Thanksgiving feast

Next week is Thanksgiving...I am sure you have noticed. ;) So, I wanted to pass along a few ideas for next week. The couple of days leading up to Thanksgiving are just as immportant as Thanksgiving Day in regards to what you eat. Tue and Wed try to eat extreme low-fat, low-carb meals. Cut down to 1,000-1,200 calories per day Mon-Wed. Eat 40% protein, 10% carb, and 50% produce (not canned!). This will help clean out your system and boost your metabolism just before the holiday feast. It will also ensure that you are actually hungry when the feast begins. On Thanksgiving Day, try eating a good breakfast at least 6 hours before your feast. Approximately 3 hours later, or half-way between the breakfast and feast, eat a light snack. The best snack would be a small salad with light dressing (or none), an apple, and some water. This is enough to get your stomach juices going, but will save room for extra calories later. Lastly, try to fill your plate without any food touching. My friends all know that I do not like my food to touch. However,there is a good reason other than my finicky preference. If your food is not touching, you have to have less food on your plate overall. So, this will ensure that you choose wisely so that you take the most of what you truly enjoy. If none of your food is touching, you probably have the perfect amount of food. I heard a friend say that your stomach is as big around as your plate. While this may hold some truth, I have seen people fit a lot of food onto a fairly small plate. So, the concept of not letting your food touch was born. I hope these ideas help you maintain self-control while enjoying the holidays! Follow my blog for tips all throughout the holiday season and right into the new year! As always, feel free to comment with questions or other ideas!

Commit to Being Fit

As I spend a week in Haiti with my tichouchou (Sweetheart/husband), I have noticed how odd exercise seems to other cultures. Cultures such as Haiti are active cultures with a lot of manual labor. Here I sit in an air-conditioned tent, writing about physical fitness. My husband has ventured out on a run twice since we arrived, and I hope to join him Saturday. We have been doing a lot of walking. We heard from the locals and the missionaries here that Haitians find running a strange task. They do not understand the concept of exercise. Perhaps if we could create an active lifestyle for ourselves, we would not have to do the mundane task of running ___ miles. While some of us enjoy running and live for the thrill of the improved time or longer distance, others hate it. I fall somewhere in the middle. As I wrote last time, I mentioned that we have to develop a schedule to stay fit. We have to include exercise in our schedule throughout the holidays. Nobody likes to get on the scale in January and realize they now have even more weight to lose. So, make this year different. Set your mind to it now! Choose to be different than the average American. You do not have to be a health nut, just health conscious. By exercising regularly throughout the holidays, you will feel more energetic, be less likely to end up sick, and avoid gaining weight. So, commit to being fit! Make your resolution now instead of after you have created a problem. By doing this, you can be a step ahead of everyone else in January...your New Year's Resolution can be something worthwhile since you will be healthier anyway. When you commit, make sure you have an accountability partner...someone who can exercise with you (whether in the same state or not). For a while my sister and I ran "together"...she in one state and me in another. When we finished our run we would let each other know how far we had gone and how quickly we finished. Our goal was to run a 10K together. Make a goal like that with a friend or family member, and the excuse to see each other will help motivate you! As always, comment with feedback or questions. Thanks for checking in!

Staying Fit through the Holidays

I realize a lot of time has passed and I neglected this blog...here goes again! I will be attempting to post 3-5 times per week. I want to pick up where I left off last year: holidays and food. I have a few ideas to help you stay fit through the holidays: 1. Add something new to your Thanksgiving traditions this year. Discuss it as a family/couple/friends and agree on one thing: exercise! So, this does not mean you have to go out and run or do anything you hate. My personal favorite is to get everyone outside and play football. That is probably some of the most fun as a group, and you burn a lot of calories in the process! Maybe your family can go for a hike, or play some active WII games. Just make sure you add something to your Thanksgiving celebration that will start a new tradition leading to fitness. 2. Plan exercise into your calendar now. We all know how busy the holidays get. If you do not write it into your calendar now, you may not exercise before New Years...and the we are back to Resolutions we do not keep. So, write it down...right now...go ahead ;) Please reply with your ideas for a fitness tradition for Thanksgiving! I would love to hear them! Ann - your nutrition consultant