Tina Turbin » Being a Mom

Low-Impact Cardio Exercises for Boomers

Tina Turbin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:44:00 +0000

Boomers these days are looking to strengthen their heart with regular cardiovascular exercise while avoiding the wear and tear on joints that such exercise can cause. The answer is to look for low-impact exercise that works the heart while at the same time preserving your joints. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends 3-5 days of cardio for about 30-60 minutes. A regular routine of cardio exercise has many benefits, such as weight loss, stronger heart and lungs, increased bone density, reduced stress, and reduced risk of heart disease, some cancers, and depression and anxiety. It also boosts mood, reduces stress, improves the quality of sleep, and increases energy, among other advantages. With so many benefits, no wonder why so many boomers are getting into a regular routine of cardio exercise!

It’s important, however, to choose low-impact exercise which is gentler on the joints, especially if you suffer from arthritis. Low impact doesn’t mean low intensity, though. Low-impact exercise can be quite intense when you increase the energy in your moves. Luckily, there are a variety of low-impact choices available for boomers to choose from.

Tina Turbin

Volunteering to Increase Life Span

Tina Turbin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:41:41 +0000

You’ve probably heard me talking about the health and longevity benefits of volunteering. Now people are asking me how to get started. First, volunteer at a local organization doing something you enjoy that you feel is important to the community. Studies show that people who volunteer at two or more organizations have a forty-four percent lower death rate than those who don’t volunteer at all. These results are comparable to the effects of exercising four times a week. Not only are you helping others, but also, just as in exercise, you’re boosting your body’s immune system with your good works. As someone who cares passionately about women’s issues, family issues, and children’s issues such as kids misdiagnosed or children’s literacy, it wasn’t hard to find several organizations to work with. Find something you care about, whether it’s reading to children or elderly care, and you’ll be able to find work which will bring you a high level of satisfaction. In no time, you’ll find yourself actively involved in activities that will improve your health and will help others!

Tina Turbin

Turn off the TV—Tips for Families

Tina Turbin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:36:39 +0000

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does—television, that is. One of the best decisions I made years ago for myself and for my family was to cut down on television drastically. At first this may seem like a daunting task, but with a few simple tips, parents find it’s much easier than they suspected it would be.

First of all, there is the matter of reducing the amount of TV your family watches to just a few shows a week. In order to do this, I recommend a family meeting to discuss your goals as a family and as individuals. Then take an honest look at what everyone is getting out of television. Everyone will agree that they should watch less TV and spend more time pursuing their own goals. With a meeting like this, your kids and spouse will be much more likely to go along with their new lifestyle of less TV because they’ll understand the reason behind it.

I highly recommend implementing a service such as TiVo ® to help keep TV watching to a minimum. After deciding on the reasons for watching less TV, each family member can decide on a handful of shows to watch together as a family, plus a personal favorite or two, to watch only during designated watching times—Friday nights or Sunday afternoons, for example.

Finally, come up with stimulating alternatives. Take the kids to the library or play board games. Have larger, longer family dinners at the table. Keeping everyone busy will get their minds off this missing element in their lives. I highly recommend using this time to get the kids to strengthen their reading skills and develop a strong interest in reading. Soon you might find that your family—gasp!—may prefer reading over watching TV.

Tina Turbin

More Boomers Are Shopping Online

Tina Turbin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:34:05 +0000

A trend that has taken off among baby boomers is foregoing malls and shopping centers in favor of online stores. In my busy work as an author, researcher, and humanitarian, as well as a mother, I find that shopping online is an invaluable, convenient tool in saving money and time and in obtaining hard-to-find items. You should give it a try as an alternative or addition to your regular shopping.

Tina Turbin

Fight Aging with Omega-3 Oils

Tina Turbin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:31:17 +0000

Omega-3 oils reduce your risk of age-related problems, decreasing your chances of developing macular degeneration, the number one cause of blindness in people over the age of sixty-five, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia. The physical appearance changes that go along with aging are also reduced. Omega-3 oils will return to your skin its natural oils, which the environment, sun, and harsh weather conditions strip away. This results in a glowing complexion. Studies also show a link to increased effectiveness of weight loss programs, probably due to the fact that polyunsaturated fats increase the ability of enzymes to burn fat.

So how much should you take? The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends eating fish twice a week, especially fatty fish like mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna, and salmon. These are high in EPA and DHA. The AHA also recommends eating tofu and other soybean products and canola, walnut, and flaxseed, and their oils, which contain (LNA), which can become omega-3 fatty acid in the body, but more research is needed in order to establish that there’s cause-and-effect relationship between alpha-linolenic acid and preventing heart disease. On the AHA website, you can find exact recommendations on how much omega-3 oils to eat each day.

As with a many good-for-you supplements, you may not notice changes right away, but within a few weeks, I suspect you’ll start to reap the benefits of an improved complexion, higher endurance, and increased ability to concentrate. In the end, you’re investing not only in your current physical and mental well-being, but also in your future as you age.

Tina Turbin

Take Your Super Vitamin

Tina Turbin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:25:39 +0000

Vitamin D is becoming known now as the Super Vitamin, wowing researchers with its ability to prevent cancer and diabetes, as well as other health conditions such as heart disease, obesity, arthritis, high blood pressure, and autoimmune disorders. Vitamin D is actually part of the steroid family (including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol). A recent study found that women who lived in areas without sunlight (exposure to sunlight produces Vitamin D) were nine times more likely to get breast cancer than women who live in sunnier spots!

Sixty percent of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D. Your doctor will be able to test you for a deficiency with a simple blood test. An optimum level is above 35 ng/mL. The daily recommended value is about 2,200 IU a day with some sun exposure of about fifteen to twenty minutes a day. Some researchers suggest as much as 5,000 IU every day during the winter when sunshine is at its lowest levels. If you choose to take it as a supplement, make sure you take D3, which is the same type of Vitamin D your body produces. Foods that are rich in Vitamin D are milk, cold-water fish, and egg yolk.

Tina Turbin

Get More Sleep

Tina Turbin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:23:12 +0000

The average woman is probably tired because she is indeed not rested enough. With a better diet and a workout routine, as well as help from the family with the housework, you should be able to hit the sheets earlier or sleep in a little later, enjoying higher-quality sleep. Aim for as little as an extra fifteen minutes a day of sleep, for a total of at least seven hours.

With these tips, you should be enjoying higher energy levels in no time as well as quite a few other benefits. Getting others to do some chores and getting yourself some more sleep might at first seem make you feel a little guilty, but in the end, you’ll find that, with your extra get-up-and-go, you’ll be able to do your mom job even better.

Tina Turbin

Pesticides Are Shown to be Linked to ADHD

Tina Turbin — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:24:30 +0000

As a concerned mother and a children’s author who cares very much for families and children, I found the following article to be both appalling and at the same time refreshing to know that such a critical issue is being exposed.

While it has been known that pesticides used for our food and vegetable supply pose a variety of health risks, the fact that these same pesticides are linked to so-called ADHD in children is a truth that every parent needs to know about.

Click here to read the full article. Afterwards, browse through this section of my website for MANY helpful tips, resources and information to improve your family’s and your children’s quality of life.

I hope the above information helps you.

Tina Turbin

Get Some Help, Mom!

Tina Turbin — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:13:26 +0000

Get your family to pitch in with chores around the house, especially the kids. Children may not be expert dishwasher loaders and you’ll always be able to do the chores better yourself, but learn to let it go and get them to help you out with some of the things they’ll be able to handle on their own, even if it’s just pairing together and folding socks. Studies show that children who participate in family chores have a higher chance of growing up more successful than other children. It will raise their feels of self-esteem, make them more competent, and it’ll give you some time to do the following energy-boosting tips.

Tina Turbin

National Assoc. of Baby Boomer Women

Tina Turbin — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:00:18 +0000

I am a proud member of the NABBW ( National Association of Baby Boomer Women). Through this site many women are truly helped and many women are united in ways to helps others. Really no one understands us better than us. Being a woman is a unique and important role in life and society. We should to help one another!

Please enjoy my latest article on NABBW: http://www.nabbw.com/display_marticle.php?marticle_id=158

Tina Turbin