Never Grocery Shop on an Empty Stomach
Some things simply don’t go well together.... The supermarket and an empty stomach are a huge mismatch. Shopping when you’re hungry makes you more likely to fill your basket with junk.
Go online.
Dieters who shop online for groceries buy fewer high-fat foods. Online shoppers find it easier to stick to their list or when shopping in person stay in the store’s perimeter (aka..the produce and dairy areas) to avoid impulse buying.
You work late
Overtime may help fatten your paycheck but it may foil your efforts to downsize your figure. Women who worked 40-plus hours per week are more likely to gain weight during the year than those who clocked out earlier. Stress and fatigue can make you more likely to eat out and less likely to get to the gym.Take a Break. Get up from behind your desk, take a walk, or converse lightly with your office friends for a few minutes periodically throughout your day. Move it sweetie!
Skip the Post Workout Goodies
After a tough hour at the gym, do you (A) grab fresh fruit, (B) feel too great to eat or (C) reward yourself with a huge dinner? Answer C?..you are not the only one. Women eat more following an intense workout than after a lighter workout that burned the same calories. Most feel justified because the workout was so difficult. Moderation in your workout and eating is key.
Keep a stash of healthy snacks in your gym bag.
Mix ¼ cup of dried cranberries with 2 tablespoons of nuts in a plastic bag. The mix packs protein and carbs to satisfy your hunger plus cranberries contain antioxidants that help diminish post workout inflammation.
Do you count calories?
Mindless bites can equal hundreds of calories.
Women are less likely to overeat if they keep a food diary. Try it!
E-mail Addicts
The number of calories you burn e-mailing a coworker? Five. The number it takes to walk over to her? Eleven. Multiply that by how often this scenario plays out in a week and you see how being techie decreases your activity levels.
Get up to Gab!
Move your day. Stand up when you take phone calls, walk to deliver five messages a day in person. You will burn 100 calories a day which equals burning almost a pound a month!
Mix It Up! Your Workouts, that is.
When your body is used to performing the same exercise over and over it starts to get better at it which results in the move requiring less effort and less calories burned.
Try Something New. Notch up your cardio with intervals (short bursts of high-speed effort...intervals are four minutes at high intensity followed by two minutes of rest... burns 36 percent more fat than steady, moderate intensity workouts. Vary the type of exercise you do for even better results.. new activities burn more calories by activating different muscle groups.
Jump into your comfy clothes! Wait just a minute before you do!
Forgiving styles, like flowy tops and unstructured dresses, make it easy to miss cues that extra pounds are creeping on.
Keep tabs on your tush
Put on your favorite pair of denims every Friday or wear your jeans on the weekend....we tend to eat more on those two days.
Taste-Testers Beware
You can slice and dice and you can whip up nutritious, light meals but a spoonful here and there with that glass of wine can quickly add up until you’ve consumed a meal’s worth of calories before dinner has even hit the table.
Fix a bowl of chopped veggies to munch on
Chew a piece of gum. Dial up a friend and talk while you prep the meal.
Too Much Food in the Pantry?
You’ll be constantly tempted to snack... Limit yourself to purchasing only one of your absolute favs! Repeat eaters get tired of the same flavor and crave it less. The more choices you have, the bigger your appetite will seem.
Don’t buy another treat until you’ve finished it and don’t eat it all in one sitting. When you’re eating out avoid buffets, split a meal with a friend or order from the specials. You have fewer options and smaller portions by you sharing a meal with a friend.
The Loner Ranger
It’s tempting to keep your 10-pound goal a secret but sharing your diet goals with gal-pals increases your odds of success. People with social support lost more weight than those who dropped pounds on their own.
Shout it from a mountaintop! Tell roommates, family and coworkers that you’re eating healthfully. This gives you encouragement and accountability. What more (or less?) could a girl ask for?
Monday, April 7, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
The Dirty Dozen!Organic How To- at the Supermarket!
Many people like buying organic produce because they believe it’s more nutritious and safer to eat than fruits and veggies that may have been grown with synthetic fertilizers or sprayed with pesticides.
However, organic foods — which can cost up to 50 percent more than conventional produce — can be out of reach for many Americans.
Fruits and veggies with the highest levels of pesticides fall within ranges deemed safe by government agencies, according to the United Fresh Produce Association. But some say there isn’t enough research on the long-term effects of low-levels of pesticide exposure, especially on kids.
Try to make the healthy choices for your family? How do you know which organic fruits and veggies are worth the price? The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer research group in Washington, D.C., has developed a list ranking pesticide exposure for some of the most popular fruits and vegetables. Click here for a selection of fruits and veggies to help decide when you should pick organic and when it’s fine to stick with conventional.
However, organic foods — which can cost up to 50 percent more than conventional produce — can be out of reach for many Americans.
Fruits and veggies with the highest levels of pesticides fall within ranges deemed safe by government agencies, according to the United Fresh Produce Association. But some say there isn’t enough research on the long-term effects of low-levels of pesticide exposure, especially on kids.
Try to make the healthy choices for your family? How do you know which organic fruits and veggies are worth the price? The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer research group in Washington, D.C., has developed a list ranking pesticide exposure for some of the most popular fruits and vegetables. Click here for a selection of fruits and veggies to help decide when you should pick organic and when it’s fine to stick with conventional.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
View One of My Favorite Garden E-letters
Garden Calendar for April
Contributor: David C. Zlesak
Click Here for complete newsletter
Sweet peas are cool season crops that can be directly sown in the garden in April. David Zlesak After the soil thaws and temperatures begin to warm in mid to late April, one can begin to plant cool season crops. Sweet peas, peas, turnips, lettuce, and spinach can be directly sown in the garden and other plants such as pansies, kohlrabi, cabbage, snapdragons, and stocks can be planted as transplants. If the temperatures fall below the high 20's°F, consider covering to insulate young plants.
Assess pruning needs of deciduous shrubs in the spring and prune accordingly. Pruning is typically best done early in the month just as shrubs start to grow to minimize stress to shrubs and so you know what tissue is alive and dead. Remove dead branches, thin out overcrowded, rubbing branches to open the center of the plant for better air circulation, and head back overly long branches to produce a more symmetrical, balanced plant. Rejuvenation pruning is a common pruning technique used on shrubs to keep them growing strongly. It involves every or every other spring removing some of the oldest canes all the way down to the base or near the base of the shrub to promote vigorous new replacement canes. Rejuvenation pruning is especially useful for lilacs and hardy roses to keep their size manageable and to help keep plants blooming strongly. Early flowering shrubs like forsythia, flowering quince, and lilacs are often pruned after flowering so as to not miss out on some of the much anticipated blooms.
Stems from last season of herbaceous perennials Rudbeckia fulgida are often more brittle and easy to remove in spring. David Zlesak Gradually remove winter mulch from covered perennials. Old stems of herbaceous perennials from last year that may still be in place should be removed. Such stems are often more brittle in the spring than the previous fall and are easier to break off and remove. When removing old stems of herbaceous perennials in the spring, do so before new, emerging stems progress too far so they are not damaged in the process.
Many municipal compost sites reopen in April. Check with your local site for hours and the services provided. Some sites accept only non-woody plant debris, while others also accept woody brush. Many sites also provide free compost and wood chips while supplies last.
There is still time to start seeds indoors of fast-growing, warm-season annuals like tomatoes, zinnias, and marigolds for planting outside the end of May or early June.
Contributor: David C. Zlesak
Click Here for complete newsletter
Sweet peas are cool season crops that can be directly sown in the garden in April. David Zlesak After the soil thaws and temperatures begin to warm in mid to late April, one can begin to plant cool season crops. Sweet peas, peas, turnips, lettuce, and spinach can be directly sown in the garden and other plants such as pansies, kohlrabi, cabbage, snapdragons, and stocks can be planted as transplants. If the temperatures fall below the high 20's°F, consider covering to insulate young plants.
Assess pruning needs of deciduous shrubs in the spring and prune accordingly. Pruning is typically best done early in the month just as shrubs start to grow to minimize stress to shrubs and so you know what tissue is alive and dead. Remove dead branches, thin out overcrowded, rubbing branches to open the center of the plant for better air circulation, and head back overly long branches to produce a more symmetrical, balanced plant. Rejuvenation pruning is a common pruning technique used on shrubs to keep them growing strongly. It involves every or every other spring removing some of the oldest canes all the way down to the base or near the base of the shrub to promote vigorous new replacement canes. Rejuvenation pruning is especially useful for lilacs and hardy roses to keep their size manageable and to help keep plants blooming strongly. Early flowering shrubs like forsythia, flowering quince, and lilacs are often pruned after flowering so as to not miss out on some of the much anticipated blooms.
Stems from last season of herbaceous perennials Rudbeckia fulgida are often more brittle and easy to remove in spring. David Zlesak Gradually remove winter mulch from covered perennials. Old stems of herbaceous perennials from last year that may still be in place should be removed. Such stems are often more brittle in the spring than the previous fall and are easier to break off and remove. When removing old stems of herbaceous perennials in the spring, do so before new, emerging stems progress too far so they are not damaged in the process.
Many municipal compost sites reopen in April. Check with your local site for hours and the services provided. Some sites accept only non-woody plant debris, while others also accept woody brush. Many sites also provide free compost and wood chips while supplies last.
There is still time to start seeds indoors of fast-growing, warm-season annuals like tomatoes, zinnias, and marigolds for planting outside the end of May or early June.
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