One of the most important keys to getting well and staying well, getting fit and staying fit, and establishing healthy eating as a permanent lifestyle change rather than a diet is learning portion control.
Americans have gotten so used to "Super-Size" everything, that a normal portion looks skimpy.
Have you ever read the nutritional information on a bag of potato chips or tortilla chips? The listed serving size is from 8 - 10 chips. Have you ever in your life counted out 8 potato chips, put the bag away, and felt satisfied? Isn't what most people consume usually the entire bag? I can't even bring myself to do that math and give you that bad news!
The normal portion of meat is 3 - 4 ounces. Three to four ounces of meat is a piece the size of a deck of cards, or the palm of your hand. Shocking, isn't it? In any restaurant, just about the smallest steak you can order is 12 ounces, with many cuts (especially prime rib) a hefty 16 oz. Just for point of reference, 16 oz. equals a pound. At 150 - 175 calories per 3 oz serving, a 12 oz. steak means you are consuming 600 calories just in your meat at that one meal.
A normal portion of carbs is one cup -- pasta, rice, grains, fruit, etc. The next time you make pasta or rice, use a one cup measuring cup and measure out one cup on to your plate or bowl. Compare that in your mind to what you were served the last time you ate at an Italian restaurant.
Part of developing a lasting and successful healthy normal weight is building moderation into our eating.
There is a definite upside to learning to enjoy eating vegetables. They are the one food group that you don't have to measure! Eat raw or steamed vegetables to your heart's content. Just remember: butter, sauces, and salad dressings carry a lot of calories. Be sure to measure and limit their use.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
All or nothing never works!
Too many of us give up on our diets and our exercise programs because we are just too hard on ourselves! If you are your own taskmaster and your own harshest critic, changing that attitude is almost as important as eating right and getting fit!
We only have one life and one body! It is so important to be kind and gentle and good to ourselves, to treat ourselves the way we treat our dearest friends and most cherished family members. Ask yourself: If someone was as harsh, critical, judgmental, impatient with those you love as you are toward yourself, would you be irate? Would you take them to task and tell them to back off, or to BE NICE!?
It gains us nothing to start an exercise program with too high expectations or too extreme an approach, because we won't be able to keep it up!
If you are just getting started, please start slow! If you start out too stringently, you will either hurt yourself physically or become discouraged, and either of those could result in you giving up. Then what have you gained?
If you join a gym, ask them to help you get started, with a realistic program and realistic recommendations for numbers of reps and amounts of weight/resistance. If you begin walking, start with around the block, or just one mile. As you prove yourself faithful to doing that 3 or 5 or 7 times a week (your choice!), there are three ways to increase your program: extend the distance to 2 miles (and later to 3 ...), increase the pace at which you walk, or increase the difficulty of the walk by including hills. Walking one mile in 20 minutes is 3 miles per hour, and that should be your goal. That means it will take about an hour once you build up to walking 3 miles.
But please be sure that part of your fitness program will be consciously learning to enjoy it! You want to get to the place where you look forward to your daily exercise, whatever regime you choose for yourself.
We only have one life and one body! It is so important to be kind and gentle and good to ourselves, to treat ourselves the way we treat our dearest friends and most cherished family members. Ask yourself: If someone was as harsh, critical, judgmental, impatient with those you love as you are toward yourself, would you be irate? Would you take them to task and tell them to back off, or to BE NICE!?
It gains us nothing to start an exercise program with too high expectations or too extreme an approach, because we won't be able to keep it up!
If you are just getting started, please start slow! If you start out too stringently, you will either hurt yourself physically or become discouraged, and either of those could result in you giving up. Then what have you gained?
If you join a gym, ask them to help you get started, with a realistic program and realistic recommendations for numbers of reps and amounts of weight/resistance. If you begin walking, start with around the block, or just one mile. As you prove yourself faithful to doing that 3 or 5 or 7 times a week (your choice!), there are three ways to increase your program: extend the distance to 2 miles (and later to 3 ...), increase the pace at which you walk, or increase the difficulty of the walk by including hills. Walking one mile in 20 minutes is 3 miles per hour, and that should be your goal. That means it will take about an hour once you build up to walking 3 miles.
But please be sure that part of your fitness program will be consciously learning to enjoy it! You want to get to the place where you look forward to your daily exercise, whatever regime you choose for yourself.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Cold and flu season
I am not averse to medication, whether pharmaceuticals or over the counter (OTC) medications. But I try the natural route first, just to avoid as many side effects as possible, and focus on prevention.
Astragalus is a wonderful herb that boosts the immune system. I usually add it to my regimen in September and stop taking it in April. Depending on the manufacturer, I usually take just one with breakfast and one with dinner unless I know I will or have already experienced a serious exposure (like nursery duty!) then I take 3 times a day for a few days.
I also boost my vitamin C intake, and wash my hands and face frequently, carrying Purell and Wet Wipes in my car and my purse. I am not a germophobe, but I am religious about cleaning keyboards and touch pads and touch screens in my home and everywhere else that I have occasion to use them. According to CDC testing, telephone number pads and computer keyboards have more bacteria than public restrooms do! I also use Clorox wipes on doorknobs, bannisters, and the telephones handsets and mouthpieces, especially when one of us are ill. Since I started doing that, we have been able to avoid contracting one another's illnesses within the family.
I am also a huge fan of saline nasal spray. Many people have discovered neti pots for irrigating nasal passages, but I have found the saline sprays easier and safer to use as long as you remember to throw away what is left after you have been ill so you don't reinfect yourself. Also, never ever share nasal sprays! That is a sure way to share your germs! If you do choose to use a neti pot remember to use purified water in it -- either bottled distilled, purified through a home water purifying system like Brita or Pur, or boil tap water and cool it and store it in the refrigerator. This is especially important if your household water comes from a well.
Once sick, if things take an ugly turn and I start to feel things moving into my sinuses or my chest, I start taking Golden Seal and/or colloidal silver. Both of those are anti-viral and naturally antibiotic. Doing that right away usually lets me avoid taking a pharmaceutical antibiotic. I know they work, and I appreciate them when I really need them, but I just hate the side effects of those wretched things!
When taking an antibiotic, please remember to take acidophilus or a probiotic. Those replace the natural intestinal flora (good bacteria) that is killed off by the antibiotic. Kyolic makes a good one that is hypoallergenic (no dairy) and does not require refrigeration, so you can carry it in pocket or purse to take as needed. If an antibiotic has already given you diarrhea, take one Kyodophilus after every visit to the bathroom. Otherwise, take one capsule between each dose of your antibiotic as a prevention measure. There are no side effects and acidophilus is safe for children and even for pets!
I wish you a health and wellness this winter!
Astragalus is a wonderful herb that boosts the immune system. I usually add it to my regimen in September and stop taking it in April. Depending on the manufacturer, I usually take just one with breakfast and one with dinner unless I know I will or have already experienced a serious exposure (like nursery duty!) then I take 3 times a day for a few days.
I also boost my vitamin C intake, and wash my hands and face frequently, carrying Purell and Wet Wipes in my car and my purse. I am not a germophobe, but I am religious about cleaning keyboards and touch pads and touch screens in my home and everywhere else that I have occasion to use them. According to CDC testing, telephone number pads and computer keyboards have more bacteria than public restrooms do! I also use Clorox wipes on doorknobs, bannisters, and the telephones handsets and mouthpieces, especially when one of us are ill. Since I started doing that, we have been able to avoid contracting one another's illnesses within the family.
I am also a huge fan of saline nasal spray. Many people have discovered neti pots for irrigating nasal passages, but I have found the saline sprays easier and safer to use as long as you remember to throw away what is left after you have been ill so you don't reinfect yourself. Also, never ever share nasal sprays! That is a sure way to share your germs! If you do choose to use a neti pot remember to use purified water in it -- either bottled distilled, purified through a home water purifying system like Brita or Pur, or boil tap water and cool it and store it in the refrigerator. This is especially important if your household water comes from a well.
Once sick, if things take an ugly turn and I start to feel things moving into my sinuses or my chest, I start taking Golden Seal and/or colloidal silver. Both of those are anti-viral and naturally antibiotic. Doing that right away usually lets me avoid taking a pharmaceutical antibiotic. I know they work, and I appreciate them when I really need them, but I just hate the side effects of those wretched things!
When taking an antibiotic, please remember to take acidophilus or a probiotic. Those replace the natural intestinal flora (good bacteria) that is killed off by the antibiotic. Kyolic makes a good one that is hypoallergenic (no dairy) and does not require refrigeration, so you can carry it in pocket or purse to take as needed. If an antibiotic has already given you diarrhea, take one Kyodophilus after every visit to the bathroom. Otherwise, take one capsule between each dose of your antibiotic as a prevention measure. There are no side effects and acidophilus is safe for children and even for pets!
I wish you a health and wellness this winter!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Mental and spiritual strolling
The concept of "strolling" has more than just physical implications.
Type-A personalities are driven. We are doers! We approach life and every task with a "can-do" "let's get 'er done" attitude. We are goal oriented and focused on the end result. The problem with that is that we tend to blow through tasks barely noticing, and certainly not enjoying, the process, and we tend to never say "No!" and always have too much on our plate!
Just as taking an evening stroll involves slowing down, taking notice of our surroundings, and stopping to smell the roses, I am working at trying to do more "strolling" through my work day, my tasks, and my projects. I want to learn to enjoy the process, to savor the acts of doing and not just the end result! I don't want my life to be an indistinguishable blur any longer!
Even if I am just writing a letter, I want to be present in the moment. I want to carve out enough time to envision and spiritually connect with my intended recipient. I want to select just the right words and put them down on paper with care. I want to pray as I write -- not just for the one I send my note to, but for the mail carriers who will get my missive to its final destination. I no longer want just to check items off a to-do list! I want to enjoy the every step of the work as I move through my day!
And I want to adopt that approach to the mundane jobs -- cleaning bathrooms, doing dishes -- as well as to the "important" jobs like my Column and my ministries. Life is just too short to miss it as it blows by us!
Type-A personalities are driven. We are doers! We approach life and every task with a "can-do" "let's get 'er done" attitude. We are goal oriented and focused on the end result. The problem with that is that we tend to blow through tasks barely noticing, and certainly not enjoying, the process, and we tend to never say "No!" and always have too much on our plate!
Just as taking an evening stroll involves slowing down, taking notice of our surroundings, and stopping to smell the roses, I am working at trying to do more "strolling" through my work day, my tasks, and my projects. I want to learn to enjoy the process, to savor the acts of doing and not just the end result! I don't want my life to be an indistinguishable blur any longer!
Even if I am just writing a letter, I want to be present in the moment. I want to carve out enough time to envision and spiritually connect with my intended recipient. I want to select just the right words and put them down on paper with care. I want to pray as I write -- not just for the one I send my note to, but for the mail carriers who will get my missive to its final destination. I no longer want just to check items off a to-do list! I want to enjoy the every step of the work as I move through my day!
And I want to adopt that approach to the mundane jobs -- cleaning bathrooms, doing dishes -- as well as to the "important" jobs like my Column and my ministries. Life is just too short to miss it as it blows by us!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Poison
"Poison" is a strong word, especially when used in the context of food items. I don't use that word lightly.
Refined sugar, refined flour, and anything made of those two food items are poison to the human body. They provide no nutritional value other than calories, and boy, do they have calories!
New research also demonstrates that sugar functions just like a recreational drug, creating addiction and causing the body to crave more and more.
The problem is that most of us were raised on sugar and white flour, convenience foods, junk foods, and ended up hooked by the time we were adults. We also come from an era that valued taste over nutritional value, and we cultivated a taste for sugary sweets and salty snacks.
The recent research tying these foods to the addiction centers in our brains should be comforting to those of us who have struggled with our weight for years (decades?). It confirms what we have always known: giving up junk food, convenience foods, refined sugars and flours is as hard as an alcoholic giving up drinking alcohol! In one way, giving up food addictions might be more difficult, as the human body requires that we eat. We cannot simply give up eating once and for all!
We can, however, give up certain foods, deciding never again to eat those foods that are our addictions. Finding our "trigger foods" is pretty easy. They are the foods that trigger our addictive behavior of excess.
I finally got my diet victory when I treated my addictive trigger foods the way a drug or alcohol addict approached their addiction, with complete and total avoidance, and never cheating. It was an approach that none of the major diet programs employed, which was probably why none of those programs helped me gain PERMANENT victory (they all worked for a very short time!).
We Americans don't like having to give up things. We certainly don't like having to give up things we love! But giving up sugar and refined carbs was the best thing I ever did, and has given me more to love than a candy bar, a donut, or a dozen cookies! It gave me my life back!
Refined sugar, refined flour, and anything made of those two food items are poison to the human body. They provide no nutritional value other than calories, and boy, do they have calories!
New research also demonstrates that sugar functions just like a recreational drug, creating addiction and causing the body to crave more and more.
The problem is that most of us were raised on sugar and white flour, convenience foods, junk foods, and ended up hooked by the time we were adults. We also come from an era that valued taste over nutritional value, and we cultivated a taste for sugary sweets and salty snacks.
The recent research tying these foods to the addiction centers in our brains should be comforting to those of us who have struggled with our weight for years (decades?). It confirms what we have always known: giving up junk food, convenience foods, refined sugars and flours is as hard as an alcoholic giving up drinking alcohol! In one way, giving up food addictions might be more difficult, as the human body requires that we eat. We cannot simply give up eating once and for all!
We can, however, give up certain foods, deciding never again to eat those foods that are our addictions. Finding our "trigger foods" is pretty easy. They are the foods that trigger our addictive behavior of excess.
I finally got my diet victory when I treated my addictive trigger foods the way a drug or alcohol addict approached their addiction, with complete and total avoidance, and never cheating. It was an approach that none of the major diet programs employed, which was probably why none of those programs helped me gain PERMANENT victory (they all worked for a very short time!).
We Americans don't like having to give up things. We certainly don't like having to give up things we love! But giving up sugar and refined carbs was the best thing I ever did, and has given me more to love than a candy bar, a donut, or a dozen cookies! It gave me my life back!
Monday, January 7, 2013
Stroll vs. Walk
Anyone can stroll. Everyone can stroll. You can stroll even if you are in a wheelchair or a scooter. Babies stroll with their moms every day! Why do you think they call those perambulators "strollers"? You see, the purpose of a stroll isn't physical, it is mental, emotional, and spiritual. The benefits of a stroll are not just what happens through the movement of the human body, the benefits are from the fresh air, the light, the sounds, the feeding of the soul.
stroll (verb): ramble, saunter, wander or rove from place to place, roam; take a walk for pleasure; take a walk for enjoyment, without hurrying.
During the spring, summer, and autumn, when daylight permits, I add an after dinner stroll to my regime. My morning walk is my serious walk -- my power walk! That morning walk is an exercise, heart rate, timed, break a sweat, driven walk.
But an evening stroll is pure pleasure. It is a delight. It is the stop and smell the roses communion with nature, with my own heart, and with God. A stroll is a shed stress event! And it is a breathe in life event. Just inhale all the beauty around you and exhale all the accumulated worries, fears, pressures and disappointments of your day.
stroll (verb): ramble, saunter, wander or rove from place to place, roam; take a walk for pleasure; take a walk for enjoyment, without hurrying.
During the spring, summer, and autumn, when daylight permits, I add an after dinner stroll to my regime. My morning walk is my serious walk -- my power walk! That morning walk is an exercise, heart rate, timed, break a sweat, driven walk.
But an evening stroll is pure pleasure. It is a delight. It is the stop and smell the roses communion with nature, with my own heart, and with God. A stroll is a shed stress event! And it is a breathe in life event. Just inhale all the beauty around you and exhale all the accumulated worries, fears, pressures and disappointments of your day.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Made to Move!
Human beings are designed to move! These bodies are made to work, play, move. We are not intended to sit and sit and sit some more.
Unfortunately, too many jobs are desk jobs, involving hours of sitting at a desk, or sitting at the wheel of a truck or car, and that is just plain bad for us.
Doctors and therapists very quickly learned that even the disabled need to find ways to move in ways that are possible for them. Quadriplegics receive therapy in order to have therapists move their limbs and bodies for them in order to keep them healthy and strong.
Everyone can find ways to move and exercise. Nursing homes regularly hold sessions for residents in wheelchairs to exercise their upper bodies, and sessions for those who cannot stand for very long even having seated residents do leg lifts. If they can do it, certainly we can!
Even if you are presently biking, walking, jogging, or swimming, it is also important to do stretching and strength-building exercise, and use some kind of free-weights or therapy bands for muscle-building. A balanced fitness program addresses all three: aerobic, strength/muscle, and flexibility.
My husband said he started going to the gym to build strength. As he aged, he said he needed to continue with the gym to maintain his strength. He recently turned 65 and now says he goes to the gym to slow the decay! Ahh, the joys of aging! Definitely not for sissies!
Unfortunately, too many jobs are desk jobs, involving hours of sitting at a desk, or sitting at the wheel of a truck or car, and that is just plain bad for us.
Doctors and therapists very quickly learned that even the disabled need to find ways to move in ways that are possible for them. Quadriplegics receive therapy in order to have therapists move their limbs and bodies for them in order to keep them healthy and strong.
Everyone can find ways to move and exercise. Nursing homes regularly hold sessions for residents in wheelchairs to exercise their upper bodies, and sessions for those who cannot stand for very long even having seated residents do leg lifts. If they can do it, certainly we can!
Even if you are presently biking, walking, jogging, or swimming, it is also important to do stretching and strength-building exercise, and use some kind of free-weights or therapy bands for muscle-building. A balanced fitness program addresses all three: aerobic, strength/muscle, and flexibility.
My husband said he started going to the gym to build strength. As he aged, he said he needed to continue with the gym to maintain his strength. He recently turned 65 and now says he goes to the gym to slow the decay! Ahh, the joys of aging! Definitely not for sissies!
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