10 Thanksgiving Ideas to Revive Your Celebrations

by Sandra Koury | Nov 27, 2024 | All, Fun, Home, Wellness

Thanksgiving is an ideal time to reflect on what we are grateful for in our lives. It is also a time to recognize that, for many people, this time of year evokes difficult memories and is a time when being with family is not as joyful as it might be for others.

Knowing that with every life there is a unique history, we would like to offer 10 ways to observe Thanksgiving that can be enjoyed by anyone.

Before we dive in, however, we’d like to take a moment to thank you, our gym members, blog readers, and social media followers, for your continued support. We appreciate your trust in our team, your commitment to health and fitness, and the feedback you share to help us give our best!

Thanksgiving ideas to Revive Your Celebrations

01.

Invite a Friend or Family Member Who Might Be Alone for Thanksgiving

Even if your invitation is declined, everyone likes to feel included. Try broadening your invitation list this year and spread some feelings of warmth and welcome!

02.

Try Something Other Than Turkey

Every Thanksgiving, approximately 46 million turkeys are eaten! Save some turkeys from the dinnerplate and try alternative meat or plant-based choices.

You can easily make a main course out of fish, chicken, pot roast, and other meats, or take the vegetarian or vegan route and use hearty ingredients like mushrooms, squash, potatoes, cheese, and cauliflower to craft some delicious courses.

03.

Try Hosting a Friendsgiving

This seems to become more and more of a common practice with every passing year. Friendsgiving is essentially a Thanksgiving dinner that brings together your friends, their friends, and new people who become friends, over good food and great conversation.

With larger events, try asking your guests to contribute to the table by hosting a potluck-style event. This also encourage a diverse dinner spread because everyone’s cooking styles, food choices, and palates are unique!

04.

Spontaneous Exercise Challenge

Agree on the selection of a word like “Turkey,” “Cranberries,” “Thanksgiving,” or “Gravy”
Have each person pick a number between 1 and 5
Have each person pick a basic exercise like push-ups, jumping jacks, or squats

Any time someone says the word you chose in step 1, everyone in the room has to do their selected number of their selected exercise. The number and exercise will stay the same throughout the evening, and you’ll have fun trying to find your way around these common Thanksgiving words!

05.

Plan a Pre-Event Gathering to Help Disperse the Workload

Plan a simple Pre-Thanksgiving gathering with your intended guests before your actual holiday feast. If you are able, walking to the store can help you steer clear of holiday traffic and impossible parking situations. Everyone can carry an item and even help you with some early preparations like decorating or cooking before the main event.

06.

Serve the Less Fortunate

Whether you’re getting together with others or planning to enjoy some time solo, serving others is a great way to participate in the Thanksgiving celebrations.

All you need to do is a quick internet search to find places in your area where you can volunteer. Don’t stop at serving food, however. If you can, sit and talk with the individuals and families who arrive to be served. Hear their stories, treat them like human beings, make eye contact and remember their faces. These small gestures can make a world of difference.

07.

Plan Ahead

Even your hosts want to enjoy the gathering of their friends and family. You can help make sure that no one is left in the kitchen while everyone else enjoys the festivities by offering your help at least once or twice.

If you are the host, try setting the table the night before. Lay out the plates, cups, napkins, and silverware, and any other items that don’t need to be refrigerated. This can help make your event day run more smoothly and with less last-minute scrambling.

08.

Agree to Leave Debatable Topics at the Door

Some gatherings are particularly difficult because of discussions that become debates and debates that become arguments.

Agree with your guests, prior to your event, that debatable topics should be set aside for the duration of your gathering.

09.

Start a New Tradition

There are tons of simple but memorable things you can do to start a new tradition. It can be something like watching a certain movie, playing a game everyone loves, or creating a handmade addition for your cornucopia and adding a new one each year. This one is especially fun for new families or couples who want to commemorate each year of holidays in a special way.

If you want to go a little further, try signing up for a Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Trot! You can find events in your area, here.

10.

Get Creative with Your Leftovers

In the United States, Thanksgiving will be celebrated on Thursday, November 28th. Canada celebrates early in comparison, and observed this holiday on Monday, October 14th. In either case, leftovers are a certainty with any feast.

Whether you’ve frozen your leftovers from the 14th or are expecting more than you can manage tomorrow evening, you can get creative with your leftovers and enjoy them in inventive ways. Check out these turkey ideas to put a fun and flavorful twist on your post-event meals.

For some delicious salad dressing recipes from our registered dietitian, read her post on Homemade Salad Dressings 101. Or, listen to our podcast to hear about how to navigate the path between Fitness and Food This Holiday Season. To access our monthly blog post highlights, subscribe to our newsletter today!

What is “Toys for Tots” and How Can I Participate?

by Sandra Koury | Nov 20, 2024 | All, Home

From time to time, LA Fitness clubs across the country participate in the efforts of non-profit organizations. A campaign you’re most likely to be familiar with at this time of year, is Toys for Tots!

By now, you may have seen some donation boxes at your local LA Fitness. If you haven’t been entirely sure what those boxes are all about, you’re in the right place to find out.

What is Toys for Tots?

Toys for Tots is a charitable foundation organized and run by the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve. Its purpose is to bring joy and hope to America’s economically disadvantaged children through the gift of a new toy.

During the months of October, November, and December, new and unwrapped toys are collected and distributed to the less fortunate children in our communities.

Their efforts are largely supported by the work of U.S. Marines, Marine Corps League Members, Veteran Marines, as well as a diverse network of volunteers.

How it Works

With the help of qualified social welfare and community agencies, Toys for Tots is able to identify the children in each community who would benefit from the toy donations.

Local businesses, like LA Fitness, then agree to host a space for toy collection boxes where people can donate toys. For several weeks, the boxes are available and accessible to all who wish to donate. The toys are then received by Toys for Tots, sorted, and distributed just in time for the holidays.

How You Can Participate

It’s easy to participate in campaigns like this one simply by donating a toy at the participating LA Fitness club nearest you. If you’re inclined to go a step further, you can do any of the following:

Apply online as a volunteer. Simply Find Your Local Campaign, and click on the tab that says: “Get Involved/Volunteer.”
Become a Toy Drop Site. If your local Toys for Tots coordinator is still accepting applications, you can register your business as a Toy Drop Site. All you have to do is Find Your Local Campaign, hover over the tab that says “Get Involved/Volunteer,” and then select “Become a Toy Drop Site.”
Host a Toys for Tots Event. Once you have found Your Local Campaign, another option under the “Get Involved/Volunteer” tab is: “Host a Toys for Tots Event.” Not all localities will have this option, but you can check if it is available in your area by following these steps.
Donate. Toys for Tots has a multitude of ways that you can donate. You can contribute funds, participate in employer matching, and even donate your car! Visit their site to see all the ways you can donate.

If you do not see a toy donation box at your local LA Fitness, keep in mind that Toys for Tots relies heavily on volunteer assistance and they may not have had the manpower to serve every interested business in the area. If you would like to donate a toy but are unsure where to find a drop site, you can follow these steps* to find the closest participating location:

1. Find Your Local Campaign

2. Select your state and county from the drop-down menus and skip to step 4, or click the red button to enter your address and continue to step 3.

3. A list will appear that will show you the campaigns closest to the address you entered. Click on the first one, as that will be the closest one.

4. You will be redirected to the Toys for Tots website for the state and county selected. Find the tab at the top of the page that says: “Ways to Donate,” and choose “Donate a Toy” from that drop-down menu.

5. Here, you will find a list of all the businesses in that county that have a toy donation box. To make things easier, you can filter the list by zip code.

If you do drop a toy into one of our boxes, snap a photo for social media to help spread the word and encourage your friends to do the same! We can all be part of a child’s happiness this season, so let’s aim to make a positive impact however and wherever we can.

Keep an eye on the Living Healthy Blog for more ways to settle into the season of giving. To access our monthly blog post highlights, subscribe to our newsletter today!

*Instructions are accurate as of November 14, 2019. Changes to the Toys for Tots Website after this date may not be reflected here.

High Energy Workouts for a Head Start on Swimsuit Season

by Sandra Koury | Mar 20, 2020 | All, Exercises, Fitness, Home, Workouts

Getting Fit for Swimsuit Season

For a solid high-energy workout, you’ve got to put in the work! Even if you’re not keeping up with the class or if you’re running a slow mile compared to someone else, putting in the best that you can do means you’re getting an amazing workout.

Your body is always competing with its own personal best. If you are challenging yourself in a way you haven’t been challenged before, then you’re doing things right! This can mean that you’re doing one more pushup when you thought you were ready to quit or running your mile a couple seconds faster than you did the last time. Strive to outdo yourself in bits and pieces and you’re bound to get more out of your workout!

That being said, we know it’s easier to give that little bit extra when you have a game plan. Here are some options to help keep you moving until the last second of your workout!

Circuit Training

Circuit Training tasks your body to perform a series of exercises back to back before a brief period of rest. This workout model is intense, not only because it works multiple muscle groups over the course of the workout, but because it requires you to keeping moving all the way through. If you’re really feeling ambitious you can even throw in some cardio before you start your circuit.

A sample workout could look like this: Complete 8 to 15 reps performing the Leg Press, then the Chest Fly, then the Glute Kickback, and end with Bicep Curls. Rest for 90 seconds and repeat the circuit 2 to 3 times.

View this circuit, and additional samples of this training model, here.

Plyometrics

Plyometric exercises can be upper body or lower body focused. It’s all about building up your movement from slow and controlled to explosive and powerful. Plyometrics are great for generating speed, but to accomplish this, your body will need to expend a lot of energy to move the way you’re asking it to.

Lower-Body Plyometrics – These are exercises like box jumps, jump squats, and switch jumps. The sudden explosion of energy required to jump is what makes these exercises plyometric movements. You can even add a medicine ball to increase the intensity. Click to view some medicine ball plyometrics.

Upper-Body Plyometrics – These focus less on jumping and more on generating power from your upper body. An example of this would be a clap push-up or a medicine ball wall throw and catch. You can view these and more upper body plyometric workouts here.

Drop Sets

A drop set is several repetitions of the same exercise that you perform until failure. You are essentially pushing a single muscle group as far as it can go. To help pull you through this kind of workout, drop sets are designed to allow you to drop the intensity of your movement with each set. For example, once you’ve done as many as you can do at a certain level of resistance, you allow yourself to continue by decreasing the resistance and performing another set.

The best way to perform these is on machines because you can more easily manipulate how much weight you’re carrying, and you’ll have a safe way to release the weight when your muscles finish their last possible rep.

View some sample drop set workouts here.

For more articles like this one, and to keep up to date on our fitness, nutrition, and wellness articles, subscribe to our monthly newsletter, today!

How Laughter Improves Your Health

by Sandra Koury | Mar 18, 2020 | All, Home, Wellness

The phrase “laughter is the best medicine” is widely known, but how did it come about? What are the reasons behind its presumed healing properties? Apparently, there’s some science behind this old saying. Laughter really does have the ability to boost your wellness! Not only can it improve your mood, it can also encourage blood flow, heighten your immunity, increase your intellectual performance, and set you up for a better night’s rest.¹

Tomorrow is National “Let’s Laugh” Day. Make some time to go down to a comedy club or to watch your favorite comedy at home. As you’ll soon learn, a little joy can go a long way!

Blood Flow Benefits

Laughter can actually impact your physiology. To examine this, the University of Maryland Medical Center invited volunteers to watch funny and disturbing movies. While watching the movie that produced mental stress, the group developed a reduction of blood flow from the narrowing of their blood vessels. The opposite reaction was observed when they watched a movie that made them laugh. Their blood vessels dilated which increased blood flow.

The endothelium, the inner lining of the blood vessels that is expanding or constricting, plays an important role in cardiovascular health. It’s plausible that laughter can help keep it healthy which, in turn, can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.²

Immunity

Stress is known to lower your body’s ability to protect itself. Positive, stress–reducing thoughts can release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more serious illnesses.³ In addition to that, a study on laughter therapy found that laughing increases the number and activity level of natural killer cells that attack viral infected cells and even certain kinds of tumor and cancer cells.⁴This means that laughter can naturally beef up your body’s defense mechanisms. Those are some powerful benefits!

Intellectual Performance

Have you ever sat down to an exam, a difficult assignment, or a meeting, and felt too anxious to really give it your best? Laughter can help you improve your intellectual performance because it helps relieve your anxiety! In an experiment that tested this concept, participants who were exposed to funny cartoons before a mathematics exam performed better than participants who did not have this exposure.⁵ When anxiety cannot impair your thinking, it is easier to perform intellectual tasks.

Better Sleep

Because laughter stimulates blood circulation and helps your muscles relax, physical symptoms of stress are allowed to dissipate.³ Reducing your stress levels can help your body reach the state of relaxation it needs in order to fall asleep and to sleep more restfully. A key finding among studies that examined laughter therapy and its effects on depression and sleep was that once a week was insufficient. Laughter therapy provided more than twice a week was shown to improve both depression and quality of sleep in participants.⁶

It seems the old saying has some merit! Even if some of its effects are minor or gradual, there’s no doubt the body can benefit from a good laugh. Read up on more interesting health topics and stay in-the-know by subscribing to our monthly newsletter!

Nutritious Green Foods You Didn’t Know About

by Sandra Koury | Mar 17, 2020 | All, Home, Nutrition

Today we’re all about those healthy greens! We’ve got some interesting fruits and veggies to share, and they’re not your everyday choices. We’re pretty sure you’ll come across at least one you either haven’t heard of or haven’t considered putting on your plate!

Good nutrition is all about variety, so pick out one of these fresh choices and see what delicious creation you can devise.

Nutritious Green Veggies

Purslane

Purslane is technically an edible succulent. Its leaves are tender yet crisp and even the stem is edible. In many parts of the world, purslane is considered a weed and is plucked and discarded. Throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, however, it is widely consumed.¹ Whether you regard it as a delicious veggie or a weed for the discard pile is up to your taste preferences.

Purslane’s flavor is lemony and, when fresh, its texture holds up well to acidic salad dressings. Not only does it taste good, it’s highly nutritious. According to recent research, purslane contains significant levels of Omega-3 fatty acids (5 times more than spinach!) and more Vitamin A than any other leafy green vegetable!

Enjoy purslane in a fresh salad, in your sandwich, or even in soups and stews.

Turnip Greens

Turnips are a root vegetable and they’re commonly enjoyed fresh, cooked, or pickled. The star of the show today, however, is the green top! Turnip greens can be consumed as a cruciferous vegetable.

Like other bitter greens, these will have to be boiled down to be palatable.² The extra effort is worth it because the turnip top is even more nutritious than the root. According to Healthline, the greens contain significant amounts of Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Provitamin A (a substance that gets turned into Vitamin A), and Folate (which aids in the production of red blood cells).

Try turnip greens sautéed or in a soup!

Beet Greens

As with turnips, the beet root is the more commonly consumed part of this plant, but you don’t want to miss out on all the nutrients in the leafy green tops! Just one cup of these cooked greens offers 220% of the daily value of Vitamin A, 37% of the daily value of Potassium, and 17% of the daily value of fiber!³

Unlike turnip greens, these are sweeter and have a similar flavor profile to spinach once they’ve been cooked. Raw, they’ll hold a slight but tolerable bitterness. Try them sautéed, in a salad, or in soup!

Dandelion Greens

You may recognize these as difficult to eradicate weeds, but did you know the leafy parts, the roots, and even the flowers are edible?⁴Assuming they haven’t been treated with chemicals or herbicides, dandelion greens can be a healthy addition to your plate!

Per serving, they contain over 500% of your daily value of Vitamin K as well as high levels of Vitamins A and C.⁵ There’s even some research to support their ability to support healthy digestion and treat constipation.⁴

Flavor-wise, these are slightly bitter. They can be best compared to the earthy flavors of endives and are often sautéed or braised to help cut the bitterness.

Kohlrabi

Finally steering away from bitter greens, we’d like to introduce you to Kohlrabi. This is a small vegetable that has been a staple of German cuisine for centuries. It can be eaten raw or cooked and its flavor is similar to that of a broccoli stem.⁶

Like many other cruciferous veggies, this little bulb is a good source of fiber. It’s also rich in antioxidants, iron, and potassium!⁶

Use the root in the same way you might use carrots or broccoli, and the leaves in the same way you might use kale or spinach.

Nutritious Green Fruits

Cherimoya

Despite its scaly appearance, this fruit is soft to the touch. Get past its artichoke-style exterior and you’ll find pockets of sweet and creamy fruit within! Because of its sweetness, cherimoya also goes by the colloquial name, “custard apple.” Be careful to avoid eating the skin and the seeds (they’re usually large and easy to see and remove). Both contain small amounts of toxins that can be harmful if consumed in large quantities.

Interesting benefits of this fruit include mood and immunity boosting properties. Vitamin B6 is important to the creation of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, and this fruit happens to have a generous amount of this essential vitamin!⁷ In terms of immune health, cherimoya’s high Vitamin C content can help bolster your body’s natural defenses.

Chayote Squash

This fruit masquerades as a vegetable and is often used as one! Its mild, somewhat sweet, flavor makes it the star of many Mexican, Indian, and Latin American dishes.⁸

In addition to a number of good vitamins and minerals, chayote squash has some possible medicinal qualities. While more research is needed to come to any definitive conclusions, there are records of chayote squash tea being used to lower blood pressure and to treat bloating.⁸

Kiwano

This melon goes by many names and, while it isn’t green on the outside, it’s lime green inside earns it a spot on our list. You may have heard it going by the name “horned melon” or “African cucumber.”

This fruit is great for keeping hydrated. Its water content is a whopping 88% and it also contains carbs and electrolytes that can help keep you fueled and hydrated after a hard workout.⁹When it’s ripe, this melon tastes a bit like cucumber with a slight hint of banana. The easiest way to eat it is simply to cut it in half and spoon out the pulp.