort zone, adjust your palate or reset your system. I tried Keto for a couple months, bought the little testing strips, tracked my macros zealously and spent a fortune on specialty ingredients. I did not eat out so I turned that into an opportunity to invite friends over for dinner every week. I had at least a half dozen mini multi-course dinner parties to make it more fun.   I learned how my body responded and that’s the best way to use a diet, for feedback as information. I missed eating my favorite fruits and veggies. My tastebuds became more sensitive to added sugars and shifted my preference to natural sugars like fruit or honey. The only thing I ended up adopting into my normal life was Rao’s tomato sauce. A healthy relationship with food is about eating to nourish your body not for a shift on the scale.    Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!