Phil's Journal: Fitness Raking and the Trick with Treats

With autumn in full swing and winter right around the corner, I will be dedicating a weekend to raking an ungodly amount of leaves. As much as I can’t stand this last rite of the outdoor yard season, it’s a pretty darn good workout! From a fitness perspective, raking works essentially every muscle in your upper body, and by keeping the consecutive strokes to several at a time, provides a nice little cardio burn. My routine is: Ten strokes. Pause to curse under my breath how much I hate raking. Repeat.

Fall also marks the beginning of the holiday binging season. Serving as warm-up for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, Halloween gets kids and adults alike exposed to a spiked volume of sugary treats. To help keep this ritual under control, I addressed this very topic in a recent post for Moms' Nutrition Hotline.

Mom's Nutrition Hotline and other TLN Blogs are really starting to gain some attention. I am receiving excellent questions and replies from TLN Members as well as TLN Advisors who are now chiming in to offer their expert opinions. If you are not signed up for TLN's e-newsletter, sign up and join in on all the fun. Why not? It’s FREE!

I close my entry with a “Happy Raking” to all of us who, through each fall and spring clean-up, wonder why we did not buy a condo (or at least a smaller lawn)!

Enjoy and Be Healthy,

Phil