What are you doing?
Plank, planking, plank, planking!
(upbeat music)
From planking and push-ups in February
to eating less meat and more plants in May,
Doctor Jennifer Ashton spent the last year
studying how one small change in your daily lifestyle
can spark massive improvements
in your overall physical health and your mental well-being.
Each month, Doctor Ashton implemented a new change
to her own routine.
She is now here to tell all about it.
(audience applauds)
So please welcome ABC News' chief medical correspondent
and the author of "The Self-Care Solution."
This is Doctor Jen Ashton.
This is one tiny change in your life each month, right?
Correct, this whole thing evolved because I was coming off
of the worst year of my life in 2017,
and like so many women, so many people,
I spent that whole year focusing on taking care
of other people, and I really felt like
I had to turn the lens on myself and walk the walk
as a doctor that I tell people, focus on yourself.
An average woman, on an average day,
needs about this, 91 ounces, about 2.7 liters.
If we don't get enough water,
your brain actually shrinks a little bit,
that can cause headaches.
There was a recent study that showed
people who are dehydrated increase the risk
of heart attack and stroke.
That's what I was saying,
it's bad for your organs.
So this little hydration test,
if you tent up or pinch the skin on your hand,
it should go right, see.
Bounce right back.
That's the hypothalamus of the brain,
and when we get dehydrated, and we get thirsty,
that is the part of our brain that--
It gets affected. Exactly, so--
Okay now this, I also believe a lot in,
and I didn't start 'til I was 40,
meaningful exercise every day.
In the book, I have some movement challenges.
One of them was push-ups and planks.
This is designed so you don't need to spend a penny,
you can do it anywhere, it takes seconds or minutes,
and you can start from any level.
So if you go to a counter in your kitchen,
you can move a little bit away.
All you do is keep your body straight
and bend your elbows towards the counter
as much as you can and go out,
and that's where you're starting.
Now hold on, we're gonna turn it up a notch.
Okay now we're gonna take it to the floor,
and again, push-ups, if you need to start with your knees,
you start with your knees,
but we're gonna start the real way,
so get on your toes, firmly put your hands
right under your shoulders and go down and then come up.
If you only start with one, the next day, you might do two.
So I was okay like this, but then I wanted to
really get in the best shape of my life,
and I really wanted like chiseled arms.
You wanted Michelle Obama arms.
I so did, and I got that, but now I'm all about
the knee push-up to work your tris.
So you're gonna get like this, tuck your feet up,
you're gonna bring your elbows straight to your hips,
and then all the way up.
And literally-- So that gets you
a better defined tricep?
This works a different part of your arm, yeah.
(audience applauds)
And I would do a combination,
and literally, whatever you did yesterday,
you try to do that amount, maybe one more,
so that was the push-ups part, and then I would do planks,
and everyone's heard about the planks,
it literally works your whole body.
You start like this, you can start with your arms up,
you can go on your forearms,
and then you can turn side to side,
but as you're, you know, I would look at my phone,
I would play a song. I'm already shaking.
I would like look, yeah, that's good.
I would go like this, I would go like this,
I would do anything, but I was doing to time.
And by the end of the month, like I started at 20 seconds,
by the end of the month, I was up and up and up,
so anyone can do it. What do you do now
on a daily basis? (audience applauds)
Now if I were to start to do this,
I would probably be starting back again,
and so the key is just maintenance.
I can basically maintain it a minute.
I really wanted to bring more plants in to my diet
because I was eating a lot of meat,
in particular, a lot of red meat, which I loved, okay?
And basically, 90% of Americans are not getting
the servings they need of fruit and vegetables.
So these were all things that I loved
that I tried to bring more of in to my diet.
This is about a serving of fruit a day,
so this is fantastic.
I'm a big fan of brussel sprouts and cauliflower,
the way you cook them, I love. Me too, love!
And then this is where I would get my go-to,
like on-the-run protein.
I would take smoked salmon,
I would roll-up some scallion cream cheese,
and I would take a little bite.
Great source of protein,
omegas. Yum!
And then all this, which is--
Guacamole, but instead of chips, use some veggies.
Exactly, the crunch. Crispy kale.
By the way, you can make crispy kale for like two cents.
Turn your broiler on, spray the kale, put it in the oven.
Then you don't have to pay $9.50
for the little tiny dish of it.
Even I could do that?
Yes, anybody could do that!
And then just popcorn, things that give some crunch.
It's more fun to eat that way and--
I love these, these little snacks are made out of peas,
and they also make them out of lentils.
A big fan of those. Yeah, I mean all this,
this really changed the way I ate,
and by doing this monthly challenge,
after I came through that month,
I was like okay, I'm still gonna have my great barbecue,
or my great steak once in awhile,
but this is really part of-- This is all things
in moderation, right. (audience cheers)
(bells chime)