Movement, moderation and more water: Lake County health experts give tips on staying well – News-Herald.com

After almost a full year of elevated anxiety amid a worldwide pandemic, staying healthy both physically and mentally is the primary concern of many.

While beginning a health journey can seem like a daunting world of diets, sweat and endless information local experts agree, start simple.

Lydia Skiljan, a certified health and wellness coach at LakeHealth's Brunner Sanden Deitrick Wellness Campus in Mentor, has worked in the wellness field and health education industry for over 30 years, and said the primary focus of her job is helping people meet their goals, big or small.

"With coaching, I help people reach their goals whatever their goals are," she said. "So it might be losing weight. It might be stress reduction, or organizing your day, organizing your life. And I've worked with all walks of life with that."

Skiljan said that one of the biggest issues she has encountered recently with her clients is, not surprisingly, a massive amount of stress.

She recommended taking advantage of technology to combat it. She said apps such as "Ten Percent Happier," which provides guided meditation and mindfulness exercises, are a useful route to take if you are one of many struggling with anxiety right now.

Even simple breathing exercises can make a huge difference, Skiljan said.

"Breathing is huge. So there's an easy style of breathing called 'four, seven, eight,' and basically you inhale for four [seconds], you hold for seven, you exhale for eight," she said.

"It's that holding your breath for seven that tells your brain, there can't be a tiger chasing us, because you're holding your breath and it really is a neurological change," she added. "The whole system calms down, and the good chemicals are released."

As more people are working from home than ever before, Skiljan said it was important to not fall into stagnancy when stuck inside and it seems too cold to want to go do any outdoor exercise.

Her philosophy is that any type of movement is good movement, even if it is just curling soup cans while watching television. It does not necessarily have to be a strict exercise regime.

Personal trainer Jordan Taylor teaches a young client proper form on the pull-up bar at I Perform Fitness.

"Anything you can do, and anything you're willing to do," Skiljan said. "People say, 'when should I exercise?' or 'what type of exercise?' whatever you look forward to doing, and you will do, at whatever time you will do it. So it doesn't matter if it's morning or night or whatever, if you're willing to do it."

Another result many have experienced from working at home or simply not going out as much over the past year is the notorious 'quarantine 15' unexpected weight gain due to stress or lack of activity.

Skiljan said taking simple steps to engineer one's environment to successfully lose weight can be very helpful.

"Make sure your environment is conducive to what you want to do," she said. "So if you want to start eating healthier, or you don't want to gain more weight, get rid of the cakes, the cookies, pasta and garlic bread, whatever it is, that's going to be a trigger for you, or send you down a path.

"I think that's important, making it easy on yourself," she added. "And then find other ways to reduce your stress if you're a stress eater really think about 'why am I doing this?'"

Skiljan added that taking time away from computer screens to eat is also another form of mindfulness.

"If you're working and you're thinking, 'well, I'm at home, I should just eat while I'm working.' Don't do that. Take time away, enjoy your meal," she said.

Registered dietician nutritionist Julie Lipowski, who has a private practice called Cleveland RDN with offices in Mentor and Beachwood, also lauded the benefits of self-awareness when it comes to what foods one is putting in their body.

"I would say that everyone needs to be mindful of what their body wants and how you feel...," she said. "If you're tired and bloated all the time, you're probably doing something wrong."

"People say, 'when should I exercise?' or 'what type of exercise?' whatever you look forward to doing, and you will do, at whatever time you will do it. So it doesn't matter if it's morning or night or whatever, if you're willing to do it."

Lydia Skiljan, certified health and wellness coach

Lipowski spends her time working with a range of clients, from those seeking recovery from eating disorders to those who are just looking for general guidance on how to eat healthier and be more in tune with their own needs.

Once a person has identified foods that are causing more harm than good, Lipowski said it is important to swap them out with better options. But seeking balance in all the food groups is the goal.

"It's not about starving or dieting; it's about balance and moderation," she said.

However, Lipowski said she encourages her clients to be intentional about planning out their meals she said taking time to shop for groceries and specific ingredients so that they can cook meals at home is important.

In the midst of active spread of COVID-19 across Ohio, Lipowski said using nutrition as preventative medicine is a good idea.

"Make sure you're getting in enough vitamin C, fruits, veggies and whole foods...," she said. "Hydration is really important too, to flush the body of toxins."

No stranger to the importance of hydration, one of the main things personal trainer Jordan Taylor recommends his clients do is make sure they are getting in enough water.

"The biggest thing is increasing your water intake, especially during the winter," he said. "We're more likely to be kind of dehydrated during the winter, and just simply increasing water is going to increase your metabolism's rate to speed up."

Taylor, owner of I Perform Fitness in Wickliffe, has personal training clients of all ages ranging from 8 years old to 69.

He said that in addition to keeping easily accessible water bottles around, it is also essential to get in foods that are rich in calcium and iron during the winter.

"So for instance, leafy green vegetables, lentils, beans, things of that nature it's going to be huge because obviously, you know, we're putting a whole bunch of clothes on and the sun's not always out," he said. "So you're not getting that natural calcium and vitamin D which is essential for our body's health."

Taylor also encouraged anyone looking to start or revamp their fitness routine to begin with simple exercises and lifestyle changes that are easy to turn into habits.

"The likelihood of you doing four, five, or six things is tough," he said. "So I'm like, 'hey, what's the one thing you can for sure do? And then I say cool can we do that for two weeks? Can we then maybe add something to that? Or can we expand how long you're doing that one thing and then just continue to just build off of that?'"

"[That's] how I've seen people have the most levels of success," he added.

At the end of the day, Taylor said, consistency in how much movement a person is getting will ensure proper blood flow, which plays a role in preventing physical illness, and exercise helps regulate positive hormones released from the brain for mental wellness too.

"It does so much mentally and emotionally," Taylor said. "There's hormones that are released through this physical movement that help with stress reduction."

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Movement, moderation and more water: Lake County health experts give tips on staying well - News-Herald.com