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Healthy Holiday Tips

11/24/2014

While some look forward to the holidays, it can also be the most stressful for many. Some are stressed during the holidays because it becomes a reminder of broken relationships, divorce, missing of deceased loved ones and a difficulty overcoming the feeling of loneliness and depression. For others, the holidays become a difficult time because of all the food and the fear is you'll gain back any weight you may have lost.

In fact I saw on Facebook a picture of a turkey standing on a scale with the caption reading, set your scales back 10 pounds. So how do we maneuver through this time of the year?

Healthy holiday tips
1. Share your feelings. For those that are dealing with broken relationships, depression, etc., find someone you trust and share your feelings. While this may not change your status, it helps to have support to at least eliminate the feeling of being all alone.

2. Reach out. If you don't have family reach out to friends and/or your church or close neighbors. I would also say for those that know you have people that are feeling alone or who don't have good relationships with their families, invite them to dinner. The Mayo Clinic gives others tips for dealing with depression during the holidays.

3. Look for the simple things. One reason people get depressed around the holidays is because of the lack of resources to accomplish their idea of the "perfect holiday." Some get depresses because they are not able to buy presents or present the expected holiday meals. One thing that I have started to do with my family is let each child/family member create the dish that want for the holidays. We don't have a turkey or ham, sometimes we just can't afford it. But the goal is to have a meal together as a family. We try to keep the focus on family, not the food. One way to make the meal feel special is to have your family set the table. If you don't have china, that's okay, just make it feel as special as you want. Let your family be involved in the process. Health online gives additional tips on having a healthy holiday.

3.Enjoy your meal, but don't lose your mind. It is so easy to look at all the food on the table and pile your plate full of these wonderful treats to only feel guilty after overeating. So what do you do? Huffpost gives some suggestions. One suggestion is to stay away from the high glycemic, likes breads and pasta. If that's possible do so. However, that's not always possible. So instead what I have done for my family is change our normal holiday recipes and made them as healthy as possible. For example the mac and cheese has been alter slightly by choosing healthier cheeses and cutting some of the fat. My breading has been alter in the same way. I start with a homemade bread we make and I add veggies to the mix. Since we are having dressing we won't have any additional bread. Instead of a turkey or ham, I will bake an organic chicken. Now my family wanted ribs, so I purchased some from Trader Joe for them. We will also make sure we have something raw, a salad to accompany the dinner. Instead of the abundance of desserts, we will have only one. The key is we will enjoy the meal, but we won't set ourselves up to over eat.

4. Get in a workout. One way to help keep your focus as well as to help you with the holiday stresses, is to get in a workout. Do something that gets your moving. Burn some extra calories. In fact, instead of making your time from Thanksgiving to Christmas one hectic run from store to store. Try setting up sometimes for your family and/or friends to do fun things together. In fact, I need to ask my daughter about the indoor rock climbing location she mentioned. That would be something great we can do as a family.

5. Take some rest. This really aligns itself with the last one. If your family is like mine, you can easily find yourself busy with non-stop activities. We go from school, to work, to ministry events. Our only day we don't run (as much) is Saturdays. And truthfully the last few Saturdays have found my husband driving from one event to another all day long. So we look forward to the holidays as a family. In fact, we started a few years ago making December our vacation time from outside events. We go to the ones we choose as a family, otherwise we don't take ministry or business assignments that require evening commitments. We simply try to slow down and get some rest.

6. Get back up if you mess up. While I am not saying get completely off your healthy eating plan, I am saying if you find yourself overeating during this time, don't waste time beating yourself up. Instead get up! Get back on track and keep moving forward.

7. Accountability. While you enjoy your holidays remember to hold yourself accountable for your actions. If you know you will have a difficulty being around a lot of sweets, then don't bring them in your house. Yes, if you want one treat, bring in the one treat. For example, I find that I really like red velvet cake. However I don't try to buy the entire cake. I will either purchase one slice or the mini cupcakes with four in them and share them with my family. In other words don't set yourself up for failure.

Whatever you do look for ways to enjoy the holiday. If it normally brings disappointment or loneliness, look for ways to have fun with friends, co-workers or those that have become family to you. Don't try to ignore your feelings, deal with them honestly. Rest, relax and make this time about those you love and less about the foods, gifts, and slew of activities. Until next time, have a great Thanksgiving and continue to W.I.N. in health.

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Are you getting enough sleep?

11/17/2014

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Does this picture look familiar to you? Do you wake up in the morning feeling tired, like you had just gone to bed only a few moments ago? While studies say there is not "magic" number regarding the amount of sleep each person needs (because other factors depend on how much sleep you need; such as medical condition, age, general overall health and well being), it is stated the 4 or 5 hours many people get is not enough. In an article on how much sleep do we really need, it shared some tips we can use to help us get enough sleep.

Honestly, these are all things we already know, but for some reasons we simply don't put them into practice. One suggestion was about exercising regularly to help with sleeping as well as not going to bed shortly after eating. So what does this have to do with us losing weight and getting in shape?

The truth is there are so many factors that we simply overlook that affect our weight. Many times we are looking for a "quick pill" some sure fire routine to lose the weight, but we don't realize there are many of our daily habits that need to be changed to make our health journey successful. One of the ways we sabotage ourselves is when we are tired we often go for the snack that will give us the quick pick me up (chips, or other sugary treats).

How many times a day do you find yourself at the vending machines or convenient places getting those empty calorie pick me ups to keep you going. We are often too tired when we get up, so we grab coffee as our breakfast of choice and we are on our way. Lunch, what's that? If it isn't a left over donut from an A.M. meeting, maybe its a sandwich or something from whatever is nearby. By the time we get home from work cooking dinner doesn't look like a great option (even though some fight through and get it done), so we either bring in something or order up a pizza. Finish up whatever home work, house work and family work needs to be done and off to bed we go, to only find ourselves now unable to go to sleep, because we pushed ourselves all day and now when we can get to sleep our eyes are shining like new money. Wake up in the morning and the cycle starts all over again, UGH!

Try adding an AM workout schedule to that! If you have, you probably remember how hard it was to get into a exercise routine. You were too tired to get up to workout, even though you knew once you did it would help you feel rested and to sleep better, but often times the tiredness won out. What's the outcome? Based on another article by Denise Mann she states, "The immediate result? You may be able to fight off sleepiness. The ultimate result? Unwanted pounds as poor food choices coupled with lack of exercise set the stage for obesity and further sleep loss."

Again, I am not telling you anything you are not already aware of, but the question is how do you make the changes? I must say it is hard! Of all the different things I have done, getting enough sleep is still the hardest thing for me to do. I have a slight advantage of some that work outside of their homes, I can start may day a little later if necessary, as I did today. Today I woke up and I was feeling horrible. I almost felt like I had a virus or was getting a cold. I would in the past simply have said that is what it was and pushed myself, until it eventually turned into that. What I have now learned about myself is if I don't get enough sleep, I sometimes feel as if I am getting a cold. However, if I climb back in bed for just a few hours and wake up when my body says it's rested, I feel like a million bucks. The temporary cold like symptoms are gone.

What's my point? The truth is we need to get enough sleep to make sure our healthy life change sticks. Often times when you stay up late, you'll find yourself eating more. When you are tired, you don't have the energy to put into making healthy food choices or exercising. The myth that you can make up for your sleep on the weekend isn't true, you can't make up for lost sleep. So the only answer I have is you will need to make the steps to get enough sleep while you are also getting yourself on a better eating/working out plan.

One benefit is as you make those healthy eating and working out choices, you'll find yourself feeling more rested and better able to go to sleep when you do go to bed. You'll begin to feel more rested and have more energy for your day. It helps with clarity of thinking and better moods (who doesn't want to be in a better mood). The tricking part is the getting started!

The best way to start so that you don't get discouraged is to take it one step at a time. I often tell people give yourself 21 days to make the change. It is stated it takes at least 21 days to 30 days to make something a habit. So maybe you can start by trying to plan out your week. I know there are so many unexpected things that come up, but as best you can, try to map out a basic plan. In that plan make sure you account for what you will eat. So plan for your breakfast and a time when you need to get it in. If you need to prep some things the night before. The first week, simply try to complete your schedule of getting up on time to eat a good breakfast and preparing your lunch. Also during that first week, plan out your lunches and dinners so you can have those ready and or prepared when needed. I suggest if you have older kids or others that can help, take turns preparing the lunches and/or dinners or work together to get them done. Part of this plan is to also have a "lights out" time. Don't try to read, or watch television in bed, turn off the lights and go to sleep. For some this isn't so easy, so find ways that help. Maybe taking a hot bath to relax might help.

After you have successfully completed the first week, try adjusting your morning time to allow you to get in a 30 minutes workout. If that doesn't work for you, try including it some where in your schedule. For some people they just don't want to work out in the morning and for others evening workouts don't work. So which ever works best for you, make sure this week you include at least 3 days of working out in your schedule. During the last week, take a look at your results and make adjustments as needed. And finally, you don't have to be a "super hero" all the time. Allow yourself a time of rest. This is one of our biggest problems, especially moms. We are constantly doing for everyone and we forget to do for ourselves.

My day now starts at 4:30 a.m. I get up, work out and then I get my family up for school. We have breakfast together while I make their lunches. I plan at that time what I'm making for dinner so that it's ready for me to prepare in the evening. After everyone is out, I do my house work. I start my work day around 8:30 a.m. I end my work day around 5 or 6. I get my kids from school and get dinner on the table. I am not trying to make sure I am in bed no later than 8, 9 at the latest. Sometimes I make it, sometimes based on ministry duties I don't. The difference for me is that because I am in generally good health I don't have the same negative outcomes. However, I can't stay up late for too many days because I will feel it. So I hope you think about what we shared here today to help you on your quest to W.I.N. in health.

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Do I really need to weight myself?

11/10/2014

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I saw this picture and it made me laugh. If weighing ourselves were only this pleasant! The truth is many of us dread the scale. I saw another picture on FB. The caption read weight loss center and it had two snowmen, one with a blow dryer melting away the backside of the other snowman. The person that posted the picture wrote, "if it were only that easy."

We laugh at the many weight cartoons and jokes but for some this isn't really a laughing matter because they are struggling to get the weight off. So instead many ignore the scale. I know I did it. I know in fact when I weighed myself, I said the scale was broke, I refused to believe it. How can be we so fearful of such a small piece of equipment? The truth is we ignore it, because we don't want it to tell us the truth, what we really weight. I did it, and I know others that do it as well.

So is it important to weigh myself when all it's going to do is discourage me? There are different camps on whether you need to weigh yourself or not. I read an article from U.S. Health the shares some of the reasons why we should stay away from the scale. In essence, the thought is too many women become obsessed with what they weigh and it can add to negative body image and depression.

Another online article talks about how often you should weigh yourself. MedicineNet.com, stated, "But a group of doctors who studied obese and overweight adults who were trying to lose weight as well as overweight adults who were trying to prevent weight gain found that those who weighed themselves more often lost more weight and prevented more weight gain over two years than those who weighed themselves less frequently." (p. 1).

So what's right? This again goes to what works best for each person. I don't believe there is a one size fits all approach. We have to determine what works best for our personality and where we are in the journey. For me, I needed to weigh myself so that I could assess if I was moving in the right direction. I weighed myself once a week at the same time, first thing in the morning before I ate or drank. I tried to make the conditions as closely aligned as I could to have as accurate data as I could, that's why I did it at the same time each week, some conditions. Once I reach the goal weight I was going for, I weighed myself once a month. The reason for that is to make sure I am maintaining. After being at my goal for so long I can tell before I weigh myself if I am up in weight because my clothes will feel tighter. And I generally know why, I have gotten off track, eating too much or not doing my regular workout.

Another thing I did was get rid of all my clothes there were too big. The reason for doing that is to hold yourself accountable at the current weight you are. It is so easy if you have a day where your weight is up to go back in the closet and get your "bigger clothes." The only problem with that is before you now it, you will only be able to wear your "big clothes" because you stopped holding yourself accountable to your current size. I will admit that is scary and often quite hard to do, getting rid of all your larger clothes. But doing so makes your current sized clothes your accountability partner in a sense, they will tell you just like your scale did, if you are off.

I do agree with the first article that you don't let weighing yourself be something that defeats you or causes you to feel depressed. If it does then maybe weighing yourself once a month if you are actively trying to lose weight might be better. I would also add take your measurements. Sometimes you will see inches lost quicker than you will see the number change on the scale. Use both numbers to help you see if you are moving toward your goal.

So how do you answer the question do you weight yourself or not? If you do, use the numbers to simply tell you where you are in your journey. The number does not determine if you are a good person or not. They don't say you are a failure if they don't change. They are simply giving you detail. The facts maybe that you are still eating too many calories or either you aren't getting enough exercise. Or there may be some medical issues you need to address that are keeping your from losing weight. Use them to simply help you make corrections in what you are doing, but don't see the scale as a sign that something is wrong with you. And I say celebrate every victory. Even if the scale doesn't move, did you get in a straight number of days working out? Eating better? Then that's worth celebrating. Pamper yourself (not with food). Do something to celebrate you NOW, not when you get to a desired weight or size.

That's a valuable lesson I learned in my journey. I wasn't celebrating me and that's partly why I got in the shape I was in. When I began to value me, I began to see my eating, exercising, sleeping, mental and emotional health as something I owed myself. I was worth the time it took to make sure I kept my body healthy. I was worth the time and effort to rest properly and get enough sleep, I didn't have to save the world by myself. So weight yourself to give you the data you need, but enjoy and love yourself right now, don't wait until you reach a size, you're worth the effort for the entire journey. Until next time, you can W.I.N. in health.

Healthy Living - Tasty Treats

Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup wheat flour
2 sticks butter (1 cup softened)
1 1/4 cup of white flour
1/2 tsp salt (sea salt)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup raw sugar
3/4 cups of brown sugar (organic)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
nutmeg & cinnamon (dash)
2 cups chocolate chips (I use the 11.5 oz bag of Ghiradelli milk chocolate)

Preparation: Pre-heat over to 375 degrees and cover cookie sheets with parchment paper. Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg & cinnamon. Set it to the side. In your mixer place your butter and sugars. Mix until blended. Add one egg, one tsp of vanilla and blend. Add the next egg and vanilla and blend until smooth. Add the flour into the butter mixture. I add 1/2 the flour and mix until blended, then I add the final part and blend. Once blended, add your chips and you are ready to back. Cook until brown, about 9 to 11 minutes. (sorry one of the pictures in the cookie mix, the last one is the meat mix for my meatballs, not sure how that got in there).

Banana Ice Cream
This recipe I got from doing a 21 day Detox, it was simply two frozen banana's blended. I created the chocolate sauce with cocao powder and agave nectar and added nuts.

Yogurt Delight
Trader Joe brand coconut yogurt or any coconut yogurt
3 strawberries diced
walnuts (small handful)
agave nectar

This is a quick treat, take your yogurt, add the diced strawberries and nuts and sprinkle with a little nectar, delish! I you don't like your yogurt really sweet, taste before you add the nectar.

Chocolate covered nuts or raisins
My kids like these. I have two methods. I either melt some chocolate and cover pour over the nuts and/or raisins. Put in the freeze until chilled and serve. Great homemade candy. Or I either make my own chocolate sauce. You can use two tablespoons coconut oil, two tablespoons of cocao powder. I add a pinch of salt, and agave nectar to taste. When it is the sweetness I like it is ready to pour over my candy. If I want a peanut butter treat, I add sunflower seed butter or you could add almond butter as well (I adapted this from the 21 day detox recipes I did. If you want more great recipes to use while you detox go to the link under the 21 Day detox in the banana ice cream recipe).

Zucchini Brownies ~ I shared this recipe before (in a previous post), however take your favorite recipe and simply add a diced zucchini. It adds to the moisture of the brownie and no one is the wiser that it's in there.

Guacamole & homemade pulp chips
If you have dehydrator this might work better, but I used my oven. I saved veggie pulp from my juicing machine. Here is a recipe for it from Built Lean. I served mine with some homemade guacamole we made, great savory treat.

Frozen strawberry w/berries
Take some frozen strawberries, add a frozen lime, or orange. Add water and blend. Add agave nectar until sweet, serve. Each quick treat. Top with fresh berries.

Strawberry ice cream
Frozen strawberries, coconut milk (I used rice milk because my kids can't drink the coconut milk). Add teaspoon of vanilla. Add agave to sweeten. Blend in your blender until you reach the creaminess you want. You may have to add more sweetener depending on how sweet your frozen strawberries where.

Sorry I don't have detailed portions for each recipe, I am a let me try it kind of person. So many of my recipes simply came about because I wanted something and I said let me see if I can make it. With most of them I jump on line find something close to what I want and make the adjustments as needed. I give these simply as idea starters for you. You might not like the strawberry ice cream for example, but you might prefer it with frozen mango or pineapples. Just try having fun with your healthy eating.

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Supplements and Your Health

11/3/2014

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You are working out and you want to get the best benefit from your workout, and your healthy eating, so what else do you need to do? One of the things we often miss is adding vitamin supplements to our lives. There are different beliefs on vitamins. Some think they are a waste of times and others believe they are useful. I can only add my personal observation to this discussion on vitamins and weight supplements.

During my time of seeking better health, I learned somethings along the way. I realized this is a 3 part plan, nutrition & vitamin supplement, exercise and for some supplement and
accelerators. I started my journey with this saying, "insanity is doing the same thing, yet expecting different results." (unknown) If I wanted to get some different results I had to be willing to do things differently. I knew I needed to change my eating. I needed to shift to foods that were richer in vital nutrients, more fiber, less sugar and useless calories. I learned that foods that are considered low-glycemic are foods that don't cause my blood sugar levels to spike. When you eat low-glycemic foods your body is able to stay in the zone that burns these calories better. Foods like hot dogs, and other junk foods cause your blood sugar level to spike. If you eat fresh fruits and vegetables, brown rices and wheat pasta your blood sugar levels stay in the normal range and helps your body to burn calories better.

Nutrition: As I mentioned in an earlier post detoxing is important. I now live what I call a detox lifestyle, which means I make sure I am eating more raw fruits and vegetables with each meal. I also make sure I eat foods that are full of colors. For example, white foods strengthen the immune systems (like garlic). Green foods help to purify (broccoli and grapes). Red foods improve heath and blood health (tomatoes and pomegranates). Yellow foods help to fortify skin elasticity (lemons and yellow peppers). Purple foods help increase longevity (blue berries and egg plants).

Along with eating better, adding vitamin supplements can result in additional benefits to your pursuit of a healthy life. I have tried many vitamin supplements and some I have found better than others. Some of the store brand ones have caused me upset stomach so I couldn't use them for very long. I like the Market America brand Isotonix because they are powder form and they dissolve quickly in water. Vitamins that are administered in powder form get into your system faster and you receive more of the vitamin, less is lost in the digestive process. I purchased the vitamins separately, however it is much more economical and convenient to purchase them in the packet (pictured above).

I also utilize Omega III for these benefits:

Helps maintain normal cholesterol levels
Helps maintain healthy blood pressure levels
Helps maintain normal blood flow
Helps maintain normal triglyceride levels in the blood
Promotes overall cardiovascular health
Helps maintain healthy levels of C-reactive protein
Promotes a healthy complexion
Helps enhance mood
Promotes healthy lubrication of the eye
Promotes normal tear production and volume
Helps promote healthy blood flow to the eye
May help to retain low-light visual acuity
Supports joint health
Supports relief from temporary inflammation associated with the normal aging process and daily activity.

The other thing I utilized for a period of time was TLS accelerators. I used them for a few months, CORE and CLA to help me as I made adjustment to fit into my current healthy lifestyle. (click on the TLS accelerator link above to see detailed information about the product). As a person on high blood pressure medicines I didn't want to take anything that would have any adverse outcome. I was able to use the CORE and the CLA without any problems. Again, they can help but you still have to do the work. Maybe you don't want to take any supplements, but feel more comfortable joining Jenny Craig or some other system. Then do it if it will help you reach your goal. The goal is to get healthy.

If you are interested in ordering any of the vitamins, accelerators or learning how the TLS slim system works, you can go to my Shop.com page. Earn money while shopping for your regular things you purchase online and also learn more about the products. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me there as well. I also found an article about the vitamins you need to body build, it might be interesting to you. Until next time, WIN with Health.

Healthy Eating

Healthy Lasagna
Sauce:
Fresh tomatoes
Spinach
celery
mushrooms
butternut squash
peppers
garlic cloves
olive oil
seasoning
organic ketchup and/or barbecue sauce

cheese (assorted based on your choice)
Lasagna noodles

Preparation: To create my sauce I used fresh tomatoes (depending on the amount of sauce you want will determine how many tomatoes you use. You can also add tomato sauce, puree or paste to supplement, or you can purchase jar sauces. I can't use them because they have dehydrated onions and I am allergic to onions). Cut your tomatoes into quarters. Add fresh garlic, salt & pepper and coat with olive oil. Put the tomatoes under the broiler and cook until slightly blackened. While your tomatoes are under the broiler, puree your butternut squash and set aside. Once your tomatoes are finished add your tomatoes along with the roasted garlic cloves and the oil from the tomatoes to your blender to puree. Add seasons, ketchup and/or barbecue sauce and blend until you have reached the taste you want. I would add small amounts of ketchup, barbecue sauce or tomato paste/sauce at at time. You can always add more as you need it.

Once your sauce is complete put it to the side. Take your vegetables, mushrooms, spinach, shredded carrots, peppers and celery and prepare them to be sauteed. Saute them slightly with some olive oil and season with vegetable seasoning or salt and pepper. Once they are complete, place them in a bowl and add the pureed butternut squash. Then add your pasta sauce to the vegetable mix. Taste and make sure it is the flavor you want. Begin preparing your lasagna. I use the no boil pasta to save time. If you use the noodles that need boiling, boil your pasta while your tomatoes are under the broiler. I begin by placing a small layer of sauce, then adding some cheese, on top of that a layer of noodles. Repeat these steps until you have completed the process. I like to use different types of cheeses because it gives your lasagna a richer taste. If you are using the no boil lasagna follow the direction on the pasta box. If so, you will need to make the sauce the last layer before you bake because the dish will need to back for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Once it is finished add a final layer of cheese and back into the oven until the cheese is completely melted. Once completed, serve with a salad. Enjoy! (view the video to see the pictures of the process).

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I am a wife, mother, Pastor and the owner of Tri-Production Publishing, Inc., just to name a few of my many hats I wear. But like many of you, I was so busy doing all these different roles that I forgot to take care of myself. I had to learn how to WIN with my healthy so that I could help others WIN their battles.

Healthy Holiday Tips﻿

Are you getting enough sleep?

Do I really need to weight myself?

Healthy Living - Tasty Treats

Supplements and Your Health

Healthy Eating

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Healthy Holiday Tips