DAY 6

“Your pantry is your first line of defense against food-borne illness and things like high blood pressure and cholesterol.” ― Joe Bastianich

You are doing so well keeping with the momentum of the challenge. It can be tempting at this point to start making up excuses to skip a day or two.

Resist the urge and instead keep your eyes on the goal and keep pressing on. Why? The more you show up each day, the easier it gets to build a consistent fitness regime and reach your goal.

Okay, grab your lemon/lime water and let’s get started.

Day 6 Wellness Action: Evaluate Your Risk For High Blood Pressure

You may think you’re too young to think about high blood pressure. Think again. Research shows that black women develop high blood pressure earlier in life and have higher blood pressures compared to non-black women. High blood pressure can result in heart attack, stroke, eye problems or kidney problems.

The Mayo Clinic has a comprehensive list of risk factors for hypertension, and the list is worth a read. Today we’ll highlight the risk factors that are in your control and how you can evaluate your current lifestyle against these risks (lifestyle choices and diet).

Lifestyle Choices

Overweight or Obesity If you fall into the overweight or obese categories, losing even 5% of your weight can make a difference in your blood pressure and other health indicators.

Physical Inactivity Increasing your current levels of physical activity can help lower your resting heart rate over time and reduce your risk of hypertension. Aren’t you glad you’re doing the reboot challenge?

Tobacco Use Quitting cigarettes and avoiding secondhand smoke can protect you from the temporary spike in blood pressure that comes from smoking and help stop damage to your arteries.

Diet

Excess Salt in Your Diet Dietary salt can be reduced by minimizing the amount of processed foods you eat and by watching the amount of salt you use in your cooking including bullion cubes.

Inadequate Potassium in Your Diet Increasing your intake of potassium rich foods like potatoes, plantains, and bananas can help you improve your diet to protect you against hypertension.

Excess Alcohol Intake While alcohol is usually seen as the life of the party, it could negatively impact the party that is called your life. Limiting your alcohol intake to no more than one drink a day can make a difference in your diet.

Evaluate your current lifestyle and diet against the list above and start making changes. 

Are you at risk for high blood pressure? Which of the modifiable risk factors above are you going to tackle?

Day 6 Workout: Butt Buster

Your butt, properly called your gluteus maximus, is arguably the most important muscle in your body. Not only is it the biggest, it is also potentially the strongest and a weak butt can adversely affect your hip, knee and lower back health.

A soft butt is hard to disguise while a firm, toned butt can turn heads so it pays to spend some extra time on this essential muscle!

Do three rounds of today’s 4-exercise circuit. Rest 60 seconds between rounds.

Once you have warmed up (click here for warm up video), follow the exercise demonstration in the video below to get started on today’s fitness challenge.

Please do swing by the Facebook group and let us know what’s on your mind. You can get directly to today’s post by clicking here. 

Have a wonderful day & stay Radiant!