Stretch It Out

For many people, stretching is a chore. Touch my toes? Do a yoga pose? Forget it, you say — I’m tired after my gym workout and just want to head home. But stretching can reduce your recovery time after a workout, promote healthy joints, increase flexibility, and decrease muscle tightness. Remember, if you feel good after a workout, you’re more likely to head back to the gym again!

Staying flexible can help keep a bounce in your step as you age. There was a woman in my yoga class who was 60 years old (as she liked to let everyone know), but she had the body and attitude of a 30-year-old. I like to think it was because of her faithful yoga practice, which incorporates stretching.

Want to get started? Try these options:

Yoga class.  You’ll get a good full-body stretch in each yoga class. In the yoga class I used to take, the instructor would ask the students where they felt tight that day, and would customize the session to target those muscles. Yoga Finder can help you locate a class near you.

Online instruction.  About.com: Physical Therapy offers instructions and photos for dozens of stretches, including sports-specific stretches.

Tai chi. This is a calming martial arts workout that can help improve flexibility. Tai Chi Central lists some schools, and you can also find martial arts schools in your local Yellow Pages.

Videos.  There are several free stretching videos on YouTube, such as this 5 Minute Stretch Routine.

 You can also find stretching videos for rent or purchase on Amazon.com. Besides stretching, look for keywords like Tai Chi and Chi Kung (an ancient Chinese health care system that includes physical postures and breathing techniques — also spelled qigong).

Books.  Amazon.com and the sports section of your local bookstore offer books on stretching and flexibility. Try The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Stretching.

Whatever kind of stretching you opt for, follow these three easy tips to get the most out of it:

• Stretch warm. I used to take a karate class where we’d do extreme stretches before the main workout. Ouch! Stretching cold muscles can cause injuries, so be sure to save your stretching for afteryour workout. If you’re doing stretching exercises from a book or video at home, warm up with some light cardio first.
• No bouncing! Use a steady pressure.
•  No pain, all gain.  A slight discomfort is fine, but pain is a red flag.
• Hold it.  Hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds.

I’m lucky that I love stretching, but even if it’s not your thing, you should give it a try. You probably didn’t like cardio or weight training when you first started, either, but you kept them up because you know they’re key for a healthy lifestyle. Add some stretching to your day, and your body will thank you.

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Hello Friends,
I hope this finds you well and happy. It’s a great day just because it is. I try to have a positive out look every day.

Lots going on; school shopping, summer activities, my oldest is a very smart chick and is doing dual enrollment. Dual enrollment is where seniors in high school can enroll in college and have it be credit towards their high school diploma and earn college credit as well. Best of all the college credits are paid by the high school. Free college credits…yeah baby!

One of my difficulties is being able to stay in routine with my diet. I get enough movement but my weight does not budge. I know it’s my eating. I do well when I use my free diet plan from Designer Whey  but I am also a rebel not submitting to what works. That part of me is difficult for me to understand. I try to analyze myself to figure it out. Someone said I just don’t value myself enough to be the best I can to myself. I am the best I can be to everyone around me. My family has no idea how well I take care of them because they have never been with out my care.

I saw an ad the ‘The Biggest Loser’ is casting again. What a dream, though they are looking for couples at the moment and I really don’t know anyone close that is as big as me or bigger to see if we could get on the show. I think going away and totally working on me and putting myself first, valuing myself for the time that the contestant are away would change my life. Last season my husband jokingly commented “Why don’t you get on that show”, that hurt a bit and when my kids said “Yea, mom you should go on The Biggest Loser show”…OUCH!!!! It makes me wonder what my family really things of me.

Maybe Designer Whey will bring me to them and teach me the ways of health…lol. Did you know Designer Whey is on FaceBook??? I found out recently. Let me tell you, the people behind this product look amazing! They are beautiful people and really stand behind their products and rightfully so. Ok, I have to put a plug in for Andy because he is my Designer Whey buddy and support. OMGsh Andy, I had no idea you were such a cutie patutie! Whey to Go, keep your health and looks dude.

I will be glad when school starts so I can get back to routine. I need to start my day right now with my breakfast of a wonderful Designer Whey Shake, some fruit and a piece of whole wheat toast. I will get back to what works starting with breakfast. I have been skipping that part for a while now…not good. I need to start right to keep right. I need to carry my 2GO packs in the car like I did before. It’s too easy to stop at a drive-thru when you’re hungry. I need to carry my snacks in the car when I am working instead of a quick stop at a gas station to grab something that is not the best choice.

I have to value myself.

Take Care,
Camille

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Adding and Subtracting for Health

Getting healthy — and staying motivated to get healthy  – requires the right balance of adding and subtracting things from your life.

For example, my life coach, Kristin Taliaferro, is big on eliminating energy drains from your life. Taliaferro recommends deleting what the coaching world calls “tolerations” — those little annoyances that make you feel resentful and demotivated, such as “The dog keeps jumping on the bed,” “I hate the way my phone rings,” and “My nails look terrible.”

Make a list of 100 of your tolerations (and believe me, it’s easier than it sounds), then pick three to get rid of this week. You’ll find that many of your tolerations have very easy solutions! When you start clearing out your tolerations, you’ll start to feel lighter, more energetic, and more motivated — the perfect state for living healthy. I did this in February and then stupidly let it lapse until just now. I deep-sixed a dozen or so tolerations and felt incredibly energetic. This week, I revamped my list and plan to remove three more tolerations.

You can also subtract activities that suck your time and your energy. If you watched one hour less of TV every night, what else could you be doing — maybe exercising? If you surfed the web one less hour a day, you’d have time to prepare healthy meals. Find out what’s holding you back and bringing you down — and subtract it.

Then there’s adding. One thing I’ve learned in my nutrition writing is that if you want to eat more healthfully without feeling deprived, concentrate on adding good foods to your diet instead of subtracting bad ones. For instance, make a deal with yourself to eat one salad a day for the next week (something I’m doing right now). And make it delicious, with grilled chicken, dried cranberries, nuts, whatever it will take for you to love your salad! Just by adding a daily delicious salad, you’re automatically eating less junk. Salad for lunch means no fast food fries, no cookies-for-lunch, no nachos loaded with sour cream and cheese.

What foods would you like to add to your diet? More water automatically means less Coke, and you can add lemon or a splash of juice to make it tastier. More healthy fats means you dip your bread in olive oil instead of slathering it with butter, that you add nuts to your salad instead of bacon bits, and that you layer avocado on your sandwich in place of mayo. And you don’t feel deprived because you’re adding yummy foods to your diet.

So: What things can you add to or subtract from your life to get healthier?

Stay healthy,

Linda

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Push Yourself!

I’m in New York City, and tonight I’ll be participating in an especially rigorous martial arts class with a woman I’m profiling for a business magazine. I’ve stepped up my weight training and cardio in the last month and a half, doing weights four to five times per week and interval training on the treadmill three times per week. Hopefully I can make it through this class, but I’m not confident…my endurance is still low.

I’ve realized that I have a lot of trouble pushing myself when I work out. A couple of days last week, I just did a moderate walk on the treadmill instead of interval training, and I didn’t weight train as much as I had been due to scheduling conflicts between my trainer and me. Of course, I could have picked up my handy dumbbells at home, but with no one pushing me, I dissed that idea.

I think that in order to lose weight and get fit, we need to push ourselves more than we think. Many magazine articles tell you that being active just a half-hour per day is fine, and you can even split up your activity into three 10-minute sessions, such as walks after meals. But when you read the profiles of people who have lost weight and kept it off — and who look great — they don’t just meander around for half an hour every day. They work hard! For example, some of them do an hour of cardio every day, and weight training three to five times per week on top of that. They watch their calories. They’re dedicated to being healthy.

I have a friend who would like to lose a lot of weight. But when he tells me about his workout, I realize that he’s just walking slowly on a treadmill at 0% incline for half an hour, then lifting weights that even I, who am in no way a trainer, can tell are way too light. He can go on forever without reaching failure! Then he gets demotivated because he isn’t losing any weight.

In contrast, the person I’m profiling has a fit body. She does vigorous martial arts for one to two hours a day, weight trains with heavy weights, and runs. And when we went out to lunch, I noticed that she ate only a half slice of bread from her open-faced tuna sandwich. (I ate all my bread.)

Me, I’m somewhere in the middle — I usually push myself, especially with weights (I lift heavy enough that I can do only eight to 12 reps), and I take care not to eat a crazy amount of food. And my results are…well, middling. I’m not overweight, but I’d like to look and feel fitter, and to fit into the jeans I wore in graduate school. The woman I’m profiling has inspired me: I think when I get back to New Hampshire, I’ll feel a renewed commitment to push myself harder during exercise.

How about you? Do you push it, or are you a slacker? What kinds of results are you seeing? I’d love to know…please post your experiences in the Comments section below.

Stay healthy,

Linda

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Sneaking Health Into Your Day

If you’ve been reading my posts, you probably realize that I am not a natural exerciser. Natural couch spud is more like it. And I’m also not a naturally healthy eater — in fact, it’s something I struggle with. But in my research and interviews for the health articles I write, I’ve come across lots of ways to trick yourself and to “sneak” healthy eating habits into your day so it doesn’t feel like such a burden. Here are some that work for me.

Box it. When you order a meal at a restaurant, ask the server to pack up half the meal in a to-go box before serving you. I like to eat out at restaurants way more than I should, and this tip keeps me from chowing down on a huge meal (since we all know how big restaurant portion sizes are). I don’t do this every time, but when I do, the server looks confused at first, and then is understanding when I explain why I’m making that strange request.

Healthy-up fatty foods. If you can’t resist fatty dishes like mac and cheese and meatloaf, try bulking up the dish with good-for-you grains and veggies. These higher-fiber, higher-nutrient foods will replace some of the less healthy ingredients, and they also fill you up more so you’ll eat less. Try adding oatmeal to meatloaf, tossing shredded carrots into muffin mix, and hiding grated zucchini in casseroles. I like to add lots of finely-chopped broccoli and bell peppers to store-bought macaroni salad.

Go undercover. Feeling hunger pangs when you’re on the go is the perfect excuse to run through the drive through and gobble down a large order of fries. But if you carry your own healthy snacks, you’ll be ready when hunger hits. For example, I always carry a baggie full of unsalted raw cashews, which I buy at Trader Joe’s. Other good snacks include whole wheat pretzels, fruit like apples and bananas, and lowfat popcorn.

Pack it up.  Brian Wansink, Ph.D., author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (Bantam 2006), and his colleagues did studies to find out if people eat more from large packages than from small ones. The researchers sent people home with either a half-pound, one-pound, or two-pound bag of M&Ms and some videotapes. The researchers asked for the subjects’ impression on the videos, but they were really interested in whether the size of the bag influenced what they ate. The outcome? Snackers with the one-pound bag ate twice as much as the people with the half-pound bag. Take a tip from this study and buy your snacks in single-serving sizes, or purchase big bags and portion out small servings into sandwich bags yourself. When I snack at home (my favorite is lime-flavored tortilla chips), I always put a small amount into a bowl and then put the bag away so I’m not tempted to grab more.

Take small steps. Recently, I started replacing my usual ranch salad dressing with fat-free raspberry vinaigrette. It’s such a small change, but, based on the nutrition info from the dressing packets I get at lunch, it saves me about 200 calories per salad. I’ve also stopped buttering my bread when I eat out at a certain chain restaurant that offers up big bread baskets. One tablespoon of butter has around 100 calories and 12 grams of fat — and considering how much bread I sometimes eat, that’s a lot of fat and calories! Other small steps you can take include switching from regular to fat-free mayo on your sandwiches, putting lowfat milk in your coffee instead of half-and-half, and leaving the shredded cheese, croutons, or bacon bits off your salad.

These tips have helped me cut calories without feeling the pinch. I hope they work for you, too — and of course, you can probably come up with lots of sneaky ideas on your own!

Stay healthy,

Linda

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In reality it’s my fault. I have been way off, weddings, graduations, eating out lots, not following my plan, not documenting what I eat, and not eating enough of the right foods… which still blows my mine…the concept of having to eat to lose weight. When I do not including my Designer Whey Protein powders every day I eat more junk…I know this yet I neglect myself. Then on the other hand I am like…do people who are a healthy weight have to do what I have to do to be healthy? I wish I could observe a week in the life of a healthy happy person. What they eat, how much do they exercise, how do they deal with stress, just to see how it’s done.

On the good side; we bought a camper this week and are heading out to Vermont for a weeks vacation. We really need some R & R…it’s been a tough, busy and stressful few months. I am so ready to just be with my family and enjoy the scenery.

Ok Friends, I will check in after we get back, hopefully I do not gain any more weight…some times I just want to give up and say screw it when it comes to weight loss but I can’t give up, I have to continue the quest.

Take Care,

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For the longest time, I was a breakfast person: Every morning I would make whole wheat toast with peanut butter and berries, scrambled eggs, whole wheat French toast, or multigrain blueberry-walnut pancakes.

Then, one day, I suddenly couldn’t stomach the idea of eating in the morning. And I was also too busy for lunch, so I would get up every day, skip breakfast and lunch, and not eat until around 4 pm — and then pig out on fatty foods because I was ravenous.

You’d think my weight would go down from eating one meal per day, but if anything, it went up. That’s because when we don’t eat, our body thinks it’s fasting and slows down your metabolism, so we’re burning fewer calories than usual. In addition, we tend to make up for skipping meals by overeating later in the day (like I did).

In a National Weight Control Registry study of people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off, 78% are regular breakfast eaters — so breakfast is clearly important. But what you eat is also important: According to an article in the Washington Post, recent research found that sedentary, obese women lost almost five times as much weight when they ate a big breakfast with carbs and lean protein as they did when eating a restrictive low-carbohydrate diet. The “big breakfast” included milk, three ounces of lean meat, two slices of cheese, two whole grain servings, one fat serving and one ounce of milk chocolate or candy (to help reduce cravings for sweets later in the day).

And in a study in the International Journal of Obesity, one group noshed on a bagel every morning for eight weeks while a second group had two eggs every morning for eight weeks. At the end of the study, the egg group showed a 61% greater reduction in BMI, a 65% greater weight loss, a 34% greater reduction in waist circumference, and a 16% greater reduction in percent body fat.

It’s clear from these studies that a healthy breakfast needs to have enough lean protein, fiber, and fat to keep us full until lunchtime — but all of this information isn’t much help when the thought of food in the morning makes your stomach turn. Why do some of us just not want to eat in the morning? My life coach theorized that I might be too stressed in the morning to be hungry, and the Washington Post article states that we may not feel like eating because our levels of the brain chemical serotonin are highest in the morning, which means our craving levels are at their lowest. (When serotonin levels dip during the day, cravings start.)

But whatever the reason for not wanting to eat, it’s important to have something to start off the day. I developed this recipe for an easy-to-digest smoothie that has enough protein, fat, and fiber to get me through to lunch:

Linda’s PB&J Smoothie (Makes 2 smoothies)

Add to the blender:

1 banana
2 heaping tablespoons natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons ground flax seed
1 1/4 cups frozen blueberries (frozen cherries also work well if you can find them)
3 cups 1% lowfat milk (or more depending on how thick you like your smoothie)

Blend on High for 1 – 2 minutes, pour, and drink!

Are you a breakfast person? What’s your favorite healthy breakfast? If you’re one of those can’t-eat-in-the-morning people, what do you do to keep your energy up until lunchtime? Please add your opinions and experiences to the Comments below!

Stay healthy,

Linda

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Hey Biggest Loser and Designer Whey fans!

Ali Vincent is an amazing and inspirational person...

I am so EXCITED to have this opportunity to continue to share my journey with all of you.  It truly is a journey!  If I had thought of it as a destination I know that I would never have been able to create the results I did.  Some days I wake up rearing to go, others not so much.  That is why it is soooooo important to have support systems and routines in place, so when you forget why you are waking up at the crack of dawn or packing a weeks worth of snacks… there are people to remind you

So as I sit here drinking my Red Raspberry Protein 2Go (since I’m traveling) pondering how to explain what you can expect from my Blogs, I’m realizing that there might not be a ‘perfect’ way to wrap up my blogging   I just want you to realize that everyday is a new day with new opportunities.  Now I imagine that some blogs will be more inspiring than others as I travel throughout the country meeting all of you and sharing those experience here on ‘our space’ if you will and then there will probably be those that are just me sharing day to day experiences and new AW HA’s.  It’s so amazing to me the things that I know I have heard a million times over in my life and on my journey to living an active, fun filled, balanced life that I never really heard before and become AW HA moments

Also keep in mind I am just a regular girl like most of you or maybe like a friend or a sister of your’s and not a Pulitzer prize winning author.  So if smiley faces and run-on sentence’s make you kringe throughout your body, like nails on a chalkboard do for me, then please allow me this opportunity to apologize in advance as I blog like I think and talk.  Those of you who know me from the Biggest Loser or magazine/TV interviews or from meeting me throughout my travels, know that I get so excited that I often get ahead of myself   So, I am sorry and hope that being me does not prevent YOU from checking out my blog and hopefully getting helpful information or an opportunity to just smile at times.

So there you have it in a nutshell, oh and if you have any questions email them and I’ll do my best to answer them

Believe It. Be It.- Ali

Ps-  I’m in Spokane this weekend for the Woman’s Show so come down and say Hi as well as I’ll give you a Biggest Loser protein 2Go sample…. you can always find out where I’ll be on my website www.alivincent.com ( How do you make that show up in pink? instead of blue )

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Howdy Friends!

I know you cried…don’t lie…lol. This week, “Biggest Loser” touched my heart. Mike’s brother crying because of his weight. I sure can relate. I am amazed at the weight these people have lost in 15 weeks, just awesome. Like Tara said they are lucky and blessed to have this opportunity. It is really neat that we get to witness their success and see that it is possible. I know I have lost weight this week but I am not going to tell you until Monday hehehehe… but it is good friends, very good.

If you are new to this site…please take advantage of Designer Whey’s Free Healthy Diet Program. It is worth it! I can personally attest to that. Part of my eating plan I include the weight control powders along with the lite and lean powders. I love seeing my progress and seeing how many calories I ate for the day then comparing to the movement I made. If you don’t know, one pound equals 3500 calories so if you burn that amount per day you could potentially lose a pound a day! The Biggest Losers burn 7000 calories a day (not recommended with out a trainer and your doctor) that is why they can lose 10 or more pounds a week.

I am fired up again friends, determined to keep on this path to a lighter me. I hope you are too. Keep moving forward, keep making healthy choices for yourself…you are so worth it.

Take care,

Camille

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Hello Friends,

Well the detox is over. My daughter and I did not lose as much as we wanted. I lost 3 pounds and she lost 4. I am glad we did it. Due to life situations we could not follow this exact. A lesson my daughter learned that diets like this are very difficult because they do not accommodate life situations, such as funerals and track meets, after school activities, jobs etc… We did learn good things for example the more fruit we ate the less sugar cravings we had. Veggies can be filling when you eat enough. When you eat healthy you do not have acid reflux.

The lesson I am trying to teach my daughter that it is best to eat a healthy balance diet every day. A friend gave a good suggestion that our diets on a daily bases should be 80/20 ratio. Meaning 80% of our diets need to be healthy the other 20% is for healthy fats and one small treat. Making good choices every day is necessary. For example, at a funeral I attended they had a luncheon, a huge variety of unhealthy goodies to eat. I stuck to loading up on fruit and veggies, 1 turkey roll and the smallest slice of carrot cake which is good for me because normally I would have grabbed the biggest slice I could find!

I wanted to share one of my favorite dishes.

Healthy Asian Salad- Delicious and full of nutrients and antioxidants

1 bag of Broccoli slaw

1 tablespoon sesame oil

3 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon pine nuts

3 tablespoon cranraisins

½ cup chunked cucumber

¼ cup grapes cut in half

¼ cup grape tomatoes cut in half

Serves 5 or more if you add more veggies and fruit.

You can add chicken (oh grilled chicken is awesome) and have a complete meal that is healthy, full of flavors and good for you. Did you know that sesame oil lowers blood pressure and is full of antioxidants? It does it’s a good oil for you. Broccoli, cucumber and tomatoes are low in calories high in nutrients. Cranraisins are sweet and give this salad some chewiness. Rice vinegar gives this salad a little tartness. Pine nut gives some crunch and flavor. You can use raw cashews or sesame seeds as an alternative. Grapes also give a sweetness you can use strawberry, raspberry or any fruit you like. You can add red peppers that would give it a little kick. This salad can be made anyway you like it add items, omit items…be creative and colorful. Everyone I have made this for loves it…well, not my kids because their taste buds have yet to mature…lol. I make a batch and munch on it for a few days. It’s great for when you have those craving days.

Hope this find you well. Back to my healthy plan that includes my weight control powders and lite and lean drinks because I know they help me obtain my goals and they will help you as well.

Camille

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