Cleaning the house is not our favorite thing to do. Ever. But we like living in a clean home, and it doesn’t clean itself. Here are a few ways we make it easier on ourselves, because every little bit helps.
Welcome mats! Place mats outside and rugs inside your doors to help remove particles and pollutants carried inside on shoes―one of the key ways toxins and dirt enter our homes. Clean these mats and rugs regularly. Consider asking friends and family to remove their shoes when they come in – you may want to keep some slippers or indoor shoes by the door, for people who like to keep shoes on. Remember: if it isn’t tracked into your home, you won’t have to clean it!
Open your windows! Every house has its own smell. You want yours to be a good smell, or at least a neutral smell – but air fresheners are generally not a healthy option. Bonus – EPA research has found that the air inside the average home is typically two to five times more polluted than the surrounding air outside thanks to tight energy-efficient construction that over time concentrates the toxins entering our homes. Flushing out those hazards with fresh air now and then will do a lot to keep your home healthier.
Use microfiber! Compared to rags and disposable options, microfiber cleaning cloths do a much better job of trapping and removing household soils and dust, the final resting place for many of the toxins that enter our home. With microfiber, you won’t kick that stuff back into the air, and you won’t need as much cleaning product either! Tip – never use fabric softener or dryer sheets with microfiber; they ruin the trapping property of the fabric.
Clean your bathrooms daily! Clean it while you’re in there – it’s really not much work to spray the toilet bowl after you flush, and swish it out after you shower. Squeegee or spray the shower just before you get out. Wipe the vanity and sink just before you leave the bathroom. Do a quick swipe of the floor sometime in there and you’re done. It’s an extra minute or two for an always clean bathroom. This is all work that’s easy for anyone over age 10, so delegate bathrooms to their primary users, and you’re good to go.
* and our favorite Marilu housekeeping tip *
Never leave a room empty-handed! Before you leave any room, do a quick scan – is there anything that belongs where you’re going? Does your jacket need to go back to the closet? Can that book you finished last night go back on the shelf in the family room? Everyone in the house should be trained (yes, sometimes that’s exactly the right word) to return all dishes to the kitchen, and to be rinsed or loaded in the dishwasher, and all recyclables to the recycling bag/box/barrel. If you put things on the stairs to go up or down, don’t leave them there – take them on your next trip up/down stairs.
Kickboxing has been very popular in fitness circles, and it is a good workout.
If you love kickboxing, try a martial arts class – sign up for taekwondo, jujitsu, karate, kung fu, aikido or krav maga! You can take a self-defense class to learn some of the basics, or get into the ranks of different belts and forms. Classes are offered at community centers, Y’s and martial arts schools, and many of them are open to all ages – make it a family activity.
Bonus * All that kicking really does tighten up and round out your booty.
The Role of Your Life is our next class at Marilu.com. This class is exclusive to Marilu and Marilu.com, and it’s life-changing!
The class is 10 weekdays, from Monday, April 19 through Friday, April 30. Hey – that’s MONDAY!
Explore the roles that you play on the stage of your life, and choose your starring role. Marilu and Coach Heather use acting exercises to help you discover who you are, and who you want to be in this world. This class encourages creative thinking and living, and is always a member favorite.
Sign up here – don’t miss a single day. (You really don’t want to miss rant day!)
Start a list of all the items you’ve purchased in your past that you later realized were a waste of money. Keep this list handy and add to it whenever you remember another item.
Think about this list every time you’re considering a new purchase. If you’re like most people, ninety percent of your impulse buying is unnecessary.
If you’ve lived this long without something, you probably don’t need it now. If you think you really need it, take a 48-hour cooling off period – walk away for 2 full days. If you still think you need it, go ahead and buy it (if you can afford it, of course, and we’re not talking about racking up your debt here – we’re talking cash). You may still find it on your “waste of money” list – but it’s less likely.
Grilling season is here! We love to keep some of the heat out of the kitchen during warm weather, so we love the grill (plus, it often gets our guys to share in meal preparation – yay!). You can prepare this on a tabletop grill (such as a George Foreman grill) or you can broil the fish, or cook it on a grill pan on the stove, if that’s easier.
Cooking on a grill is fast, too. If you have time to get the grill ready, you have time for the meal. While the grill is heating, make a quick salad, and wash and steam a side veggie, like broccoli or green beans. (There’s also just enough time to prepare a pot of brown rice, if you put it on just before starting the grill.)
If you don’t care for salmon, the same seasonings and technique can be used for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Or cut boneless, skinless chicken or turkey or tofu into 1″ cubes, and toss them with the oil, then with the seasonings. Put the cubes on skewers and grill them. Make separate skewers for veggies and you’ve got a meal!
Preheat grill (or grill pan over medium high heat, or broiler on high). Mix all dry seasonings together in a small bowl. Rub salmon with olive oil and coat with dry seasonings. Grill for 5-7 minutes on each side.
You remember Johnny Appleseed, right? The guy wandered around the country and planted apple trees – everywhere.
Well, almost. He actually planted tree nurseries, mostly in Ohio, but also in Indiana and Illinois. He fenced in the nurseries, to protect the trees from livestock. He received the apple seeds free from cider mills (nice business planning on their part), and he often took used clothing or cornmeal in trade for the trees, rather than cash, but he preferred to be paid in apple-credit.
Still – he made it his mission to plant apple trees. And that made the planet a better place to be. Fruit trees help heal the planet by *
You know those times everything is working really well? You’re eating healthy, your skin is clearing up, your hair is shiny and thick, and your pants are getting a bit looser. You don’t feel tired all the time anymore – in fact, you have so much energy, you’re accomplishing more projects at work and at home, and the people around you are impressed.
Then something (life?) happens. And you’re tempted to let the wheels come off, to let it all go, and just do the easy thing. You think maybe you’re tired of clearing your own path through life, and that rut you were in before is looking mighty comfy.
Don’t fall into that rut. Push through your challenges. Take care of yourself, and you can get through anything.
Now get going on your fitness. Get up out of that chair and move your body.
Marilu will be teaching The Role of Your Life workshop at the world-renowned Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health the weekend of July 2-5, 2010.
Treat yourself to an amazing health retreat and take the class with Marilu. There are also evening activities (a chanting concert and a salsa dance party are currently on the schedule for that weekend, as well as regular evening programs) and yoga classes for all experience levels. Oh, and the food is good, too. This is a great opportunity to experience one of the best health retreat centers in the world – with Marilu.
We took our own advice yesterday, and tried something new.
We joined a fitness class.
It was accidental, but … well, we ran into an old friend, who happens to be the instructor. And we happened to meet at the community education registration desk, where they take the registrations and money for the classes. And the class happened to start several hours after this meeting.
We took all these things as signs to Do The Right Thing and join the class.
Oh my. We had so much fun. Loud Latin music. An energized and entertaining instructor. No pressure to dress “right” or to be “perfect” in the moves. It was a delicious hour, for which we expect to be a bit sore later today. Not a bad thing to use muscles differently, to change it up, to add some variety – for our bodies and for our minds!
We have 23 more classes to go. And we’re looking forward to the next one already.
How about you? Are you trying something new? Stepping out of your fitness rut?
If you’re craving a snack, your ghrelin hormones have been released, signalling that your stomach is empty. Other ghrelin triggers include drinking alcohol (see? there is a connection between drinking and overeating), not eating enough food, and eating greasy, fatty foods.
Your goal is to keep the levels of ghrelin low through the day, so you don’t get hungry. How can you do that? Here are some ideas.
Have a substantial breakfast. Your mom was right – breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. One study showed that people who ate a higher-calorie breakfast produced 33 percent less ghrelin throughout the day and felt satisfied for a longer period of time.
Get more fiber with complex carbs. Insulin and ghrelin go hand in hand. When insulin goes up after you eat, ghrelin goes down. If you eat the wrong kind of carbohydrates — refined carbs such as white bread, pasta, sugars — your blood sugar skyrockets. In response, your body releases insulin to clear that sugar from your bloodstream. The insulin works efficiently, cleaning up your mess, and then you crash from low blood sugar and the resulting hunger. Complex carbs and fiber delay the release of sugar into the bloodstream so that insulin levels are kept stable and you feel full longer.
Eat on a schedule. Ghrelin levels rise and fall at your usual mealtimes, so eating on a schedule prevents spikes in ghrelin. If you’re running errands and are away from the kitchen at one of your typical mealtimes, carry a small bag of almonds or other nuts with you to keep your stomach satisfied until you can get home and have a real meal.
Eat high-volume, low-calorie foods. Levels of ghrelin remain high until food stretches the walls of your stomach, making you feel full. High-volume, low-calorie foods, such as salads and soups, reduce ghrelin levels long before you’ve overeaten. All green veggies and any foods with a high water content count as high-volume, low-calorie foods.
Eat protein. Protein-rich foods (not necessarily animal protein) can also suppress ghrelin levels — they help create a long-lasting feeling of fullness. Puree beans and use them to thicken vegetable soups and stews. Garnish salads and vegetables with nuts and seeds.
Start a list of all the items you’ve purchased in your past that you later realized were a waste of money. Keep this list handy and add to it whenever you remember another item. 
You remember Johnny Appleseed, right? The guy wandered around the country and planted apple trees – everywhere. 