All too often, when we go out to eat, to be "healthy" we order a salad. Well, that's not always the best choice! Just because it's a salad, doesn't mean it's low in calories or good for you...read the following article by http://www.healthcastle.com/ for help in choosing the right menu item that wont increase your waist size!
Salad Pitfalls You Can Avoid
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Use your "sit bones"
We sit for the majority of our day. We sit in a desk. We sit in our car. We sit at the table. We sit on our couch. Sit, sit, sit! It takes more muscles to sit with correct posture, and since the body always takes the path of least resistance, we tend to sit in a way that uses less muscles, and more pressure on bones...
Our bodies weren't made to sit for as long as we do but since our bodies are so amazing, they adapt to our habitual movements (or lack thereof - we burn 15% less calories per hour sitting vs. standing).
When we sit on a regular basis, our muscles begin to develop in that posture (imagine the changes in your body from standing to sitting...what areas of your body do you think are affected)? When we sit in poor posture, our hip flexors shorten, hamstrings get tight, chest muscles get tight from reaching towards our keyboards, and we are usually sitting on our tailbone, not our "sit bones."
The bad thing about all of this poor posture is that it creates aches and pains all over our bodies! We get low back pain because of the tight muscles around it, we get tension in our traps near our neck, we constantly sit on some major nerves that control our legs so blood flow slows down, and muscle communication/activation begins to get "pinched off."
The good thing is we don't have to live with pain forever...it's not a part of getting old, it's not a part of gaining weight, it's a part of poor posture!
Here are a few stretches you can do to help stretch the tight muscles and begin to get rid of chronic pain:
The best thing we can so is called "Self-Myofacial Release" or "Foam Rolling." You can use a foam roll (pictured below) or sit on something like a tennis ball, golf ball, medicine ball, etc etc...
Foam rolling gets out the "knots" that develop deep in you hip complex and helps get rid of pain by increasing blood flow and communication between your nerves and muscles!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Orange Dreamsicles for a hot summer day...
1 - .3oz box of Orange Flavor Sugar Free Jello
1 - 1oz box of Fat Free Sugar Free Vanilla Instant Pudding
1 - container of Cool Whip Free (8oz.)
Directions
Makes approximately 4 1-cup servings.
Prepare Jello according to package directions by adding the hot and cold water. Stir in instant pudding powder mix (do not prepare as normal). I use a wire wisk to mix.
Fold in entire container of Cool Whip Free, and wisk until completely blended. Refrigerate for a few hours until set.
**you can also pour into ice cube trays and freeze, or into those popsicle molds that you freeze for a refreshing treat**
Number of Servings: 4
Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 71.5
Total Fat: 0.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 353.0 mg
Total Carbs: 13.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.1 g
Protein: 1.3 g
Find this and more great recipes HERE!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Not alive after these top 5...
Top 5 foods consumed in America:
1. Sugared Beverages
2. Cake & Sweet Rolls
3. Hamburgers
4. Pizza
5. Potato and Corn Chips
Only 1/4 of all Americans consume the recommended daily amount of fruits and veggies.
1. Sugared Beverages
2. Cake & Sweet Rolls
3. Hamburgers
4. Pizza
5. Potato and Corn Chips
These items are high in added sugars, fat, salt and calories - which lead to high calorie intakes, excess weight gain, inadequate intake of nutrients and chronic disease.
Only 1/4 of all Americans consume the recommended daily amount of fruits and veggies.
Where do your calories come from?
Pop Quiz!
Click HERE to see how well you know your portion sizes (from sparkpeople.com)!
Let me know how you did in the comment section below...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
What does 300 calories look like?
300 calories looks a lot different when
you cook at home vs. eating out:
you cook at home vs. eating out:
People with Spark
The fitness industry can be an interesting field to be a part of. Most people are way more concerned about themselves than those around them (#1 reason not to be scared to go to the gym) and a lot of times it’s all about the “Benjamin’s.”
In the midst of the muscle flexing, body fat testing, and chicken and rice eating, which is all too common in the fitness industry, I have found a resource that actually coincides with my attitude about health (because let’s face it, there’s only so many ways you can cook a chicken before you never want to eat another bite again).
This is real life. There will always be birthdays and BBQ’s and Ben and Jerry’s. Here is a resource that can help you be successful with your fitness goals even in real life:
This is a FREE health & fitness website that promotes self-monitoring
(Our lack of self-monitoring is one big reason America is the largest country in the world).
(Our lack of self-monitoring is one big reason America is the largest country in the world).
You can have a goal, they will give you a plan.
(Most of us have this “number” out in the clouds & we don’t know how to reach it).
You can have skinny jeans, they will give you menus so you can fit into them.
You can have skinny jeans, they will give you menus so you can fit into them.
(Because we all love the way our butt looks in those jeans).
You can have flab, and it will give you workouts so you can join the muscle flexing club.
(Or just get workouts that make up for last year’s over indulgence of Ben & Jerry’s)
For you competitive people, you can earn points for the things you log, the exercise you do, and articles you read.
(It’s like the shinny gold stars we used to get as kids when we did something awesome).
There are even new exercise ideas so you can look like you know what you’re doing in the gym
The bottom line, with fitness, is that you can have all the resources in the world (i.e. that 80’s workout video you still have in your posession because you think that you will use it – some day – in all of it’s neon glory), but you must make the choice to use that resource otherwise it will just be taking up space next to our skinny jeans that we hope to fit into again…one day.
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