Follow my 3-BITE RULE to limit over-eating this holiday season!

Okay, say you grab a cookie, you know you don’t need it, but you’ve made the decision that you don’t care and you are going to sink your teeth into it. Great. Then, you get just three bites…..

1. Use the first bite as a taste test. Is it really worth another bite?

2. You decide it is and make it to the second bite stage. Mentally note what flavors you taste. Again is it really worth continuing on?

3. When and if bite three rolls around, really savor the bite, and keep savoring it if you chose to finish it. Truly enjoying what you eat instead of scarfing it down and then some helps you feel more satisfied and less likely to reach for cookie number two.

4 Tips to Survive the Holidays in Good Health:

1. Workout at least 4 days each week for 30-45 minutes.

2. Never miss a MONDAY! Working out on Monday will set you up for a good start to your week and motivate you to stay strong for the rest of the week.

3. Try to drink a minimum of 80-100 ounces of water daily.

4. Prepare your food – it’s necessary! Have your veggies cut and ready to grab on the go. Make up some hard boiled eggs, healthy muffins, bag up some nuts/seeds and fruit in snack bags. Do everything you possible can in advance to stay away from eating junk throughout the week. When you can maintain a healthy diet during the week, you will enjoy that one treat meal so much more on the weekends!

In every other area of life, people are comfortable with their personal bests as wonderful goals. Why is it that with weight people strive to be “ideal,” often at the expense of a livable life? “Ideal” is quite the lofty goal. The dictionary definition is “absolute perfection,” and it ignores the simple truth that with every human characteristic there is a wide range of what could and should be considered normal.

Many people trying to lose weight seem to be focused on their body fat percentages, their “ideal” weights, their body mass indexes, their waist circumferences or their waist-to-hip ratios. The weights and measures that a table, a calculator, a public health official or an allied health profession says they ought to possess as a function of their height, age, and sex.

Of course, all of these idealized weights and values ignore reality. Idealizing weights and body mass indexes also ignores the fact that weights will vary across races, sexes and ages, and are effected by things like frame size and musculature. For instance, over half of the NFL would be considered “obese” if we used Body Mass Index (BMI) to judge them.

The fact is, weight is influenced by a huge number of factors, some within our control and some beyond it. Genetics; coexisting medical conditions; required medications; how long and stressful our workday is; how well we sleep; how old we are; how old our children are; whether our job requires us to entertain clients; whether we enjoy exercise; what types of foods we grew up on. There is no shortage of variables that have very real bearings on our weight. Ultimately, ideal weight doesn’t matter in the face of reality, and reality, in turn, will affect our “best” weight.

Setting a massive, idealized numerical weight loss goal simply isn’t wise. If a person must suffer to get there, they probably won’t stay there. In most other facets of our lives, we accept our personal best as great. We feel if we tried our best, that’s probably good enough. What’s truly strange is that when it comes to weight, people tend to not want to accept their personal bests as great.

But your best IS great! Whatever weight you reach when living the healthiest life you enjoy is your “best” weight. You weight loss goal shouldn’t be a number; it should be whatever weight you reach while living the healthiest life you honestly enjoy. The healthiest life you can enjoy is very different from the healthiest life you can tolerate.

This might be a tough one to swallow, but it turns out that training your brain to crave vegetables instead of junk food can actually be done!

We may be able to condition ourselves to want low-calorie healthy foods instead of unhealthy, higher-calorie foods. We don’t start out in life loving french fries and hating, for example, whole wheat pasta. This condition happens over time in response to eating repeatedly out in the toxic food environment. Once unhealthy food addiction circuits are established, they may be hard to reverse.

However, as long as it takes to establish this unhealthy food addiction, it can be easy to reverse. The brain’s reward center is associated with learning and addiction. Adding 1-2 healthier meals or snacks a day that you enjoy will trigger the reward center in your brain. This will allow your brain to associate healthier foods with satisfaction and enjoyment, eventually leading to a “learned addiction” to heathy foods.

So do your brain and body a favor by training your brain to be addicted to the healthier choices of food. This will be the only time I will encourage an “addiction.” Good Luck.

Breakfast should be a balanced combination of lean protein, healthy fat, and complex slow-burning carbohydrate.

Oatmeal or oat bran are great options, but you can also choose 100% wheat bran (not to be confused with wheat germ), quinoa, bulgur, barley, fibrous fruits, non-starchy vegetables, sweet potatoes, 100% stone-ground whole wheat, rye or pumpernickel bread.

The complex slow-digesting carbs improve fat loss by keeping insulin levels steady and increasing the amount of fat you burn during exercise.

You’ll also have sustained energy for several hours, as whole grains digest slowly and feed your rain and muscles gradually. In addition, the fiber present in 100% whole grains has been shown to aid fat loss and keeping you full so you don’t overeat.

Time Efficient Calorie Burner: Rediscover the Jump Rope

When was the last time you jumped rope? It’s cheap and portable – and burns more calories than you might think. Give it a whirl!

What piece of exercise equipment sells for under $15, fits into a briefcase, can be used by the whole family, and improves cardiovascular fitness while toning muscle at the same time? And using it for just 15-20 minutes will burn off the calories from a candy bar?

The answer: a jump rope.

Jumping rope is a great calorie-burner. You’d have to run an eight-minute mile to work off more calories than you’d burn jumping rope.

Basic Requirements:

For novices, a beaded rope is recommended because it holds its shape and is easier to control than a lightweight cloth or vinyl rope.

-Adjust the rope by holding the handles and stepping on the rope.

-Shorten the rope so the handles reach your armpits.

-Wear properly fitted athletic shoes, preferably cross-training shoes.

You’ll need a four-by-six-foot area, and about 10 inches of space above your head. The exercise surface is very important. Try not to jump on carpet, grass, concrete, or asphalt. While carpet reduces impact, the downside is it can grab at the bottom of your shoes increasing the chances for you to twist your ankle or knee. Use a gym wood floor, piece of plywood, or an impact mat made for exercise.

Are you allergic to peanuts or have you kicked your peanut butter addiction and jumped onto the new health food craze band-wagon and moved on to a better alternative like nut-butter? It’s time that you understand the increased healthy benefits to nut butters versus peanut butter.

Nut butter is a blend of one or multiple tree nuts and/or seeds and are more nutrient dense than peanuts and offer more beneficial fats. They’re also less inflammatory than peanuts, which are also known to be allergenic and contain compounds like peanut lectin and aflatoxin that can cause gastrointestinal distress, among other things. Regardless of the many brands of peanut butter that contain added sugars and hydrogenated vegetable oils, peanut butter has been touted as a “health food,” thanks to its beneficial ratio of fat, protein, and carbs. Fortunately, similar macronutrient profiles derived from higher-quality ingredients can be found in many nut butters as we will describe here, but buyer beware…..nut butters are easy to overeat and should be consumed responsibly.

Justin’s

Justin’s almond butter is made from California almonds using a proprietary nut-grinding technique. Although the company offers a variety of nut-butter flavors, its Classic Almond Butter contains only tow ingredients: dry-roasted almonds and sustainably sourced palm-fruit oil. This all natural gluten-free product also matches peanut butter in protein content. Justin’s also has single-sere packets in case you are in need of portion control!

Sunbutter

SunButter, made from sunflower seeds, has been a savior for children who have peanut allergies. The company was created in part because the founder’s niece had a peanut allergy. SunButter makes several products, but two of them stand above the rest. Organic and Natural No Sugar Added – stand above the rest because they are free from added sweeteners. SunButter is a favorite among children and is recommended for those who want or need to follow a peanut-free diet.

Nuttzo

Nutzo is a unique product in that it combines seven different nuts and seeds rather than showcasing one. The company offers three flavors: of these, the Power Fuel PF variety, in particular, is peanut-free and contains nothing but sea salt and organic nuts and seeds (cashews, almonds, Brazil nuts, flaxseeds, hazelnuts, chia seeds, and pumpkin seeds.) The addition of flax and chia provides a dose of omega-3 fats in the form of alpha-linoleic acid.

Plenty of foods can help boost cognition in the long term, but blueberries may keep your brain working well right now! Researchers from the University of Reading found people performed better on memory and concentration tests five hours after drinking a smoothie made with about one and a half cups of blueberries than they did after downing a blueberry-free concoction. Scientists believe that the berry’s flavonoid compounds improve alertness by increasing oxygen flow to the brain.

The first rule of thumb in breaking out of a fitness slump is to get off your chair and move — immediately. High-step in place for about 30 seconds or swing your arms until you feel breathless and energized. Working your way out of a mind-set intellectually isn’t always effective. Wallowing is a self-perpetuating state of mind that will keep you in your fitness slump; while movement, any type of movement, will start to ignite the flame that you let burn out. Whether you slumped because of boredom, physical exhaustion or any one of many reasons, there are ways to motivate yourself to take action and become a fitness champ once again.

Take Notes

After your brief burst of energy, settle down with a notebook or journal and write down any thoughts you have about why you fell into a fitness slump. One of the most elucidating results of pouring your thoughts onto paper is that you start to notice trends. You may find that the word “work” or the phrase “no time” crops up more than once. Often your fitness slump has more to do with what whatever else is encroaching on your workout time, than it is the exercise itself. If that’s the case, it’s a fairly easy fix by ordering your day differently so that nothing has to suffer; neither work nor fitness. However, if you find yourself rolling your eyes as you write down your previously favorite routines, it may be time to conquer new fitness territory in order to break yourself out of your slump.

Try Something Different

If you’ve pinpointed that your old fitness routine just isn’t doing it for you anymore and has become a chore rather that a pleasure, it’s time to choose something new. Or, if you’re loathe to give up your workout but just want something more out of it, then there are things you can do to switch it up. If you’re a runner, you could break out of your slump by signing up for a half or full marathon. The training phase alone could be just the excitement you need to dump your slump. Often, fitness just for fitness sake is not enough to keep you motivated and you need to up the ante by introducing goals that lead to a desired result.

Don’t Stress About It

Fitness should be a pleasure and not a chore. That may be one of the reasons you sunk into your slump in the first place. Make it enjoyable again by not only trying new routines but by not stressing about it. Stress can immobilize you and that’s the last thing you want when you’re trying to break out of a fitness slump. So relax and enjoy the process. Practice deep breathing techniques to alleviate your stress. YogaJournal.com has a wealth of articles written by experts on proper breathing or pranayama methods. Try thinking like an athlete. World class contenders employ visualization before a game or meet. They not only visualize their strategy, but the win.

Tips and Warnings

Always get checked out by your doctor before starting any new physical activity. If you’ve been in your fitness slump for a while, you may have lost strength and tone, so take it easy for the first few weeks until you build up your reserves. Practice persistence as you work your way out of your fitness slump. Like anything else, this has a learning curve: Use persistence to break free.

Portion sizes have grown in restaurants, in supermarkets, and at home. It’s harder to avoid overeating. The continual increase in portion sizes is one of many factors that also continues to make obesity a growing epidemic and disease year after year! Check out how serving sizes have changed over the last 20 years…..

1. BAGELS

-20 YEARS AGO: 3-inch diameter, 140 calories

-TODAY: 6-inch diameter, 350 calories

Total Increase: 210 calories

2. TURKEY SANDWICH

-20 YEARS AGO: 320 calories

-TODAY: 820 calories

Total Increase: 500 calories

3. SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

-20 YEARS AGO: 1 cup spaghetti with sauce and 3 small meatballs, 500 calories

-TODAY: 2 cups of pasta with sauce and 3 large meatballs, 1,025 calories

Total Increase: 525 calories

4. FRENCH FRIES

-20 YEARS AGO: 2.4 ounces, 210 calories

-TODAY: 6.9 ounces, 610 calories

Total Increase: 400 calories

5. SODA

-20 YEARS AGO: 6.5 ounces, 85 calories

-TODAY: 20 ounces, 250 calories

Total Increase: 165 calories

Have  a Drink and Minimize Weight Gain

Drinking is so commonplace in our society that it is the one of the most common struggles dieters face. They can cut out junk food and sodas, but when it comes to saying, “NO” to the party juice, it becomes a bit more difficult. If you think about it, there’s always a reason to have a few drinks.

“It’s my buddy’s birthday!”
”I’m on vacation!”
”It’s Monday!”

It’s hard to keep track of how many drinks you’re consuming when there are so many festivities involving people offering to fill your cup. We already know that drinking too much alcohol is detrimental to your health and your waistline, and many dietitians and personal trainers would suggest cutting it out of your diet completely if your trying to lose weight.

This doesn’t mean you have to start condemning your social life to knitting at home with your pets just yet. There is a way for you to drink socially but still maintain or lose weight. It must be noted that drinking alcohol is not the only factor that makes your waistline expand, but every extra sip and bite counts.

For a lot of social drinkers, it is almost impossible to only have less than 2 drinks a day and maintain for every occasion. With that being said, there is a way to keep alcohol in your life while at the same time maintaining a healthy weight.

Calories and Alcohol

Alcohol is essentially empty calories, as it provides no nutritional value that the body needs in order to function properly. It’s the first fuel that is used before carbohydrates, fats and protein, which delays the weight-loss process. It is estimated that alcohol slows down a person’s ability to burn fat by up to 36%.

While protein and carbohydrates are about four calories per gram, one gram of fat is worth nine and alcohol about seven. This demonstrates how you’re not getting a lot of bang for your buck if you’re getting your calories from alcohol as opposed to getting them from nutritious and filling meals.

Alcohol also increases the appetite. You know the feeling: You’re at a restaurant with friends, the wine is being poured, and everyone’s having a great time. You don’t remember a time in your life when food ever tasted so good. Your judgment is cloudy, to say the least, and suddenly you’re inhaling everything in sight regardless of whatever “plan” you’re supposed to be on. This can add in an extra 1,000 calories during dinner, not taking into account the calories from all the wine/beer.

Let’s not forget how you feel the day after a night of drinking either: You’re still dehydrated, hungry and much more likely to continue indulging. The chances that you will want to work out when you feel this way are slim, adding another con to the list.

Tips/Tricks to Drink in Moderation

• Stay away from fruit juices. If you’re having vodka, drink it with tonic/soda with a lime instead of cranberry juice or orange juice.
• Pick light beers over darker beer
• Try waiting an hour after you get to an event before having a drink.
• Eat a healthy and filling meal before heading out for a night on the town.
• If you come home and you feel like ravaging whatever is in your fridge, drink two large glasses of water, then have a healthy snack.

Remember that it’s not about getting ridiculously hammered for two days out of the week as long as you ate salads along the way. Use your judgment.

Believe that you are allowed to be healthy, eat well and enjoy drinks socially. The fact is that there are many social drinkers out there who maintain healthy, lean physiques. For the most part, they eat moderately as well. They know that drinking can be a fun addition to life, but it’s not something they abuse or use to excess.

Recovery: The Forgotten Training Component

There is no shortage of products, video-based workout programs or gimmicks “guaranteed” to help you get results from exercise. Did you know that there is something that you’re probably already doing that can have a positive effect on your exercise program, but you’re more than likely just not doing enough of it?

No, it’s not more cardio for “fat burning,” it’s not mind-body exercises to create “balance” and it’s certainly not more resistance training for a metabolic “burn.” In fact, it has nothing at all to do with exercise, and yet is one of the most important components of a total wellness program that can help improve your overall health and fitness levels—recovery.

From Insanity to indoor cycling classes to Cross Fit, high-intensity workouts have been all the rage in the fitness industry over the past few years, and with good reason…they work. Exercising at maximal intensity will burn more calories and increase the levels of the hormones that stimulate fat burning and promote muscle growth. However, the best workout program in the world won’t create the effect you want if you don’t get the proper rest and allow the appropriate time for your body to recover from the exercise. In fact, training too hard, too often, with little recovery can actually be bad for you and lead to Overtraining Syndrome, which could cause weight gain, sleeplessness, poor immune system function and other physiological issues that can keep you from reaching your fitness goals.

Top strength coaches and personal trainers know that the secret to getting results from exercise isn’t in the workout itself, but rather what happens during the recovery period post-workout. Whether it’s mechanical stress (to the muscle tissue) in the form of weightlifting or metabolic stress (to the cardiorespiratory system), exercise disrupts the body’s homeostasis with an external stimulus. The workout session is when a physical stimulus is applied to the body, but it is the rest and recovery period AFTER the workout that determines how the body will adapt to the stimulus.

Volume is the total amount of exercise performed in a program. In weightlifting programs, volume is the product of the intensity (amount of weight used), the number of repetitions and the total number of sets. Volume for cardiorespiratory exercise refers to the combination of running pace, distance and time. It doesn’t matter whether the exercise is lifting weights or running (or any other mode of cardiovascular exercise); generally speaking, higher-intensity workouts require a longer period of post-workout recovery to allow the body to properly recover from and adapt to the exercise stress.

Sleep is one of the most important components of an effective recovery program. During sleep, the body produces the hormones responsible for stimulating muscle protein synthesis, which is critical for repairing muscle tissue. On the days that you plan on doing a high-intensity workout, make sure that you have the ability to get a full night’s sleep so you can be fully recovered before your next workout. For best results, allow approximately two days between high intensity workouts for full muscle recovery.

It is possible, and advisable to exercise every day, but the best way to ensure results and avoid the dangers of OTS is to alternate between high-, low- and medium-intensity days, and a practice known as undulating periodization.

Another way to think of OTS is that the body is under-recovered. Strength coaches meticulously schedule rest and recovery days to ensure their athletes are well rested before competition because they know it will help them perform at their best. The U.S. Olympic Training Centers provide specific recovery plans to complement their athletes’ training programs. If recovery plans are effective for athletes getting paid millions of dollars or competing for a gold medal, then having an effective recovery plan and allowing proper rest between workouts could provide that extra edge you need to achieve your fitness goals.

Range of Motion and Joint Mobility

Mobility, or joint mobility, is the ability to move a limb through the full range of motion–with control. Mobility is based on voluntary movement while flexibility involves static holds and is often dependent upon gravity or passive forces. Mobility demands strength to produce full-range movement, whereas flexibility is passive, thus not strength-dependent. Some authorities refer to mobility as ‘active flexibility’. It is possible to have good mobility without being especially flexible, just as one can be flexible with poor mobility, i.e., control. Of the two, mobility is more important. It is better to be inflexible with good mobility than flexible with poor mobility. The percent difference between your mobility and flexibility is the same percent chance of creating a musculo-skeletal injury during physical activities.

Sports, recreational activities and other daily physical practices can result in reduced range of movement in any participating joint. When the joint is unable to move through its full range, we call it compromised. When compromised movement is present in a joint, surrounding joints take up the slack, creating extra stress all around. Typical examples are immobile ankles and feet underlying stress and injury to the knees, hips, and lumbar spine. It’s a cascade effect, albeit in reverse:  the body tissues are held together with sheets of connective tissue called fascia, so stress extends upwards from the feet. Poor mobility in one area can cause pain and stress in seemingly unrelated areas, but once fascial anatomy is understood, the idea that immobile feet could cause neck or shoulder stiffness is no longer a conundrum.

Mobility work reduces the potential body imbalances inherent in our athletic and recreational pursuits. For example, it’s widely accepted that running for distance shortens the hamstrings; calf muscles and hip flexors, resulting in decreased free movement in simple full-range exercises, such as bodyweight squats. Well-documented is the compromised range produced by heavy weight-lifting and body building strength sports–yet, properly conducted, weight training can improve range of motion! All too often, in practice, weight lifters endow themselves with tight, restrictive movement by over emphasizing short-range movements and excessive hypertrophy.  Worse, especially in the U.S., is that ubiquitous non-activity: sitting. Sitting in a chair, at a desk, while hunching over a computer is a recipe for a compromised structure full of imbalance and continual pain.

The solution? A joint mobility program. Joint mobility exercise stimulates and circulates the synovial fluid in the bursa, which ‘washes’ the joint. The joints have no direct blood supply and are nourished by this synovial fluid, which simultaneously removes waste products. Joint salts, or calcium deposits, are dissolved and dispersed with the same gentle, high-repetition movement patterns. Properly learned, joint mobility can restore complete freedom of motion to the ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, neck, elbows, wrists and fingers. It’s especially important to keep the spine supple and free and if there were such a thing as a fountain of youth, joint mobility exercises come very close.

Use mobility exercises as a warm up, an active recovery during other activities, or as a stand-alone workout. You can rejuvenate yourself and reclaim the movement of a child with a good joint mobility program. Joint mobility makes a wonderful, energizing morning recharge and sets the day up on the right foot.