Nutritional Bootcamp

I have been taking a Nutritional Bootcamp class at the wellness center where I teach. I have really been learning a lot and much of what I already know is getting confirmed and better defined. 

I have been using My Fitness Pal app to track my food intake for some time. I have tied it to my Fitbit that I wear daily. This allows me to see the impact my activity has toward my eligible calories I can consume in the day. 

In My Fitness Pal, there is a pie chart that shows you daily your ratio of food

consumed. According to the instructor, ideally half of your calories should come from carbs, about one fourth from protein and the remaining one fourth from fat. The Nutritionist leading the class recommends our carbs come from vegetables as well as grains. This allows you to have more volume without the higher calories.  

If you are wanting to lose weight then no more starvation diets. Eat regularly. Eat wisely. Eat a balanced diet. Eat low-cal healthy snacks between meals to balance blood sugar. This will keep you from sabotaging yourself. Supper is the worst time to blow it since your body is going into a short hibernation overnight.

Think about changing your mindset. Do not look at healthy eating, portion control and weight loss as deprivation. In order to be successful, it needs to be a lifestyle change where you eat moderately. You have to make healthier choices and exercise regularly. Drink at least 8 cups of water per day. Begin to look at ways to be consistent. Habitual.

This should not be seen as a punishment or a list of all the things you can't do. It isn't about beating yourself up if you indulge. It is about having a positive attitude. Embracing a healthier mindset. Determining to make great choices and being in control of you with Gods indwelling power instead of your stomach telling you what to do. Or should I say demanding. OUR STOMACHS ARE NOT OUR GOD!!!

As for exercise. get active daily. Try to make it fun and regular. Try joining a gym or running group. Buy you a treadmill, stair climber, elliptical, or any cardio machine for your home. You can hire a personal trainer. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and desire. Accountability is very helpful to aid your success. If you do not like the gym and do not want to invest in equipment, try going for long walks with a friend, spouse, child or dog. You will improve your health as well as strengthen your relationships, eliminate loneliness and elevate your moods.

Looking at this from a spiritual perspective, think about what you believe. Not what you think you are suppose to believe, but what you really believe about yourself, your image as well as your belief of God. I am not looking for what you should believe but what is it you really believe. What would you say if I told you that I believe that our outward actions reflect what we really believe. So if we want our actions to change we need to figure out where we are believing lies from the enemy. We need to change our beliefs so that they line up with what God says, and then the actions will follow. 

You see I think we know in our head what we ought to believe. But it is another thing entirely to believe it. 

We know that Abraham believed God.  How do we know that, because he did what God commanded. Our actions demonstrate our true beliefs. Jesus believed God, how do we know that. He demonstrated it by his action. (even to the cross -- although he asked for the cup to be taken from him)  

It is not for our condemnation if our beliefs are askew. It is for our enlightenment when we realize it. We can come to the Father and say I believe. Help me with my unbelief. Totally reliant on Him to help us believe correctly. 

So if we will come to Him and ask Him to help us line up our believing, we may see that our physical health as well as our overall well being just begins to get line up. 

It is possible that our eating has become our stronghold.  (click on stronghold to read further)

Learning the Art of Caring for the Temple

 

When a toddler is learning to walk, a good mom never spanks the child for falling. For every fall is teaching the toddler balance and building strength.   Just remember that this life isn't about getting things perfect. It is a marathon of learning and relying on God.   It is all about a relationship with Him through His Spirit by what His Son did on the cross   

Brothers and Sisters who are dearly loved by God, you have a divine purpose. 

Each of us need to care for the temple as an act of worship to our king. Not to worship our body or have others worship it, but as an act of worship.  Just as if Jesus were coming to your house for a visit, you would care for it because "COMPNY is COMIN'"  (hopefully you can read that with a southern accent -- misspelled on purpose)

We are more than conquerors.  We are children dearly loved by our Father and He has chosen us for a divine purpose.  We are called to bring Him much glory in this world.  The greatest privilege is to live a life that so reflects His image that we are practically transparent (see through) so that the world sees Jesus.  Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  So let’s take care of the housekeeping and do it not for self but unto the Lord. 

When reaching for food out of habit or just because it is time, stop and think.  Grab you a glass or bottle of water.  Drink it all!  Now are you still hungry?  If so, eat a reasonable amount.  

Stay as close to the original food as possible.  The more processed a food is, the less it will truly satisfy the nutritional needs your body has.  When we look out at 3^rd world nations, we see malnutrition.  But if we truly understood what that means, we would see it here in this country as well.  When we strip the nutritional value from a food to extend its shelf life, we have eliminated its purpose for eating it.  Americans are overweight but malnourished.  The reason many overeat is that the body communicates to the brain what it needs through cravings.  But if those cravings are misread then we eat the wrong foods.  Our body may crave magnesium.  (most women crave this in the form of chocolate)  You can appease this by supplements or eating foods high in magnesium.  Even chocolate is not the problem.  But if I eat something else instead that has a long shelf life and that is manufactured until the magnesium is not even hardly a trace in the item I choose to eat; then I have consumed a high calorie item without meeting my nutritional need.  This means the craving for the magnesium was never met, the deficiency is still there and I will continue consuming or desiring to consume until the deficit is met.   Simple as that.  

Most isles in the center of the grocery store is all processed foods.  If you will start purchasing MOST of your groceries in the perimeter of the store, you will start to find that you will wean yourself off the bulk of your processed foods.  Does that mean you can never have another bowl of Mac N Cheese?  No,  It means that processed foods need to be reduced, and whole foods need to become more of a mainstream of your diet.   The main reason Americans over eat in my opinion is that they are starving themselves of nutrition, and the body is trying to preserve itself by sending signals to EAT!   But if we keep making choices that are of no value to the body, what’s a body to do?  The body is going to keep sending the signal of "I’M HUNGRY!!!!"

 

Regarding exercise, cardio at least 3/4 days per week for at least 20-30 minutes.  My preference is to do intervals of high intensity for 1/2 the time you recover.  (meaning jog for 1 minute, sprint 30 seconds, jog 1 minute continue)  Add weights to your week several times per week.  Park farther away from the entrance to make yourself walk farther, if you are in good health.  Take stairs when possible.  If you are sitting for long periods of time, get up and take a walk break.  Be a body in motion.   look for ways to be a BODY IN MOTION.  

Stay off the diet drinks.  They can have a reverse effect on your body and actually make you gain or make it harder to lose weight.  The artificial sweetener in them is known to cause migraines.  (among other possible negative side effects) 

Drink water throughout the day! 

Find an activity you enjoy.  Get you a hoola-hoop.  Jump rope.  Get a  small mini trampoline and just bounce on it.  Find something you love to do and get started doing it.

May God inspire you to endure as you take care of His temple, your body.  For I know, brothers and sisters who are loved by God, God has chosen you.  I also know that He will equip you and I pray that you will not grow weary in this endeavor.  Be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Have a great week!!!!!!!

Be blessed today. Remember GOD has chosen YOU. 

Step to Fitness and Overall Wellbeing

There are ways to measure your food intake & activity level.  You can journal it, what you do, how long you do it & how much you eat.  You can do it the old fashioned way by writing it on a piece of paper.  For the more tech savvy among you, you can log it all in on My Fitness Pal or a variety of other apps.  This is the one that I use and I have found it to be easy and great for accountability with friends.  It also interacts with other apps.


When tracking your activity, you can log your workouts but also I am motivated to talk today about keeping track of your steps.  You can do this with an inexpensive Pedometer or treat yourself to something a little more high tech like Fitbit.
Marc and I celebrated our 19th anniversary with one of the Fitbits each.  These are simply wrist bands that you wear and it keeps up with your steps, your activity level, even your quality of sleep.  The great thing about it is it relates my calories burned into Myfitnesspal app.
Regardless how you track the information, the rule of thumb is this, calories in versus calories out.  You consume calories as potential energy to use. It would be great if the ole saying applied here "if you don't use it, you lose it".  However, that is not the case.  Regarding calories, if you don't use it -- you store it for later!
My suggestion is the following:
Whether you want to just stay healthy or if your goal is to lose some of that "Stored for later" calories, try to get in 10,000 steps per day.
If you want to use up those "stored for later" calories, set your goal weight.  If you are within 10-20 pounds of that goal, take the goal number and add a zero to the end.  Let that be your estimated number of calories for the day.  
Based on calories burned vs. calories consumed, try to create a 500 calorie deficit each day which will equate to you losing 1 pound per week. Double that and you double the loss, but no more than 2 pounds per week. OK, this means, burn more calories than you take in.  (ex. if I weigh 150 and my goal is 130 then I would either consume 1300 calories per day if I just want to lose weight by controlling my calories.  If I want to effect it by activity, I would want to increase my activity to use more calories than I consume.  Meaning I can eat more than mentioned above, but I would still need to create that same deficit.)  for more information Calories Burned at Rest: How many Calories do I Burn doing Nothing








And for those Christians that read my blog, remember that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Just as the priest took care of the temple, we too are to take care of the dwelling place of the Spirit of God.

Is Weight Loss a Spiritual Act of Worship?

I am a personal trainer and fitness instructor by trade.  I know if you have been walking with God for long, you ponder your purpose in your career.  You may as I do, wonder how to do what you do unto the Lord.  I believe we are called to take care of our bodies.  We are to "tend to" the temple of the Holy Spirit.  If our body is the place where the God of the universe has chosen to place His Spirit by the death of His Son, I believe we are to take care of the temple just as the priest of the Old Testament were charged with the care and keeping of the ACTUAL building.

We do not need to worship our bodies, nor be spending countless hours measuring, weighing and counting calories.  Instead we need to have a change in perspective.  We need to change the way we look at food.  We have to make a LIFESTYLE change NOT go on another diet.  Diets work temporarily!  The reason they do not work long term is that when you loose the weight, we return to the way we ate before.  But that is the thing that got us into the shape we were in before.  So not only do we gain our pounds back, but they typically bring friends and we gain even more.

We also need to put exercise into our lives.  This is not for the purpose of weight loss but for overall wellness.  We need to be a BODY IN MOTION!!!  If we can get at least 15 minutes per day of cardio where we get our heart rates up, that is a great starting place.  Increase the 15 minutes to more over time. We need to exercise for our heart, for our joints, for our muscles and for overall wellness.  We need to do it so we can be stronger and able to accomplish more with the time we have been given, and so the Lord's instrument is working at its optimum level for His sake.  Work OUT Guideline for Cardio from my blog  This is not saying that if you have a disability or health issues that God cannot use you.  I am just saying we need to take care of what we have.  God can use anyone who is available and surrendered to Him.

We also need to spend time to nourish our spirit.  We need a quiet time where we meet with Jesus.  We need to read The Word, pray and sit quietly in fellowship with Him by His Spirit.  I believe that in our emptiness we long to be satisfied by Him, and when we are not spending the intentional time with Him, we get famished.  Out of our starvation for God, we begin to fill it with anything else we can find.  Some may fill it with food, another with alcohol and even another may exercise to excess or work too much.  There are many ways to try to fill up our emptiness.  But it never really satisfies us, and we are left with the consequences of the excess (like over weight, alcoholism, repetitive use injuries, or estranged relationships.)

So as you read this today and you say yep that struck a nerve, then maybe today you can take one step to make a change today.  I do not recommend doing all three at one time, but I do suggest you take one today.

Have a blessed day and serve the Lord today by taking care of His precious dwelling place which is YOU!

A way to help you accomplish your resolution (Old post revised)

How is your New Year's resolution working for you?  For those who made exercise and weight loss part of your New Year's Resolution, I have a guideline that may help you get a jump start.  It is merely a suggestion and by no means an absolute.  However, if you will take all or part of the guideline and apply it, you will find accomplishing your resolution more attainable.   Now I suggest at the minimum 3 - 4 days per week.  If you cannot do the 7 days, combine the belly blast as a follow up on the walking days.  This is the minimum standards and as you conquer these, feel free to add on time and speed as needed.  All you will need is a stop watch and a place to walk.  I find the treadmill is the easiest for me.


Day 1 – Steady Speed Walk – 20 min

Day 2 – Belly Blast – 15 min

Day 3 – Interval Walk – 15 min

Day 4 – Rest   (this ideally could be Sunday)

Day 5 – Steady Speed Walk - 20 min

Day 6 – Belly Blast – 15 min

Day 7 – Interval Walk – 15 min



Steady Speed Walk

Warm up - 3 – 3.5 mph – 3 min

Cardio Walk – 3.5-4 mph – 15 min

Cool down – 3 mph – 2 min

Interval Walk

Warm up – 3-3.5 mph – 3 min

Cardio Walk – 3.5 -4 mph – 1 min

Speed Walk – 4+mph – 30 sec

Repeat Cardio and Speed walk 5 more times

Cardio Walk 3.5-4mph – 1 min

Cool down – 3-3.5 mph – 2 min

Belly Blast

Combine ab with arms and leg exercises

If you want to add another dimension to your experience, motivate yourself from a spiritual perspective.  If you look at the Old Testament and study the commands to take care of the temple and then in the New Testament we are told our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, I believe a study on the care and keeping of the temple is in order.

New Year's Resolution

Now that we are in a new year.  I am thinking this is a great time to begin to challenge myself to some sort of New Year's resolution.  This year I wanted  to drink water in the place of my typical drink of choice, un-sweet tea and do it for the month of January.  I do love me some tea to drink and I prefer it to the food I eat.  But I have to admit trying to accomplish this has been difficult.  Although I have blown it several times already, I just keep on trying.  I think it is a great idea for me to challenge these choices in my life to be certain I am in balance and that there are no things that are controlling me in my life other than Christ.  So if you have made a resolution to lose weight, to exercise, or whatever, know this, if you happen to mess up, just get right back at it.  Don't give up.  (Also, if you say I want to start at the beginning of the week and by midweek you blow it, don't wait until the beginning of the next week to start again.  Just start back the next day)  Don't sabotage yourself.  Do pace yourself and be reasonable with your expectations.

I know that with those wanting to drop weight, if you mess up you feel as if you have completely blown it and you may give up.  But I want to take the time to encourage you.  Please do not go on a diet.  Diets NEVER work permanently.  You ask "why", it is because dieting is a misused word in our vocabulary.  Diet is just the way you eat.  We have turned it into depriving the body of certain foods temporarily  to lose the weight we want until the weight is gone.  Then we return to eating the way we did and returning to the weight we were and then some more.  Yet everyone just needs to change that way of thinking.  It doesn't work long term.  If you want permanent weight loss it has to be a LIFESTYLE change.  You have to change the way you relate to food for the rest of your life.  If you choose a diet, ask yourself this question, can I eat this way for the rest of my life.  If the answer is no, keep looking for a reasonable meal plan.

So here is the way to succeed in my opinion.  Eat a sensible diet (notice I didn't say go on a sensible diet).  Eat when you are hungry where you have much more fruits, veggies, healthy grains and nuts.  I typically keep my meat intake to 3 or 4 ounces as my serving size. (I don't have to have meat at every meal)  Drink lots of water.  If you do not like water, try to find a fruit you like to flavor the water, such as lemon, strawberry, or even a cucumber or bananas.

I always suggest getting off of the artificial sweetners.  Too many studies show headaches and weight gain as the side effects.  http://www.doctoroz.com/search?q1=artificial+sweeteners&cat=all&sort=relevancy
Several references are available by other sources as well.  However, here is my greatest source, look around at all that choose this type of sweetners, are they small or not?  Test it for yourself.  I do not know of anyone that actually lost weight as a result.

But I simply would like to see each person that reads this to be healthier in 2013.  I have been watching a number of documentaries about eating healthy.  If you have a membership with Netflix, I recommend watching a few of these.
Food Matters;  Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead;  Hungry for Change.
These videos are good sources of information if you are interested.

And lastly, be a body in motion.  You don't have to have a membership to a gym.  I recommend it since I work at one and I believe it is such a great incentive to work out.  But you can find other options too.  Buy a low cost pedometer and wear it all day.  At the end of the day it is recommended you walk a total of 10,000 steps.  That comes to approximately 5 miles.  If you would like further information, check out this website.  http://www.thewalkingsite.com/10000steps.html

Be healthy and blessed today and hope that 2013 is a great year for you.

Another Good Reason to Get a Good Nights Sleep

Fitness Tip of the Week from WorkoutMusic.com

Are You Sabotaging Your Workout Efforts?

Too many late, sleepless, nights has its consequences - illness, breakdown of muscle and even weight gain. Insufficient sleep can actually make you fat!



Your body produces more cortisol, an adrenal-regulated hormone, which turns on a fat-storing enzyme to increase fat storage, thwarting your best exercise endeavors. Cortisol causes cellular breakdown, depleting the energy stores in your muscles and leaving you feeling weak and tired and can mean you're too tired to exercise. Lastly, sleepless fatigue can activate the feelings of hunger, even if you're not hungry, resulting in cravings for high-carb and high-fat junk food.



So what's the final message here? By day be active and exercise, by night take a break for 7 to 9 hours and sleep the night away.

Flaxseed

Really excited about a new site I found.  So much information available if you want to check it out.

Did you know:

Flaxseeds are high in protein, soluble fiber and contain vitamins B1, B2, C, E and beta carotene. In addition to the omega-3 fatty acid that flaxseeds are also rich in, they contain calcium, potassium, magnesium and zinc.




Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/330229-how-to-eat-flaxseed-with-extra-virgin-olive-oil-for-health/#ixzz1BzemG2MB

Tips for Pursuing Healthier Living

Regarding caloric intake:  Set your calorie intake to be the goal weight times 10 to give you a general idea of the number of cals you should be consuming daily.  Begin to journal your food and record the calories.   (note if you are considerably over that goal weight you will want to do this incrementally- You will not want that to be the calories immediately - reduce the weekly calories as you loose the weight)

Roadblocks:  After doing the above suggestion for a period of time, if you encounter roadblocks, you may need to play with these numbers.  You can take a week where you ramp up the daily calories by 1-2 hundred calories.  Then return back to the original goal weight calories.

Cravings:  After a time, you may develop overwhelming cravings.  It may mean you have cut back on those cals too much.  It is ok if you have a day where you want to eat. You may need to ramp up your caloric intake for several days when cravings come. Be mindful of not being too drastic.  Being too drastic may yield rapid weight loss, but you will have a more unstable emotional state. (also rapid weight loss rarely remains off - you usually gain all of the weight back but it finds some friends to come along when it returns)  Being in an emotional state while trying to loose weight is usually a bad combination and will more than likely lead to failure.

Another factor that may be causing cravings is you are at a certain cycle in your month.  So always be aware of the calendar.   Hormones can drive us. Cravings in themselves are not bad. It is the bodies way of telling us what it needs. So listen to what your body is crying out for.  Ask God to reveal to you what it is your body wants. (scripture says we have not because we ask not)  For example, if you are having this insatiable desire for chocolate, you may need magnesium (there is a low fat way to get that and a fattening way)  You have the freedom to choose which one. If you are craving tons of butter, your body is probably needing fat.  (you can get a handful of almonds -about 5- or avocado is an excellent healthy fat) If you are craving sugary foods you may need to increase your carbs. You can choose multigrains to get that as a healthier alternative to a sugary treat. If you are craving anything at all, there is an underlying biological need driving it. So listen to your body. Is it crying out for a Snickers? You may be needing both the magnesium from the chocolate and the protein from the peanuts the carbs from the caramel. Should you try to satisfy that desire with a healthy choice? You can or just eat the snickers and enjoy it. Record it in your calories and accommodate for it the next day or so. It is not evil and it is not cheating to act on cravings. That is the beauty of this program. You can have what your body desires in moderation and on occasion. You just have to be smart about it.

In this blog, I wrote about focus and how it helps us succeed.  http://on-wings-as-eagles.blogspot.com/2010/10/where-is-your-focus.html  I believe that there are many ways to succeed at living a healthier life.  If you begin to focus on being healthier and educating yourself to make wiser decisions with what, how much and frequency of food consumption, you will find you will succeed.  If you focus on exercise as part of your life, you will find you will succeed.  The good thing about New Years Resolutions is that it gets you focused on the goal.  The problem is that most resolution fail because our focus gets quickly diverted.

Ways to develop this focus is what spurs programs like Weight Watchers, personal trainers, and nutritionist.  They are just methods to get you to focus and to help you stay focused.  The methods themselves are not magical.  They are only effective if you use them and they help you keep your focus.  As for the methods, you use what works for you.  You can get an accountability partner, you can post cards or pictures around your house especially in the kitchen to remind yourself.  You can join a fitness center, you can even find someone to design a food plan for you.  But your most important part of this method is that you remain focused on it. 

Encouraging others to live healthier lives is just part of my passion.  I hope you find encouragement in this today.

Weight and health risks - AOL Health

Weight and health risks - AOL Health

This is a good to determine your health risk. You only need to know your height, weight, and waist size. The calculator will tell you your BMI (body mass index) And tell you if you are at risk for heart disease

Weight loss (some simple tips)

Quick note of challenge

Find a parking space during the holiday season that is farther from your destination than usual.  Do not fight for those coveted spots up close.  Have a giving attitude during this season of giving.  Also, the added benefit of doing a good deed, you will be taking from your waste line. Always keep safety in mind.

When available, take the stairs and avoid those germ invested elevators.  Get exercise that way and stay germ free.

Weight loss (some simple tips)

If you have been following some of my points in reference to weight loss, here are some more points to live by. You are learning and retraining your relationship with food. You will need to give yourself permission on occasion to treat yourself. Remember these changes have to be something you can do for the rest of your life. We are not looking for a quick temporary fix. This is why you should pace yourself.  Treating yourself every once in a while is not the end of the world nor is it the end of your progress.


Allow me to put it to you this way. When children are toddlers and learning to walk, no one spanks them for falling.  All of us would encourage them to get back up and do it again. We clap our hands when they step and we tell them it is ok when they fall. Same with this for you when you are trying to make lifestyle changes. Progress is NEVER perfection. It is two steps forward and one step back.

Don't strive for perfection here, we just want progress. Say it again, DO NOT strive for perfection, we just want progress.   So NEVER give up!!

Think about this while pursuing weight loss

When you are trying to loose weight, always ask yourself this simple question, "can I sustain this for the rest of my life?"  It is important that you make LIFESTYLE changes.  The reason that most diets don't work is because it is your way of eating that you always return to.  Meaning, you change for a while until you loose the weight and then you GO BACK to your old way of doing things.  The old way of doing things is the reason for the weight gain in the first place.  So may I suggest that you will need to change your behavior.

You will notice that the things that I have suggested regarding weight loss are sustainable life long changes you can make.

So one simple change you can make is to look at the distribution of foods on your plate.  Ladies of average size should have NO more than 4 - 6 oz and men around 8 oz. of meat on their plate.  The carbs should represent a small portion, leaving you with most of your plate being taken by fresh veggies and fruit.  If not fresh, COLORFUL steamed, sauteed, grilled ect, veggies.  There is always some sort of fruit in season.  If you find none you like, try some of the canned or frozen fruits and look for those that are not packaged in pure sugar.  I tell you the convenience of the can is great.  You just have to make wise choices by reading the ingredients on the can.  I find if there are more than a few ingredients, I just don't buy it usually.  I cook with canned veggies some times and pour off the water in the can and add my own water and seasoning.  Most of the veggies are preserved in sodium.  Believe me it will be salty enough.

During this time, start trying things you haven't liked before that you know are good for you.  You may think you don't like certain veggies, but I promise you, we can train ourselves to like a lot of foods.  You just simple introduce it repeatedly.  I use to find ways to make broccoli, turnip greens, spinach, asparagus, etc. taste good. (using various methods of cooking and seasoning)  However over time, I have found that even my children like all of these cooked in a variety of ways.

Also, ask God to help you in this effort.  Let me tell you that a thinner me and a thinner you is going to be a healthy us.  Therefore, God is able to utilize us longer and more efficiently.  A little time focusing on our health can be  a worship and service unto the Lord.  If you look back at my blog regarding our body as the temple of the holy spirit, you will find that the priest took care of the temple as an act of service.  I believe we are to tend to and care for this temple.  We are NOT to worship the temple as some do in our society, but we are to worship the Lord in this temple and with this temple.

Think about asking God to come into your temple and empower you today to care for it as HE would see FIT.  (Get it -- FIT) 

Have a wonderful day and be blessed.
Lots of love
Bev

Weight loss (some simple tips)

When you first feel hungry, drink water and wait 30 minutes. Did you know that most of us do not recognize the difference in the feeling of thirst and hunger? These sensations are actually different however, many misunderstand thirst for hunger. If after the 30 minutes of drinking your water you are still feeling hungry, then eat.

Think portion control. 

Always remember to eat slowly.  DOESN'T matter if you only have a few minutes to eat, or that the kids are needing "this or that", you have to eat slowly. It takes time for the "FULL" signal to be sent from the stomach to the brain.  If you consume too quickly, you will overeat every time.  Once you overeat, you will have STRETCHED the stomach and will require more food to feel full the next time.  Eat slow and reduce your portions.  In time, you will actually SHRINK your stomach size and require less food to feel full. 

Weight loss (some simple tips)

Allow me to veer from my normal ramblings.  As I have said and many of you know, one of my areas of interest is fitness and health.  I wanted to take some time to encourage you today in a new and different way.

As the "EATING" holidays approach, you may find you are in the midst of the tempting Halloween or Fall Festival candy.  Call it what you want, but I call it about 10 more pounds. 

I have  a few tips and suggestions for those of you that may want to begin to loose weight, begin again to loose weight, or perhaps you just want to make sure you maintain your current weight and not put on those extra pounds during these EATING  holidays.

Here are my personal suggestions:

1. When you eat out at restaurants, when ordering your meal, ALWAYS ask for a"TO GO" box.  When the food arrives, IMMEDIATELY divide your meal into perfect halves.  One half should go into the box and closed.  This portion will ride home with you, and be used for lunch the following day.  If after 3-4 days you have not eaten these left overs, PLEASE discard.
Now you are free to eat your food that remains.  Enjoy.  REMEMBER it is NOT necessary to eat everything on your plate. 

Little side note:  I know your mom probably told you all about the starving in Africa, mine did too, but if you cannot box up the excess and send it there, you still do not need to be sacrificing your hips for the sake of the hungry.  You DO NOT have to clean your plate.

2. Try to reduce your portions.  Things to consider, meat portions for women should be no more than 4 oz.  Most restaurants' smallest portions is 6 oz.  8 oz is the average.  If you want to eat more than that, order fish or a salad.    If you are a wine drinker, 4 oz is an amount that is healthy for the average woman's body and 8 oz for an average man's body, anything more than that becomes toxic in your body, and you loose all of the benefits of the wine. 

3. Determine what your goal weight is and multiply that by 10.  That gives you an estimated average number of calories you should consume for one day.   (example: your current weight is 150 and you want to weigh 130 --   130 X 10 = 1300   and 1300 is the total estimated calories to consume daily.)  So if you have an event coming up where you know you will go over this number, you simply cut back the day before and give those calories to the next day.  Plan ahead.  You can use the online calorie counter ( calorieking.com )  or a book you can buy at any bookstore.

4. Last but not least, get your heart rate up at least 4 times a week for 30 minutes each.  If you cannot do this, you can try to do 2 hours a week somewhere within the week to be broken into intervals that work for your schedule.  I suggest brisk walks.  I will write occasionally different workouts that can enhance your exercise.  Remember: be a body in motion!

Please let me know if this helps out.  I will be posting health tips on occasion, based on interest and response.  So let me know if you find it helpful.