Red Mountain Spa (Utah)

Cooler temperatures and school busses stir pleasant memories. For many of us, autumn is associated with heartier foods and, for families with young children, a more structured lifestyle to accommodate school activities. Often, memories from childhood are so deeply ingrained that, as adults, we still feel the drive to organize and "nest" in the fall. This can be wonderful motivation to renew a healthy routine. While spring and summer fitness programs have an appearance-oriented drive, fall regimes appeal to our more grounded desire to have good health and contentment with ourselves.

Harvest time brings hearty root vegetable, bean and grain meals to the table. While an underlying fear of consuming carbohydrate foods still exists for many, most consumers have found a sense of balance by choosing high fiber complex carbohydrate foods in correct amounts. Beans, such as kidney beans, chick peas, edamame and lentils provide lots of vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein. Root vegetables and winter squashes can pack a powerful nutrient punch as well. Orange vegetables like yams, sweet potato and butternut squash are loaded with beta carotene which is a powerful antioxidant. The sweet taste of these foods also helps curb cravings for refined carbohydrates. Of course, what would fall be without hot cereal for breakfast? Oatmeal, quinoa, kasha are all wonderful grains which provide long lasting energy for raking leaves, winterizing projects or cool fall hikes. Carbohydrate foods are the body's preferred source of energy for physical activity; include them in your daily meal plan.

Take advantage of the structure and routine of fall; use it as a time to get into a steady pattern of regular exercise. Remember when you were a kid and your good school work was displayed on the refrigerator? Try putting a calendar on the refrigerator and giving yourself a gold star for every bout of exercise, successful food day or other fitness accomplishment (really!). You will be surprised at how motivating a simple pat on the back is! And, with Thanksgiving only 12 weeks away, it's not too early to think of the fall season fitness as protection against the next season's holiday weight gain. Autumn brings us home, helps us focus and warms the heart. It's a good time to take all that warm, loving energy and re-invest in health and vitality.

www.redmountainspa.com
(800)407-3002 (435)673-4905