60 minutes of Exercise per day

Earlier in 2011, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology announced that children should aim to get 60 minutes of exercise per day in order to lead a healthy life and ward off weight gain. I was intrigued by this for adults as I do try to get at least 30-45 minutes of exercise per day. I know that it is not easy for everyone though as we all have busy lives. So, I want to brainstorm ways to get 60 minutes of exercise per day -- for everyone.

Morning:

• Get up 1 hour earlier and do a 45 minute workout on a treadmill, elliptical or other home gym equipment (45 minutes). 
• Get up 1 hour earlier and take a swim at the local pool (30 minutes). 
• Lace up your shoes and go for a 45 minute walk, jogging or run outside (45 minutes).
• If you take public transit, get off the bus one or two stops early and walk (10 minutes).
• Do a quick vigorous clean of the kitchen, dining room and living room (15 minutes).
• Take the dog for a 30 minute walk, run or jog (30 minutes).

Break:

• Take 15 minutes and run up and down the stairs (15 minutes).
• Take 15 minutes and go for a walk (15 minutes).

Lunch:

• On your 1 hour lunch, go for a 30 minute walk, jog or run outside (30 minutes).
• On your 1 hour lunch, go to the gym for a 30 minute workout (30 minutes).
• On your 1 hour lunch, take 30 minutes and run up and down the stairs (30 minutes).
• Get a friend and play at 30 minute game of badminton on your lunch (30 minutes). 
• On your lunch, take a class at a local gym (45 minutes).

Break:

• Try any of the above options.

Evening:

• Before supper, do a 30 minute workout (30 minutes). 
• After work, take a class at a local gym (45 minutes). 
• If you are stopping off to pick up a few things, park at the end of the parking lot and walk further to and from the store (10 minutes).
• If you are shopping, take the stairs instead of the escalators (5 minutes). 
• Try a 30 minute boxing session at home or at the gym (30 minutes). 
• Play a game of bowling, baseball or boxing on the Wii with your kids (30 minutes). 
• Take an evening dancing class (60 minutes).
• Take in a seasonal activity with the kids (skating, skiing, swimming, rollerblading, jumping rope, etc.) (30 minutes).
• During the kids' favorite TV show, lace up your sneakers and go for a run or job with a friend (30 minutes). 
• Take the dog for a 30 minute walk, jog or run (30 minutes).

Everyday calorie counts for 30 minutes (150 lb woman):

• Card playing: 54 calories
• Child care: 102 calories
• Cleaning, moderate effort: 118 calories
• Cleaning gutters: 180 calories
• Construction/Remodeling: 198 calories
• Cooking or food preparation: 85 calories
• Driving: 72 calories
• Gardening, general: 169 calories
• Ironing: 72 calories
• Loading/Unloading the car: 108 calories
• Mopping: 153 calories
• Mowing the lawn (push mower): 187 calories
• Packing suitcase: 72 calories
• Painting house: 171 calories
• Playing board games: 54 calories
• Playing piano: 95 calories
• Playing with children: 134 calories
• Pushing or pulling a stroller with a child: 85 calories
• Putting away groceries: 90 calories
• Raking the lawn: 134 calories
• Reading: 36 calories 
• Sex, intercourse: 144 calories
• Shopping: 81 calories
• Shoveling snow: 207 calories
• Showering: 144 calories
• Sitting, playing with children: 85 calories
• Sitting, resting: 36 calories
• Sweeping: 134 calories
• Tailoring, cutting: 90 calories
• Talking on the phone: 36 calories
• Touring/Traveling: 72 calories
• Washing the dishes: 76 calories
• Writing: 36 calories

Links:

• Medline Plus: Exercise 60 minutes a day
• ProHealth Calorie Counter per activity
• Healthstatus Calorie Counter
• Wallstreet Journal, Women need 60 minutes of daily exercise to stave off middle-age weight gain
• CBS News, 60-90 Minutes Exercise Daily? Bah!
• Public Health Agency of Canada, Physical Activity
• CSEP - Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology
• ParticipACTION

Changes after my honeymoon to Paris

Well, traveling to Paris for our honeymoon really changed me. I realized some new things and I've had a lot to think about. I have written several posts already about what I learned about Europe, Paris and French Girls but here is what I am going to do about it.

1. Quit the clean plate club: from this day on, I will not have to finished off my entire plate.
2. Eat smaller portions of everything: also, from this day on, I will put smaller portions on my plate.
3. Eat in good restaurants once a month and never order out food again. 
4. Eat supper later: in France, they don't eat supper until 8:30-9pm which is completely against how we eat in North America. We usually eat supper between 5-6pm. We are going to start eating supper at 6:30pm. This also gives me a chance to cook as I get home around 5:15pm.
5. Drink wine more often: we already do drink wine at least once a month and with important meals, but we should have a few glasses of wine with supper every week. It's relaxing and it makes each meal special.
6. Eat real food: we hardly saw any packaged or processed foods in Paris and that really struck us. Why do we need engineered food? From now on, we are going to eat as real as we can get. This means butter instead of margarine, sea salt and homemade jams. In other words, Clean Eating.
7. Spend the time to cook: we love to cook and I miss doing it because I get home so late. In university I cooked every day after class and it was my way of starting the evening. I should do that again. This also means that we will stop buying any pre-made meals as they are full of salt.
8. Drink better coffee: I always thought that espresso was too strong for me. I was used to my watered-down American coffee with milk and sugar. That is until I tried an espresso with a cube of sugar. That is now my drink of choice!
9. Switch to cubed sugar: all of the sugar in Paris was either in cubes or sticks instead of a sugar bowl. I like this idea because the sugar is portioned so we bought some cubed sugar for our coffee.
10. Spend the money on good clothes: I saw lots of French girls wearing good clothes. They wore nice scarfs and good quality coats and shoes. If I save up money and spend it on more expensive, better quality items then this is better than 10 cheap shirts. 
11. Go out and do things in Ottawa: we need to be a part of the life here in the city. We want to be part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies on November 11th, go to ballet and opera performances at the NAC and see the fireworks on Parliament Hill for Canada Day.
12. Have French weeks: I really want to maintain my language level and that means committing to our French weeks. What we do is speak French for one week at home (all of the time, even over the phone) then we speak English for a week.
13. Get more exercise: not just in working out on the treadmill but also in everyday things. I will walk more on an everyday basis such as walking home from the bus station (15 minute walk) instead of taking a bus and I will take the stairs instead of the elevator at work. Little things like this. 
14. Just do it: are you thinking of going somewhere or doing something? What is holding you back? Those are questions I have been asking myself this year as part of the 2011 Experiment and it's a mantra that I want to continue. 

10 Tips for Practising your Second Language

Canada is a bilingual country but not many of us are actually bilingual. Most public servants are required to be bilingual but usually everyone either speaks English or French. Some people try to learn another language and get frustrated because they lose it after time.

I don’t consider myself fully bilingual but I hope that I am pretty close. Here are some of my tricks for maintaining my language level and perhaps they will help you too. Also note that as this is a Canadian article, I am referring to practicing my French but you can apply this to any language:

1. Read the news in French. Some websites are: Radio-Canada, Cyberpresse and Le Devoir.
2. Do you have any friends that speak French? Work out a deal to always speak in French to this person. If you see this person often then try immersing yourself by speaking in French for one entire week with them, and English for a week then back and forth.
3. If you are brave enough to try it, move to a French area. Then you will be forced to speak French in your daily life and you will meet more people who speak the language. A good way to ease into this is to go to university in a French place that is relatively bilingual like Montreal.
4. If are into Facebook and other social media, try switching your interface into French.
5. If you have a DVD collection, look for the ones that have been dubbed in French. Watch the movie but switch the language into French. If you have problem, add the French sub-titles. I did this during university and it really worked. I highly recommend the blockbuster movies (ex. Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, etc.) as the French dubbing is really good.
6. When you are interested in a particular topic and you have a little bit of time, look up the French words. I call this a brainstorm. I start by writing down all of the words on a particular topic that I can think about, for example about weddings. Then, I look up all of the words in a French-English dictionary so that I have a vocabulary list. I can study it whenever I want to know that it is created.
7. After reading your favorite books in English, trying reading them in French. Good online bookstores in Canada are Renaud-Bray and the French books on Amazon and Chapters. I read a chapter in French and I underline all of the words that I don’t understand so that I can look them up later. If this is a book that I borrowed or that isn’t mine, I note them on a paper pad as I am reading.
8. Develop a language binder with vocabulary lists. Flip through it from time to time to refresh your brain.This really helps if the vocabulary lists are about topics that you enjoy, in my case, sewing and knitting.
9. If you talk to someone in French and you pick up new terminology, write it down. Add it to the vocabulary binder so that you won’t forget it.
10. Take French language classes. If you are a student, trying making it your minor. If you are not, try an evening class.