Reduce Stress and Weight Control Like Maria Shriver

One thing that you just have to do all year long if you want to control your weight or drop a few pounds successfully is to move your body.

That's not to say I encourage people to exercise like a maniac...or like they do on The Biggest Loser television show!

What I mean is literally MOVE...a little bit more.

Studies show that by getting moderate amounts of exercise it is easier to control our weight, our moods tend to be better, we crave carbs less, our energy levels are higher, we can focus better...all good things.

So if moving our bodies is such a good thing, why does it seem that we don't do it?

We don't put ourselves first...heck, often we don't put ourselves fourth or fifth...we're lucky to find ourselves on our priority list at all!

Most of us, at least most women I know, were raised to put everyone else first...that to focus on your own needs was selfish.

The truth is, by focusing on our own needs we have more energy to give to others.

Lest you think you just don't have the time in the day to add one more thing, it is important to know that we don't have to be totally consumed with ourselves...taking care of ourselves doesn't have to take hours out of our day.

I recommend a combined body movement and affirmation routine that takes just 15 minutes. It has worked wonders for me, emotionally, spiritually, and physically!

Maria Shriver, (you know...wife of "Ahnold", and the First Lady of California) has a goal of setting aside 5 minutes each morning that is just for her. She also works in some other physical activities as do I...maybe a quick walk, or doing breathing exercises.

Exercise has gotten a bad rap--it isn't about high school PE...it is about being healthy by getting enough oxygen into your bloodstream so your heart, brain, and other organs all function well...it is about reducing your stress levels.

Take a few minutes for yourself...it might not make you the First Lady of California...but you do deserve to be the First Lady of your own home!

Fruitcake & Festivities

I've never been much for fruitcake...but a friend sent this recipe and I am tempted to make it...
but then it would definitely not fall into the "conscious eating" category...and definitely not a recipe for weight loss success...enjoy anyway!

Best Fruitcake Ever

Ingredients:

1 or 2 quarts Whiskey
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 large eggs
1 cup dried fruit
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup of nuts
1 oz of lemon juice

Mixing Instructions:

Before you start, sample the whiskey to check for quality. Good, isn't it? Now go ahead and begin. Select a large mixing bowl, measuring cup, etc. Check the whiskey again as it must be just right. To be sure whiskey is of the highest quality, pour one level cup into a glass and drink it as fast as you can. Repeat.

With an electric mixer, beat 1 cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add 1 tsp. of thugar and beat the heck out of it. Meanwhile, make sure that the whiskey is still of the finest quality. Cry another cup.

Open the second quart if necessary. Add 2 arge leggs, 2 cups dried fruit and beat ‘til high. If druit gets stuck in the beaters, just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the whiskey again, checking for toxscisticity.

Next sift 3 cups of salt or anything - it really doesn't matter. Sample the whiskey. Sift 1/2 pint lemon juice.

Fold in chopped butter and strained nuts. Add one babblespoon of brown thugar, or whatever color you can find and wix mell.

Grease oven and turn cake to 350 greedees. Now pour the whole mess into the boven and ake. Check whiskey again, and go to bed.

Weight Loss Tip: Eat on Smaller Plates

This is not a new tip, but it is worth repeating...by using smaller plates you can actually reduce the amount of food you eat.

The size of the plate doesn't actually change the amount of food you eat...but what it does do is limit how much you can put on a single plate. This sets you up to eat more consciously because you actually have to add more food to your plate later. If you are a member of the "clean plate club" and you will eat whatever is on your plate even if you are no longer hungry (and who hasn't been there?) then this one tip could result in losing weight.

However if you mindlessly get seconds and thirds then the smaller plate trick won't work for you. Allow the smaller plate to enable you to take a breath and determine if you are still hungry before going for more food. Also take that time to determine, if you are still hungry, what will feed your body.

By taking this small break and actually touching base with your body you may be surprised to find that you really aren't hungry...you might have eaten more out of habit, because it was there, or because other people in the family are still eating.

A new book documents how our plates have grown over the last 50 years...which if you have ever lived in an older home and tried to put contemporary dishes in the kitchen cupboards you have already figured that one out! In The 9-Inch 'Diet', author Alex Bogusky notes that our plates tend to be 12 inches across now, whereas in 1963 plates were only 9 inches!

It may be that by going back to the "good old days" in terms of the size of our dinner plates will help us get back to a better waistline as well!

Reducing Sugar is Part of the Answer to Weight Loss Success

Sugar is one ingredient that can sabotage our weight loss success efforts. Not the only one, of course, but definitely a contributing factor.

That doesn't mean that you have to eliminate all sugar...most of us can handle some sugar--and trying to eliminate it is tough because sugar is found in so many of our packaged foods--and it can feel like deprivation...and I firmly believe that no foods should be totally off limits. My slogan is "no forbidden foods" because I believe that by forbidding them they have a stronger psychological appeal. But where you can, reduce the simple sugars in your foods and go for natural sugar, in fruit, for example--not because you are on a diet...because it is better for your health.

By the way, artificial sweeteners are not better...in fact, can be worse. Studies indicate that artificial sweeteners like aspartame will actually INCREASE your hunger levels and cravings for sweets!

You will be amazed at how sweet fruit (and even some vegetables) taste when you reduce the amount of processed sugars and artificial sweeteners from your daily diet. Your taste buds and brain really do adjust.

You can help your kids out by weaning then from high-sugar foods like breakfast cereal now. Cereal manufacturers have been facing criticism from health advocates for quite a while and over the last couple years many have reduced the sugar content in their cereals aimed at kids.

The levels may be lower, but they are still really high. For example the General Mills cereal Cocoa Puffs currently has a whopping 11 grams or sugar per serving! General Mills has made a big announcement that it will again be reducing the sugar in their cereals...with a goal of the grams being single digits. To do that for Cocoa Puffs, they will have to reduce the sugar levels by 18 percent to reach 9 grams per serving. Read the labels of the foods you eat and you can make healthier choices. A single serving of Cheerios for example has only 1 gm of sugar...so you can add your own sugar (1 teaspoon of sugar is a little over 4 grams of sugar) and come out ahead. Better yet, add fruit!

This will sound like a great thing, and no doubt they marketers will spin it really well...but that is still a lot of "added sugar." Added sugar is basically the processed stuff, whether it is white sugar, corn syrup or other sweeteners...as opposed to naturally occurring sugar in fruits and veggies. Experts disagree on exactly how much added sugar should be set as a maximum, but most seem to set the range at 20-40 grams a day. So even at the high end of that, one bowl of the reduced sugar cereal is giving your child 1/4 of the maximum recommended amount a day!

Reducing sugar (real and artificial) intake helps reduce your sugar cravings, and helps keep your blood sugar levels more stable...which gives you better energy and more even moods throughout the day. Ironic since most of us grab sugar because we are feeling sluggish...but it is actually the sugar we ate earlier in the day that is largely responsible for our sluggishness!

Keep in mind that the body does not need processed sugar at all to function, survive or thrive. It is truly empty calories that your body converts to fat unless you use it all up...

So a great health and weight loss tip is to reduce your added sugar intake.

Biggest Loser: Congrats Danny

Congratulations to Danny, the winner of this season's The Biggest Loser television show.

This finale show was a fantastic summary of a long journey...a journey where people begin a new life...and one that is really just the beginning.

There were so many incredible weight loss stories this season and it came down to two Goliaths--Danny and Rudy. Both men lost well over 200 pounds and are barely recognizable as the same person.

This is something that is quite a feat, and ALL the participants are to be congratulated. Some people had less weight to lose and the chance of them "winning" the competition was pretty slim...but they have all proven they are winners...they have what it takes--they are all weight loss success stories!

We can all learn from them. It doesn't matter if we are 20 years old or grandmothers...we CAN lose weight if we make our health a priority and change our mindset.

You don't have to make drastic changes...you can make smaller changes and be just as effective in the long run.

Let these folks be your weight loss inspiration...let them inspire YOU to take control of your life. One of the most impactful moments for me was when the show physician spoke about how Shay and Daniel have literally added decades to their lives because of their weight loss success!

To YOUR healthy, energetic, slender body--you can have it--and you deserve it!

Baby It's Cold Outside: Winter Exercising for Weight Loss Success

Brrr...it is about 2 degrees (Farenheit) outside...and frankly, I don't want to go out if I don't have to. So there will be no outdoor activity for me today...but that doesn't mean I want to skip my workout--so what are my options?

First, my definition of a "workout" is very different from your high school P.E. teacher's, Jack Lalanne's, and just about anybody else out there deigned a fitness expert. During the course of losing 125 pounds I realized that the best exercise for losing weight (specifically fat) is one that you will actually do! So rather than believing I have to do a specific type of exercise, or I have to exercise for "X" period of time, I figured out what would work for me--what I will do every day...or at least 6 days a week.

My basic philosophy is that ANY increase in movement is better than none. I call it the One Jumping Jack Theory...where if you commit to doing a single jumping jack and do it, you are better off than the person who commits to doing an hour of exercise and can't fit it in.

This is based on personal experience and on scientific research...but I won't go into all that today. Instead, I'll offer some of the creative ways I get in exercise when it is cold enough I don't want to even go get my mail!

Of course you can do traditional jumping jacks, push-ups and the like...but (1) that isn't very creative and (2) it isn't a lot of fun in my book, but it is an option.

You can also drive to a local mall and walk around inside...but if you don't want to drive on the slick roads that won't be the best fit.

If you own an exercise DVD you can turn that on...my personal favorite is Bounce and Shake from Dr. John Gray--I modify it and do my own version most days. There are also great videos/DVDs on all sorts of exercises from yoga to T'ai Chi to kickboxing...(these links will take you to Amazon)

You can also refer back to the Isometrics exercises that I wrote about a while ago...

But if you don't own a DVD or you want to try something new, here are a few suggestions that you can do TODAY...and they are FREE!

• Turn on your favorite tunes and dance, dance, dance
• Use your staircase--the original stair master. Go up and down one step, or an entire flight of stairs. (Don't try to do 15 minutes of this!)
  
• Cleaning the house can be a great workout--vacuuming, changing bedlinens, mopping floors, all work. Be sure to stretch, reach, and breathe.
• Do you decorate for the holidays? You can make that a workout by bending, reaching, rearranging
• Don't have weights? Don't need 'em...use water bottles or canned goods and do some simple curls and arm raises
• Strengthen your legs with mini squats using a dining room chair--start to sit down, keeping your chin up, stop before you sit and stand back up.
• Easy pushups using a counter--being sure you won't slip, place both hands on the counter about should width apart, step away from the counter while you hold onto it so your body is at an incline, slowly lower yourself towards the counter and push yourself back up
• Putting away laundry...focus on things that go up high or low--stretch for the top shelf, bend and reach for the bottom drawer
• Use the kitchen counter to tone your leg muscles--holding on to the counter for balance, keep your back straight and raise your legs to the side, to the front and to the back. You may have to turn around to be able to lift your leg in all directions. These should be slow lifts not kicks. Switch and do the same thing with the other leg.

Mix it up and do a combination of some of these...you may choose putting away the laundry and staircase master...cool, don't take all the clothes up at one time, instead take one or two items up (or down) the stairs, put them away and then get more.

This isn't about efficiently completely a "chore"...this is about getting in some extra movement, taking a task you would do anyway and getting some additional physical benefit from it.

Try to get to a pace where it is slightly difficult to talk while you do it...if you are easily singing to the tunes you aren't dancing hard enough!

Once you have done 15 minutes worth at this level, shake it out, and you can go back to being "efficient" if your task isn't completely done!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

One of the weight loss tips I share is to move your body early in the morning for about 15 minutes...not a big, strenuous workout...it gets the heart rate up...breathe deeply, and it starts the fires burning helping burn fuel more efficiently all day long.

We received about 8 inches of snow over the last 36 hours...while it is beautiful to look at it hampers efforts to move around and get the blood pumping...or does it?

I've been a weight loss success story because I change my thinking about my body, my health, and about diet and exercise...and I realized that here is an opportunity to "practice what I preach" and change another thought! Instead of looking at the snow as a hindrance I turned it around so I could see ways to incorporate different movement into my routine--one of the best exercises for weight loss is not one, but variety! Time to change it up with a little winter white!

So this morning I put on my wool socks and hat and went outside.

If you've ever shoveled snow, you know it is work...but maybe you haven't thought of it as exercise--but it sure is! There is no law that says exercise has to be in a gym or that it can't serve any other purpose. You can bring your tunes along, or just enjoy the peace and quiet the blanket of snow brings.

If you haven't been exercising much, don't overdo it with the snow shoveling...especially if your snow is heavier than mine. Here we have the lovely "champagne powder" so I can literally sweep it away--still a good workout, but not as hard as moving boatloads of cement snow.

My challenge at this form of exercise is determining how long to go...shoveling (or sweeping) my driveway and walk doesn't take long...so I added in the drive and walk of an elderly neighbor...and then added some community sidewalk for good measure.

My fingers were a bit (!) cold when I got back in but I definitely got in more than my 15 minutes and broke a sweat.

Remember to breathe...and breathe deeply...don't hold your breath when you are exercising, whether that is walking or shoveling. Big tip for winter exercise outdoors: wear a scarf or something over your mouth.

But you don't have to shovel snow to enjoy the benefits of winter workouts...if your kids have a snow day (or you have a "kid at heart" at home) you can even enjoy a snowball fight. Bend down and grab some snow, toss it, bend and toss, bend and toss...laughing all the way!

Of course you can go for a walk in the snow if you have proper attire if you want. If the snow is deep it can really work some different muscles just getting to the mailbox...but I wouldn't automatically count on walking in the snow as your exercise.

Why? Think about how you walk when it is snowy and icy out...do you carefully place your feet with each step so you don't fall? A lot of people do, especially if you are a large person who might have trouble getting back up, or someone who has had injuries in the past.

If you can't safely walk outdoors, you live alone in an area with snow removal, then what? We'll cover a few ideas in tomorrow's post...options that also work for folks who live where "winter" is a relative term!