Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Womens Well-being

They are tired and do not have sufficient help or extended care after childbirth

1. New moms tend to focus on taking care of their babies needs and not their own
2. New moms are often confused and not sure where to start an exercise program that will not make matters worse

Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”?

1. It’s okay and necessary to take time for your own needs. Most women tend to ignore them and take care of everyone else in their family. Try to start by scheduling in at least one hour per week. You can take an exercise class, art class or even meet a friend for coffee. Then once you are doing one hour, try to extend it and do two, then three hours per week.
2. If you are busy it is easy to lose touch with “yourself.” Try to practice simple meditation every day. You can start by doing only 10 minutes a day. If you are a mom, make sure you’re in a room by yourself, so you can focus.
3. Walking is a great exercise. I live in New York City, and the advice I give my patients is to try to walk as much as possible. One easy way to increase your steps is to make sure to take a small 20–30 walking break outdoors in the middle of the day. You can also try getting off the subway or bus a few stops earlier to try to get in 15 to 20 minutes of walking.
4. Stop beating yourself up! Be happy where you are and use that as a stepping stone to take better care of yourself. If you are overweight, try to encourage yourself to make better eating decisions rather than feeling disgusted with yourself because that could prevent you from achieving your goals.
5. Keep a calendar, like a google calendar and schedule in all of your exercise, meditation and fun breaks.

As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate this for the public. Aside from weight loss, what are 3 benefits of daily exercise? Can you explain?

1. Overall wellness! Our bodies were designed to move and not sit at a desk for 8–10 hours per day and then end it with several more hours of sitting in front of the TV at night.
2. Exercise can help improve mood and focus because of the brain hormones that are released every time you exercise.
3. Daily exercise can help to relieve pain. Studies show that people who do not exercise experience more pain.

For someone who is looking to add exercise to their daily routine, which 3 exercises would you recommend that are absolutely critical? I like to keep it simple:

1. Walking
2. Daily stretching and breathing exercises
3. Core and hip stabilization exercises

In my experience, many people begin an exercise regimen but stop because they get too sore afterwards.What ideas would you recommend to someone who plays sports or does heavy exercise to shorten the recovery time, and to prevent short term or long-term injury?

1. Start slowly, don’t jump back to what you were able to do a year before childbirth. For example, if the tennis season is starting try playing shorter games and build up to longer ones
2. Use less weight and better form
3. Try to keep a consistent schedule of exercise

There are so many different diets today. Can you share what kind of diet you follow? Which diet do you recommend to most of your clients? I follow a diet that is high in vegetables, fruits, and healthy proteins. I avoid sugar, chemical additives, and processed foods. The easiest way to track your progress is with one of the many apps that are online such as “My Fitness Pal” or WW program. This was her take on her impact as an influencer and a about lessons learned in life “You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-) As I mentioned earlier: I became determined to spread the message that pregnant and postpartum women need more and better medical care, including physical therapy. That is why I wrote my book, Baby Bod. In spreading this message, I have been fortunate enough to receive a lot of media attention ranging from TV interviews to local TV news and online, including Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, Redbook, Parents, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Shape Magazine and have contributed articles to Mother.ly and Parents. 

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life? One of my favorite movies is “Field of Dreams.” There have been many times in my life where I had to use the mantra “If you build it, they will come!” I used this to help start my physical therapy practice several years ago. I remember family members questioning why I wanted to take a risk and how could I be sure going out on my own would work. I would just tell them “If you build it, they will come!” And it worked! There were other times in my career that I had to use this mantra, after all the health care changes in NYC many physical therapists had to close down their practices and go back to working at a hospital. Our practice was failing because of decreased payments from insurance companies and a decline in the number of referrals because the hospital-based doctors were no longer referring outside of the hospital-based physical therapy clinics. So, I decided to downsize and to totally turn my practice into something I loved. That is why I wrote my book and now I have a practice that I love. During this transition, a lot of people asked me, how are you going to sell your book? How do you know if you can change your practice to a niche market? My answer was always “If you build it, they will come!” When asked which celebrity she would like to meet, she responded “Arianna Huffington”. You can read the full article here