We all know that we need to eat healthy and get plenty of exercise in order to maintain a healthy weight, yet if everyone knows this, why are we facing a nationwide epidemic of obesity - and obesity-related diseases?

One of the main issues is that while we all "know" this in theory, there is endless confusion over what these two necessities actually mean. What exactly is a "healthy" diet, and what type of exercise are we talking about? Some studies say 30 minutes of "moderate" daily exercise is enough - but how does the average person actually translate this into actionable steps? Is that just a couple of strolls around the block? Does gardening count? What about yoga? It is especially confusing when other contradictory studies seem to show that shorter, but more intense forms of exercise may be more effective.

We've covered healthy eating at length on this blog, so please browse our archives for more on this topic. Today, we are going to take a closer look at some fun and active forms of exercise that can actually keep you healthy, without having to slog away on the treadmill for hours, or force yourself to use those boring and repetitive machines at the gym (which actually aren't really all that great for your body anyway).

The first thing to remember is that the best form of exercise is the kind you actually do! Committing to a new workout routine every few months, and never really following through on any of them, is one sure way to never make any real progress towards your fitness goals.

Instead, it is important to find forms of exercise that you actually enjoy and will do on a regular basis, and you'll find it much easier to prioritize your fitness. Exercise doesn't need to be boring or stale - it's just a matter of mixing things up, and trying things you might not have even thought of as "working out." Not to mention, by participating in a wide variety of activities, you'll actually build stronger and more resilient muscles and joints, and reduce the risk of repetitive strain injuries.

Below are a few fun non-traditional workout ideas to incorporate into your regular activity lineup. Try these out, pick one, two, or several of them that you really enjoy, and sprinkle these throughout your week, along with some weight training and HIIT workouts. You'll be amazed to find how much they improve your fitness, without even feeling like you're "working out"!

When it comes to living a holistically healthy and balanced life, you may think of balancing your work life with your personal life, fitting more exercise into your daily routine, or eating a more balanced diet. But few of us - as adults - think in terms of whether we are getting enough "play" in our lives.

There are many studies and news articles about the importance of play for children's health and development, but what about adults?  Unfortunately, the concept of play is often seen as unproductive and immature when it comes to adults. In fact, many of us don't even remember what it's like to play! As this article points out, "in our busy, modern, and technology filled world we have been focusing too much on work, family, and structured routines and we have forgotten how to play."

In fact, play can be a very beneficial and important part of adult life, and can help us to lead healthier, happier, and more balanced lives!

Below are a few ways that play can benefit us as adults, as well as some tips for putting more play, novelty, and fun into your daily life.

Exercise is a fundamental human requirement for health and longevity, so why does it seems so hard to do sometimes? You would think that exercising would be as universally enjoyed as eating, since it is nearly as essential to life!

Yet for some reason, many people dread exercise and sometimes even go out of their way to avoid it. Many people think of exercise as difficult, painful, or just unenjoyable (by the way, I'm not one of those people, but there are certainly times when I can relate!), and we can see the result of this mindset all around us in the epidemic of obesity and sedentary-lifestyle-related diseases facing our society today.

So why don't we all love to exercise?

I do think some of it has to do with the messages we see in the media about exercise being "hard," as well as the portrayal of thin, fit bodies as an ideal that we just don't feel we can live up to. However, I think an even greater cause of our dislike of exercise is the unnatural separation of movement from our livelihoods and daily routine.

Humans originally evolved as creatures of nearly constant movement. When we weren't sleeping or eating, we were moving - climbing, walking, running, jumping, chasing prey (or being chased), digging, stooping, reaching, and generally incorporating movement into just about every aspect of our day.

As we became more settled and adopted an agrarian lifestyle, our lives were similarly intertwined with motion as we cultivated and harvested crops, erected homes, built furniture, killed and cooked and processed our food, scrubbed laundry, tended to animals, and went about all the tasks of daily living in a world where we had to provide most of our physical needs for ourselves.

The industrial revolution began to change all of this, as factories automated so many aspects of production, moving us further and further from the processing of our food, the making of our textiles, and the creation of most of our worldly goods - namely, everything we used to do for ourselves that involved exercise.

Now we find ourselves in what can rightfully be called a "knowledge economy," where the jobs that are considered the highest "value" are also usually the ones that require the least physical labor, and our health as a society is suffering for it.

So what is the solution?

It is neither practical nor advisable for everyone to go back to growing, harvesting, and processing 100% of our own food (although I heartily support anyone who tries!), or making all of our own clothing, furniture, and other goods, and generally spending all of our time just trying to physically survive. But clearly we need to find a way to get more exercise into our daily routine. Our health depends on it!

There are many ways to do this (and you can browse our archives for some of them), but in my mind the easiest way lies in finding ways to incorporate more natural movement into our daily lives, beyond just "working out" at the gym for an hour every so often. Not only does this method involve less effort and planning than more structured workout routines, but it is also more attractive to those who "hate to exercise."

Below are 7 easy and fun ways to get more exercise - without working out:

Obesity has become an epidemic in America, leading many to an ongoing search for that "magic pill" that will help them lose weight. Fad diets, diet pills, and exercise trends abound, but the truth is that unfortunately, there is no magic pill... Only a healthy lifestyle - eating right, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, caring for your microbiome - and balancing your caloric intake with your caloric burn - will do the trick.

However, that doesn't mean that there aren't certain dietary habits or certain forms of exercise that are more effective than others when it comes to shedding extra pounds.

Today's guest post is about the latter. If you are looking to lose weight, the article below by leading fitness and wellness expert Yuri Elkaim will explain why certain forms of exercise can be more effective at burning calories faster. He also includes a sample exercise set that you can do at the gym that will burn approximately twice as many calories as a typical cardio workout in the same amount of time.

The holidays are here, and we're all busier than ever! Unfortunately, along with all the fun and hustle and bustle of the holiday season comes lots of tempting and not-so-healthy food, and most of us tend to "slack off" at the gym this time of year.

You may have plans to hit the gym hard come January, but why not make a little extra effort now to avoid putting on all those extra pounds in the first place?

Instead of starting back at square one for the New Year, what if you actually ended the year in better shape than when you started?

If you're thinking, "who has the time for that?" you may be surprised to learn that you can actually get a very respectable amount of exercise throughout your work day, even if you have a desk job, and even if your schedule is WAY too busy this time of year to fit in a visit to the gym - or even to take a long walk during lunch!

I, myself, am busier than ever right now with all the holiday preparations, which is why I'm happy to share a guest post with you this week, from one of my favorite authors and fitness and nutrition experts. Check it out below to find out how you can use "mini-workouts" to stay fit during the holiday season and beyond, without ever going to the gym. These are also useful for staving off stiffness and soreness due to sitting, and they can also be a good way to break yourself out of an exercise rut. Even better, you can do them anytime, anywhere, with zero equipment required - and they only take 2-3 minutes!

Please note that we will be taking a break next week for holiday, and we wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We all know that exercise is good for us. Not only does regular exercise help us to stay in shape, avoid injury, maintain a healthy weight, and prolong our lives, it is also linked to a reduced risk of almost every modern disease.

So why do so few of us get enough of it?

While there are many factors that contribute to our lack of exercise as a society, one of the main reasons is that we're just so darned *busy.* With dozens of demands on our time every day, we tend to prioritize the things that are urgent and the things that we enjoy the most - neither of which applies to exercise for most people.

With a full-time job, family responsibilities, social activities, and hobbies to juggle, going to the gym for an hour or so 3-4 times per week is often at the bottom of the priorities list. This is bad news for our health as a nation, and we can see the results in our worsening health and increasing waistlines.

The good news is, getting enough exercise to stay healthy may take a lot less time than you think...

According to scientific studies, researchers have discovered that as little as 30 minutes of exercise per week may improve health and longevity rather significantly.

BUT - it all depends on the type of exercise you're doing...

It's the first weekend in May, which means...it's time for your monthly "freebie"!

This month I've got something a little different for you...

If you have ever wanted to lose weight - or just feel better about your body - this fun and inspiring 3-Day Challenge is designed to help you learn to love your body no matter what shape or size, and effortlessly achieve the weight you desire - without all the stress, anxiety, and frustration of following typical "diets" or grueling fitness programs and still not achieving the results you are looking for.

Don't worry - it has nothing to do with weird "cleanses," depriving yourself of all the food you love, or spending hours at the gym every day. Instead, this challenge is all about mindset - and helping you learn to see yourself in a way that makes achieving your ideal weight easy and fun, rather than difficult and unpleasant.

Sound good? Go here to take the challenge now - or read more below...

Step 3 on our journey to achieving holistic health is, of course, exercise! Movement is key to good health - in fact, it is one of the most essential factors for a healthy life.

For the most part, how you move isn't as important as how much you move, but there is some evidence that certain types of exercise are more conducive to good health and longevity. Hours of long-form exercise that stresses the joints and organs (think marathon running) may in fact shorten the lives of those who make that their main form of exercise. But in general, as long as you're moving, you're improving your health.

Unfortunately, for most of us in today's modern world, exercise seems to be thought of as more of an optional hobby than an essential need like food and sleep - even though it is equally as important for long-term health! You will not die of lack of exercise within a few days or weeks like you would without food, water, and sleep, but you WILL die of it eventually - far sooner than you would if you treated it as the essential need that it is.

As I explain below, in order to stay lively and healthy throughout your natural lifespan, you need to get moving!

You may already know this, but...I love yoga! I love it so much, in fact, that I even started a blog about it this year. :-)

I have tried a number of different types of yoga, and Kundalini is the one that I find the most fulfilling - at least for the past few years. But regardless of which type of yoga you prefer, the fact is that yoga is just plain good for you!

Doctors, mental health professionals, and regular old yoga practitioners like you and me all agree - yoga has loads of awesome health benefits for people of all ages and physical conditions. Of course, any form of exercise has its benefits, but yoga has some very special ones that many other forms of exercise just don't provide - at least not to the same degree.

Below is a quick roundup of 10 amazing health benefits that you can experience for yourself simply by practicing yoga on a regular basis.

I was recently talking with my mom, and she expressed some frustration at the fact that her upper body workouts seem to have plateaued, and she is no longer seeing improvements.

A new term used by fitness experts to describe people like my mom, or those who fail to see results from typical workout routines, is "exercise nonresponders."

Personally, I don't care much for this term. It sounds like they are blaming the person, rather than the workout, when in fact, there is a lot of new research that shows that the type of workout you do actually has a lot to do with your results (or lack of them).

If you've experienced the frustration of not achieving the results you want through your workouts, this might be the reason...