An interesting new study...

There's a new study that suggests the the way you think can lead you to a healthier lifestyle. It's called "Directed Thinking" and this is something I've always believed in so I was so excited to find research that it's been tested.

A group of 61 inactive college students were asked to think about ideas that fell into either "actions" or "reasons." Some of the students were asked to think and list reasons to increase cardiovascular performance and the other students were asked to list actions needed to do more cardio.

For eight weeks those that brought to mind the list of actions had an increase in their exercise routines whereas the group that thought of the reasons to workout didn't have an increase in their time spent exercising.

The mind has a greater impact on our body than we might think. I believe when you think of reasons to exercise we all probably think to be healthy, to lose weight, to feel good. These are all great things, but sometimes this can feel overwhelming especially if you are out of shape. By thinking of the actions such as join a gym, get a workout buddy, buy a new workout video, etc. These things motivate you to action. They get you moving. Instead of just thinking about the goal you break it down into what you can do.

Take home message: Don't underestimate the power of the mind. If you tell yourself over and over again working out is hard, you don't have time, you can't do it...it's very likely you're not going to. Use that brain power to your advantage and think of some ways to take action on your fitness goals and get moving!

Salsa Chicken

Want a quick yummy alternative to normal chicken. Make this salsa chicken. It's so easy and you'll love it!

What you need:
chicken breasts (I do a lot so I have leftovers. about 8-10 chicken breasts)
1 cup salsa (whatever you have around)
sliced onion (I used green, but again whatever is handy or you can cut this out. It's also good with bell peppers)
pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, any other seasoning to taste
Put all of the above on low in your crock pot. In 4-6 hours you are ready to go.

I like to shred up the chicken and use it on salads, burritos, in soup, on rice, whatever you want. My favorite is to make a homemade Cafe Rio salad. Tastes just as good with half the calories!

Tired of normal exercise routines?

Make it fun again and get Wii Fit. Nintendo released their new balance board and Wii Fit game at the end of May and I finally got one. It is so much fun. I have had it for two days and I can't get enough of it. What a great way to get people moving and to do so in the privacy of their own home. I really love the Wii in general because the games are interactive and it makes you use your whole body, but Wii Fit takes this to the next level. You can do all sorts of things on this board such as lunges, pushups, downward dog, skiing, planks, single leg extensions, the list just keeps going. The game has 4 divisions of training: strength, balance, yoga, and aerobic. You can mix and match to your desire. It also has a scale built into it so you can do daily weigh ins and it tracks your progress with your BMI, weight, Wii Age, balance scores, and a few other fun things.
I really think that everyone should have a Wii and the Wii Fit game in their home and what fun it can be for everyone in the family to do together. (Another reason I really like the Wii/Wii Fit is because it's user friendly and people of all ages can use it from little kids to grandparents.) It makes getting the body moving exciting and new by making it into a game.

Cost of a Nintendo Wii-$249.
Cost of the Wii Fit game which comes with the new balance board-$90.
Cost of 10 extra years at the end of your life from exercising everyday-PRICELESS!

GO GET THIS!!!

I highly recommend this book to everyone who has a busy lifestyle and eats out. Keep this book in your car or purse and take a quick peak before you head out to eat. It has foods to avoid and those calorie nightmares that might sneak into your diet if you're not careful. I also love it because it's a picture book so you don't have to do a lot of reading and you can just scan through it real quick. It's as basic as the title reads...for any given restaurant/fast food joint it has 3-4 things you can eat and the top 3-4 things to avoid. Want a quick example? The Awesome Blossom at Chili's which I'm sure everyone has had...2,710 calories. That's just the beginning. That one might not surprise everyone because you can tell it's deep fried, but the Fiesta Lime Chicken at Applebee's has...1285 calories. That one definitely shocked me and this book is full of these kind of surprises.

Trust me on this one guys it's a must have!

Weight Watchers vs. Fitness Centers

Which one is better you might ask yourself? I found a great study recently that tested weight watchers against the gym. What was the result? Well their were actually pros and cons to both. They found that people on Weight Watchers (WW) lost more weight, but they actually lost quite a bit of actual lean body mass. Lean body mass or muscle is not a good thing to lose because it increases your metabolism and helps you to burn more calories throughout the day. A pro however is that WW participants were more likely to stick with the program and didn't drop out in comparison to people who were involved in a fitness center. Almost half of the people who start an exercise program on their own will quit within six months. The pros of the gym goers was that they increased muscle and lost more stomach fat (which is a huge plus in reducing health problems), but they didn't lose as many pounds overall in comparison to the WW group.

Take home message: I'd like to think one over the other is not necessarily better, but a combination of the two. You can't lose weight without exercising and you can't exercise and lose weight if you're not tuning into you calorie intake and cutting back. Also it is extremely helpful to set up a support system. With a program like WW you have weekly weigh ins and a group of people to lean on. Apply this to your personal weight loss journey even if you're not a member of WW. Start a program with a friend or find someone to be accountable to. By combining the best of both programs you will be more likely to succeed at reaching your goal.

Addicted to sugar?

I just have a little thought I'd like to share. I was reading in a magazine the other day and it said something that really stuck out to me. It was talking about breaking drug addictions and how when people are trying to get off of drug addictions they have to break them of the habit cold turkey. They don't take them off the drug and then let them shoot up a little bit at the end of the week to take off the edge.

I'd like to apply this to addictions we might have such as: sugar, soda, chocolate, fast food, etc. When you're trying to break the habit of these things it's really hard to do if you keep letting this stuff back into your system. The best way to get rid of bad habits is to get rid of it completely, and not allow yourself weekly or monthly splurges.

My challenge to you and to myself is to look at our diets and see what things we need to break free of to live a healthier life. Eat to live. Don't live to eat.

Teen Girls' Pregnancy Pact

I am really trying to wrap my brain around this whole thing. A few of my thoughts...

I feel really bad for these girls. Are they just screaming for attention? Uneducated? Coming from poor families? Or are they really just falling into the buzz of hollywood and thinking that having a baby is glamorous and fun?

Then media/school officials/their families try to point the finger. It's the movies out today like Juno and Knocked Up that are making people want to have a baby and they think things will turn out the same for them. No it's Jamie Lynn Spears fault. (She's Britney Spears little sister from the Disney show Zoey 101 that got pregnant at 16 years old.) Everyone's just trying to be like her. Let's face it today's teens are sexually active. This group of girls just went way to far and somehow made a bad idea sound like a really good one and they all jumped on the bandwagon.

I don't think it does any good trying to figure it out and blame someone. I guess the idea is to learn from these things, reach out to those that we can, and move on. It's really sad to me and I just hope it doesn't become a tipping point like high school shootings and now that one group of girls has done it that another group in Arizona or Wisconsin is going to jump on board.

Let me know your thoughts. I'm interested to see if this has struck a chord with anyone else besides me.

Pancakes for Breakfast...Count me in!!!

There was a study released June 17th that is helping to show the importance of eating breakfast and actually that by taking it to the next level and consuming about 600 calories for breakfast you can lose more weight. It's called the Big Breakfast Diet. When I first heard about this my initial thoughts were pancakes, sausage, bacon, etc. It's just another gimmick diet and there's no way this can work. But after doing a little research I liked some of the things I saw.

They had two groups on separate diets. One group followed a low calorie/low carb diet and the other group was on the low calorie/big breakfast diet. Here's the overall breakdown:

Low Carb Group

about 1000 total calories with 290 calories for breakfast

Big Breakfast Group

about 1200 total calories and 610 for breakfast

What were the results? After the first 4 months the low-carb diet had an average weight loss of 28 pounds while the big breakfast diet group lost an average of 23 pounds. It was after eight months, however, that the true benefits of a big breakfast diet became apparent. After eight months the low-carb dieters had regained 18 pounds. The big breakfast diet group continued to lose weight, losing another 16.5 pounds on average.

This is a substantial difference worth talking about. I always encourage my clients to really think about breakfast and make sure they get in a solid meal to start the day. One of my philosophies is eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. This way you are tapering off the food as your body is winding down and you're not consuming extra calories that you don't need.

Take home message, evaluate what you're doing for breakfast and 600 calories might seem a little high for some, but 350 should be doable and your body and metabolism will thank you later for it.

(sample 600 calorie breakfast would be: 1 slice whole grain toast, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 cup milk, 1 cup orange juice, 1/2 banana, and 1 hard boiled egg)

Do you have a healthy body image?

I was at the pool today and I overheard two young girls (like 9 years old) talking about how fat their thighs were and how they need to lose weight. These girls were miniature and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I think as women we are attacked daily about not feeling pretty, thin, and/or young enough. Satan has really figured something out by getting us down about our body and self esteem he can keep us from building up the kingdom and serving others. Poor body images are starting younger and younger. There has to be something we can do. Hopefully this post will give everyone a few insights on their body image and ways to make it a better.

With a positive or healthy body image, a woman has a real perception of her size and shape, and she feels comfortable with her body. With a negative body image, a woman has a distorted perception of her shape and size, compares her body to others, and feels shame and anxiety about her body. Being unhappy with your body can affect how you think and feel about yourself as a person. A poor body image can also lead to emotional distress, low self-esteem, dieting, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Developing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to a woman's happiness.

If you think you have a negative body image you are not alone. Women in the U.S. are under pressure to measure up to a certain ideal of beauty, which can lead to poor body image. Women are constantly bombarded with perfect celebrities in movies, models on magazines, people on TV, the super slim coworker who looks amazing, etc. By presenting an ideal that is so difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured growth and profits.

We all want to look our best, but a healthy body is not always linked to appearance. In fact, healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes! Changing your body image means changing the way you think about your body. At the same time, healthy lifestyle choices are also key to improving body image. Make lifestyle changes: eat right, exercise, sleep 8 hours, and just take care of yourself. If you do these things you're naturally going to feel better about yourself. Along with making lifestyle changes, try not to obsess about what size pants you're wearing or what number the scale reads. If you need to lose weight to be healthy and get back to your natural weight that's one thing, but if your trying to force your 150 pound frame to be 20 pounds lighter you are never going to be happy.

It's definitely a process to change one's body image. Keep working at it and take it a day at a time. Hopefully if we all keep working together and encourage our sisters, friends, daughters, etc. we can change so many people's negative body image mindset to a more positive one.

Read this...

I want to start recommending good books on this blog. I love reading books related to health, fitness, nutrition, and the mind body connection. I thought I'd start sharing some of my favorites and my hope is that through reading them you can educate yourself and develop your own thoughts and let the things you learn become a part of you.

This was a fascinating book. It delves into the shift our foods have taken in the last 20-30 years. We are bombarded with tons of diets, low fat, low carb, high fiber, fortified, low sugar, sugar free, whole grain, etc. No wonder why our society as a whole is overweight and suffering from obesity. There are so many options out there that we hardly know what to eat.We think that we have a healthy food so we can eat the whole box.

A short summary of what I learned: Just get back to the basics. Eat clean, natural food. Realize where the food your eating is coming from and how it is being produced. Put extra money into healthy food, because the processed junk food is inexpensive and unfortunately it's everywhere.