STTA - Archives

Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

Healthy eating during the holidays can be a challenge but not impossible. Use these tips to help you get through the holidays.

Use it or lose it?!?

Inactivity is what makes muscles grow weaker over the years but exercise builds muscles, at any age.

How do you spell relief when it comes to stress?

It's been a fun summer but with the start of school, the fall season, holidays around the corner, stress may be creeping its way back into your life. Here are some suggestions on relieving stress.

A relapse in healthy choices is an opportunity, not a failure.

When making changes towards a healthier lifestyle it is normal to have relapses and they should be expected. Relapses are an opportunity to fine-tune strategies and to make improvements for the future.

Our bodies are our temple, not our house or car or our stuff.

Most of us take better care of our cars, homes, and clothes than we do our physical bodies.

Get your fiber's worth. Eat bran cereal.

Eating bran cereal is an excellent way to get in your recommended target of fiber. Fiber is a necessary part of a healthy balanced diet.

Want to stay healthy? Wash your hands!

"Keeping your hands clean is one of the most important steps to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others." (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta).

Make the Super Bowl extra super with some super recipes

Below is an article and some recipes I received from a Weight Watchers newsletter. Special events don't have to sabotage all your efforts to eat healthy and stay fit. Look for alternatives and let the Super Bowl be about the game and not about the food.

Walk your way to better health.

Our bodies are designed to walk. It's a great form of exercise that requires no special equipment, no advanced training and can be done just about anywhere.

What is Yoga anyway?

If you think yoga is just about getting tied up on knots, think again. Yoga is more about the mind than the body. Yoga uses the body to reach its ultimate goal of training the mind. Keep reading for a complete, concise description of Yoga. It's taken directly from a book I've been reading called The Yoga Bible by Christina Brown.

No time to exercise during the holidays? Pull up a chair!

This time of year is usually so busy for us all that we move exercise down to the bottom of our To Do Lists. So here are a few exercises you can do while sitting in a chair at the office or at home or even standing in line if you improvise.

Mall Snacks: Be conscious and beware

Below you will find a list of snacks commonly found in the mall. With all the time spent in malls this holiday season, make your choices wisely when you get the urge to snack. Be prepared by bringing some of your own snacks so you won't be as tempted with theirs.

Community is good for your health.

"Social connections are a more powerful factor in health and mortality than smoking, alcohol, exercise, nutrition or age."

"The more TV you watch, the worse you feel!"

Ever sit down to watch TV to relax only to find yourself feeling worse than before? Robert Kubey, co-author of Television and Quality of Life, contends that TV watching can be like a drug that leaves you feeling bad after it's over.

The Look of Normal Portion Sizes

1 oz. meat = size of a matchbox

3 oz. meat = size of a deck of cards or bar of soap—the recommended portion for a meal

8 oz. meat = size of a thin paperback book

3 oz. fish = size of a checkbook

1 oz. cheese = 4 dice (or size of your thumb)

Medium potato = computer mouse

2 Tbs. peanut butter = ping pong ball

1 cup pasta = tennis ball

Average bagel = a hockey puck

½ cup veggie = standard light bulb

1 tsp. butter = the size of the top joint of your thumb

¼ C dried fruits or nuts = 1 lg. egg

A serving of fish = checkbook

"What we do to others, we do to ourselves, and what we do for others, we do for ourselves as well."

Avoid Trans-Fats as much as possible

Dr. Howard LeWine, of Harvard Health Publications, sums it up: "Trans-fats have no nutritional value whatsoever, so eating them doesn't add anything beneficial to your diet."

Accumulate up to 240 minutes of Aerobic Exercise a Week

Studies show that those with successful long term weight loss, accumulate up to 240 minutes of cardio exercise a week at an efficient heart rate.

1. Be Impeccable with Your Word

Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally

Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Most aerobic and strength training programs cause your muscles to contract and flex. To balance out those repetitive motions it is important to lengthen, or stretch, those muscles after you workout. If your muscles are not given the opportunity to go through their full range of motion, muscles can tighten. Tight muscles could prevent your ability to move in a certain way or perform certain activities or cause injury when certain activities are attempted. These diminished activities might be sports related or simply activities required in everyday life.

Not only does rebounding burn more calories than jogging but the weightless state achieved when jumping benefits every muscle and cell of the body providing huge benefits to the lymph system and your overall health.

There is countless research that shows that high fructose corn syrup is bad for you. There's no nutritional value in it at all and it is actually addictive, makes us more hungry, and makes us fatter. The problem is that is you go to the grocery store (or just look in your pantry) you will find it in virtually everything on the shelves.

It is a challenge to avoid eating HFCS but it is worth the effort. Try looking for the health food brands or even shopping in a health food store. Don't be fooled by labels like "natural" and don't think "healthy" foods like granola bars won't have high fructose corn syrup in them. Read the labels! It's the only way to know for sure. The key is to begin to cut back. Where you can choose brands and products that don't have high fructose corn syrup as one of the first ingredients do so.

The very first step to eating healthy is to become educated about the food we put in our bodies (as well as our children's and grandchildren's) by reading labels and researching the ingredients like high fructose corn syrup. Then, we can actually make conscious choices about what we want to put in our bodies.

"Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About" by Kevin Trudeau

Click here to read this email in it's entirety.

1/4 cup natural unsweetened applesauce (25 calories)

1/4 cup dry 100% whole grain old fashioned Quaker Oats (75 calories)

-Combine the applesauce and the dry, uncooked oatmeal in a bowl.

-For a crunchy taste eat immediately. For a softer consistency, let sit for 10 minutes before eating.