August Monthly Member Tips: Recipe + Workout

Experiencing an elevated state of health and wellness starts with our daily habits. The type of exercise we engage in and what food we are feeding ourselves to fuel those workouts has a direct impact on our overall state of physical and mental health. Each month, Hoag Concierge Medicine wants to make planning easier by equipping you with expert insight with a recipe and workout of the month.

Recipe: Breakfast Bowl With Oats, Pistachios, and Grapefruit

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats (gluten-free if needed)
• 1 3/4 cups unsweetened almond milk, divided
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/2 grapefruit, sliced horizontally into rings, and then halved
• 1/2 cup roasted pistachios, shelled

Preparation

1. In a medium pot over medium heat, bring oats, 1 1/2 cups milk, chia seeds, and hemp seeds to a simmer.
2. Stir in ginger and salt and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. While the oatmeal is cooking, mix tahini and maple syrup in a small bowl. Add remaining almond milk gradually, 1 tbsp at a time, until you reach desired drizzle consistency.
4. Transfer oatmeal to serving bowls and top with grapefruit and pistachios. Drizzle with tahini sauce and serve warm.

Exercise: Scapular Retraction

Scapular retraction is one of the most basic and effective exercises you can do to strengthen the muscles in your back. It’s especially important to perform this exercise if you have poor posture or forward head posture from frequently working at a computer or using a smart phone. The exercise also helps alleviate shoulder blade pain. By strengthening these muscles, you can improve how well they work as a whole unit. By working on improving their range of motion with a scapular retraction exercise like the one shown here, you can help them perform better and prevent further injury.

Benefits

Being able to retract your scapula is important because protracted scapulae make it
difficult to move your shoulder joints well. Being able to pull your scapulae into proper position
makes it possible to breathe and move freely without the weight of your arms dragging you
down.

General Instruction

Start by rolling your shoulders back. Try to squeeze your shoulder blades together, then return to a normal standing position. Do 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions. You want to try to do this a minimum once per day, ideally twice a day is even better. Take your time with it. This shouldn’t be painful if it is please stop. Consider pushing back with less force and doing less repetition.