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Top 50 coming your way…
Recently, I’ve been compiling a list of tools/tips that help one on their way to getting healthy. I’d like to share some with you today… Try to make a small change.
Start with Small Changes…
- Eat a big breakfast. It starts your metabolism and helps you eat FEWER calories throughout the day.
- Food journals work! Keep one and be honest.
- No more super sizing your food!
- Make sure your plate is half full with vegetables and/or fruit at lunch and dinner.
Easy ways to cut calories…
- When eating out and having a dessert, always “share”.
- Put your food on a plate instead of eating out of the jar or bag.
- Switch to 1% milk instead of whole or 2%.
- Limit your fruit juice to 1 – 8oz glass/day. It has as many calories, ounce for ounce as pop.
- Use mustard instead of mayonnaise.
- Eat more broth-based soup. Non-creamy soups are filling and low calorie.
- Take your lunch to work.
- Sit down at a table when you eat.
- Do as the Chinese saying “Eat until you are 8/10’s full”
- Limit your alcohol consumption to weekends.
“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” John Bingham
Filed under: Thoughts — Stephanie @ 4:50 pm
And you think you know it all…
Often, people say to me that they have no idea why they aren’t able to lose weight. They are eating well, exercising, making healthier choices in all aspect of their life and it just doesn’t make sense! Obviously, they share with me, they must have a hereditary weight issue.
I always listen intently and then gently ask if they are, in fact, following the guidelines as stated? Are they really doing everything they can/should to achieve their results? Have they read all their information? If they are not being honest, ultimately, they only hurt themselves and discourage any positive results. It’s so very very important to read all your information to make informed, educated choices - otherwise, it’s like trying to drive a car without ever having read the manual. Equally important, is to reread that manual on occasion.
This brings to mind a very recent occurence in my life. In my quest to run the Vancouver marathon this May, I’ve been running with a marathon group and increasing my mileage weekly. I’ve gone from being a 3-4times/week runner to running 5-6x’s/week. Now my running includes fast runs, hill training and long slow distances. It’s become very scientific and very hard on my body.
Last year, I endured an overuse/training injury called ITB syndrome. A ligament, that runs from my hip to just outside my lower kneecap had become inflamed and very sore. Due to lack of proper stretching and remediation, it literally brought my running to a screeching halt. To assist in my recovery, I went to the Running Injury clinic in Calgary to be assessed. I was given a series of stretches/exercises to speed in my recovery and to strengthen a muscle imbalance. If I did these - I would prevent this from happening again. I had the power to aid in my recovery and ensure it didn’t happen again!
Well, here I am mid way through my training and my ITB is acting up. This past week, I was extremely annoyed by this - after all, I was following the stretching/exercise recommendations to a “T”. Stretching, strengthening, icing…just as the Dr. had ordered. HE WAS OBVIOUSLY WRONG!!!
Then, while sitting here at my computer, I turned to look at a file. Above the file, were the diagrams of the recommended stretches and exercises. Oh no. I’d been doing them WRONG! No wonder they weren’t working.
Somewhere along the way, over the past year, I had started to do these exercises wrong. Thinking they were habit now, I had never gone back to “double check”.!
Foolish, arrogant - yes. Was I really doing everything right, following the recommendations, 3x’s/day? Obviously not.
Lesson learned - and now, hopefully shared. Read your information. Learn and recheck it on a regulary basis to make sure you are not missing anything.
steph
Filed under: Thoughts — Stephanie @ 2:30 pm
Ready or not….
Excerpted from a piece written by Michael Josephson
Ready or not, someday this life will come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will all expire.
The wins and lossses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won’t matter where you came from or on which side of the tracks you lived. At the end it won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant and even your gender and skin colour will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you have built; not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage and sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live on in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.
It is up to you to choose wisely.
Words I have been pondering all day. Hope they make you think too.
Steph
Filed under: Thoughts — Stephanie @ 8:54 pm
Feel…thought….action
The other day, I had a friend send me a desperate email. She’d been trying for many years to lose weight, but couldn’t get herself focused on getting healthy. In fact, her self sabotage was getting the better of any effort she was making and she was desperate.
I shared with her a valuable tool that I have used for the past 5 years. Some of you will know it as visualization, but it’s actually much bigger than that. Yes, I visualized getting to my goal weight. I visualized how it would feel, what I would say, how I would “feel” in that moment. The key to it though was on a daily basis, I visualized getting healthy. I visualized what that felt like, how I would think about it (banish the negative thoughts…”it’s too cold, I’m too busy, there’s no time”…) and then I visualized putting it into action.
Feel it, think it, and then act on it. When people visualize, we tend to forget the last part. This is an extremely valuable tool.
To keep it in the forefront of my thoughts, I do two things. The first thing is that I create is a visualization/inspiration board. I keep them posted by my computer. Currently, I have two…one for the marathon I will be running in May and another for the opportunity to serve and teach others about health and wellness. I see these and they remind me to take my thoughts and feelings and ensure I put them into action.
The second thing I do is create “anchors”. Anchors are the physical manifestation of the power of suggestion. Some people put pictures of what they were or don’t want to be on their fridge. I choose to keep reminders of what healthy feels/looks like on my person. I keep a picture of my unhealthy person in my purse all the time. I keep reminders of milestones/moments I hit on my journey within close reach. What we are pleased to offer soon for purchase on our site is our new silicone bracelet - in the colour of success a physical representation and reminder to eat well, be active and feel good. Feel great because you are in control.
Lastly, I welcome you to use these valuable tools in your journey and to ask question of us.
Please email any questions you might have and we’ll post our answers to those FAQ’s. Together we can get healthy, stay healthy and inspire others in their question.
Steph
Filed under: Thoughts — Stephanie @ 9:23 pm
