Healthy Holiday Tip #2

#2- Look ahead:
Know where the calorie pot-holes are and plan around them.
Get a calendar (many are available on line or the dollar store)
Mark all social events until Jan 2- church, business and neighborhood Christmas parties, cookie swaps, family functions, birthdays that fall in December, Theater productions, parades, Christmas productions, anything where food is involved.

Now that you know from where the calories are coming to get you- establish a plan for EACH event- how will you deal with the situation in order to minimize the impact and be victorious relative to your goals of either losing, maintaining or adding a few pounds.


Request my Healthy Holiday tip sheet - either email me or leave your email in a comment and I will send it to you.

You can also sign up for RSS feed of this blog so you won't miss the Healthy Holiday tips given.

Archived copies of my previously released newsletters are available at:http://community.icontact.com/p/palmettofitnessfocus2/newsletters/newsletters

Healthy Holiday Survival Skills #1

#1
Be Clear About Your Goal-
Will you settle for gaining 5 pounds?
Are you only wanting to hold our present weight
or are you trying to lose weight during the holidays?

Your answer to that question will determine your strategy for the next 6 weeks

If you are actively trying to lose weight, you will have to be extra vigilant about your workout and your eating plan.

If you know you have 10+ events, you need to continue the process of making wise choices in the midst of less than perfect options before you., but accept a realistic expectation that you will gain some weight in the process just due to the shear volume of events.

Request my Healthy Holiday tip sheet - either email me or leave your email in a comment and I will send it to you.

You can also sign up for RSS feed of this blog so you won't miss the Healthy Holiday tips given.

Archived copies of my previously released newsletters are available at:http://community.icontact.com/p/palmettofitnessfocus2/newsletters/newsletters

Health Coach Open House

My personal Invitation to those living in the midlands of SC:
You would honor me greatly if you would join me at the open house.
Kathleen




A T A S T E OF H E A L T H

O P E N H O U S E

We invite you and your friends to celebrate our one year
anniversary with good wine and healthy food.

When: Thursday, November 13th from 6:00 - 7:30 PM
Where: 10 Calendar Court, Suite 101
Bring: Your friends and family
RSVP by November 10 to palmettofitness@yahoo.com

RAFFLE • GIFTS • GREAT FOOD and….
Discounted Personal Training and Nutrition Coaching during this event!

Be our guest for dinner:
Lasagna: whole grain pasta layered with fresh veggies, free range beef
and low fat cheeses.
Broccoli and Red Grape Salad: organic broccoli florets, red grapes,
walnuts and our creamy heirloom dressing.
Whole Grain Artisan Bread: organic wheat and oat flours with a touch of
molasses. Served with a variety of healthy spreads.
Chocolate Mocha Cake: a low fat version of a high fat decadent cake
with mocha cream cheese icing.

Retreats are tough

I just got back from a wonderful weekend with several friends attending a Christian Conference called "Women of Faith" From a faith perspective it was a home run! From a healthy living perspective... well, a struggle.

I meant well. Just like I tell you to, I planned it out. I had my little pink insulated bag with oatmeal bran muffins, grapes, triscits, apple, fig newtons & water.

Started well: driving up, I passed on the cookies everyone brought to share. For dinner had grilled chicken, dry baked potato and brocolli, although I'll confess the portions might have been too big. Strike one... I ate that ginormous cookie the hotel gives you at check in. I may have to send an email suggestion to the hotel: please do not to hand free hot cookies to hungry women just before dinner. So technically, I was only partially to blame??? you're right, I shouldn't have taken possession
Breakfast I did eat my little muffins, ok...plus one piece of Betty's special poppyseed bread, only minor infraction, but, as you can tell, the slippery slope had begun.

Lunch was at the coliseum, the box lunch prepared by the event organizers- I think I may send another email suggestion to those women who organize box lunches for 13,000 women: What were you thinking, Ladies????: I about freaked when I opened it! (mayonnaise based) chicken salad on white roll, full fat potato chips, and orange and a cookie?? About all I can say for myself is that I did forgo the chips completely and was certainly glad I had my grapes and muffins with me. I thought about what other options were at the concession stand, and seeing hamburgers, fries and pizza, thought perhaps the chicken salad and orange may still be the best of the options available to me. Even so, the calories still count full value.

I will give myself extra credit that for the rest of the day I did NOT indulge the popcorn, ice cream, french fries, etc etc etc that were all around me. My little bag of goodies got me out the door with some reasonable sense of accomplishment.

But by then I was hungry, and hungry people are vulnerable people

We ate at Panera, I did order a salad and I did use half the dressing.
but I was not satisfied and when the group opened up the cookies on the way home:trouble!

I was having one of those out of body experiences- It's like you are watching tv, you see yourself eating cookies while another part of you says :No! No!! don't do it!! --- too late.

So when I counsel people here's what I tell them

• Plan in advance how you are going to be successful in the situation
• Don't let yourself get hungry
• Make as good a decision as possible in situations where best is not available.
• Expect every now and then to fall off the wagon but get back on ASAP.

As you can see, I do understand what you are going through as you struggle to make those principles work for you.
Sometimes you have good choices,
sometimes you have better choices,
sometimes you have best choices.
Sometimes you have no choices, the success plan is playing makeup for a couple days afterward.

Like I said, Retreats are tough.

Healing Principles

We've been doing renovations at our house. It is exciting to see the transformations take place. My husband and I have done some of the demolition to save some money. In carrying out the bathroom concrete and tile, I got all kind of cuts and bruises. Frankly, I looked like I got in a cat fight, and lost. The interesting thing to me was looking down a few days later and seeing the scrapes and bruises virtually gone. I realized anew the body is designed and created with the ability to heal itself. I know there are some bigger situations that the body may not be able to heal by itself, but you know what?- it sure tries.

Our job is to work with our bodies and give our system the components to do it's best to heal itself.

• Isolate and insulate: Obviously keeping a wound clean means more bacteria is not introduced which the body must deal with. Inflamation is not all bad, it is the body's natural defense mechanism to bring blood and nutrients into the area to promote recovery. But too much inflamation can hinder your life and produce pain. Icing the areas that are inflamed will minimize inflamation and pain.
• Rest: The body can only fight on so many fronts at the same time. Getting adequate rest allows the body to maximize it's efforts on the most important battle ground.
• Eating Antioxidant rich foods, especially fruits and vegetables which have phto-chemicals that help the body in recovery. Protein is an important nutrient but generally we eat many times the protein we need, and many times less vegetable sources.
• Exercise: Getting blood moving means nutrients and oxygen are getting to the areas needing them. Exercise keeps joint limber and burns excess fat that contributes to stress on the major organs and is correlated with many diseases. Dr. Henry Lodge in "Younger Next Year" says our bodies are either in a state of decay or they are in a state of growth, no plateau. Exercising reminds the body that we have need of staying young and vital so it must "get to work!"
  

Since you don't know what battles are going on within your skin at any one time,
Give you body a fighting chance to heal itself:

1. Eat healthy foods, more veggies, less processed, lots of water.
2. Get moving: fi you need help determining an appropriate exercise regime, contact me
3. Please get a good night's sleep, your body depends on it!