Beauty- Inside And Out

Let's Help Our Teens

2007-05-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

"Teenagers and dieting are not a good pair, according
to a recent study that followed the eating habits
of more than 2,500 teens over a period of several
years. Researchers from the University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis found not only that
teens who dieted were more likely to try unhealthy
tactics to drop pounds quickly, but also that they
were far more likely to be heavier five years later
than those who didn't diet! What's worse, their
risk of developing a lifelong eating disorder
like bulimia or anorexia was six times higher
than that of the kids who didn't diet!

Health professionals have long said that putting
a child or a teen on a diet is a bad idea. So
how can you help your child deal with a weight
issue? Start with a trip to your doctor, they
say. Together you can develop a healthy--and
long term--plan of attack. As this study clearly
shows, unhealthy eating habits can start young,
and can haunt your child for years to come. So
keep your teen off the fad-diet roller coaster,
and teach him or her how to eat smart for life".

I got this article from Denise Austin's
Morning stretch site and I must say
that it is a very helpful piece as
I have a child that is struggling
with weight issues and wants to
try some of the loose weight quick
diets. I tell him that the weight
didn't go on fast and it should not
come off fast. Change your teens
eating habits is the first step.

The best way is to get them to
eat six small meals a day. I
know that sounds like a lot but
it helps keep your metabolism
going and it helps to burn off
calories. Substitute junk food
for fresh food. There are many
creative ways to work with food
to make it fun to eat and with
this blog site, I will search
every where to help find way
to help our teens with their
weight issues.

If you have any questions please
feel free to use the comment tool
to get them to me. If I don't know
an answer and will certainly find the
right resources to answer it.

Until then have a great day and
take care of yourselves and your
teens.

Food Can Be Our Friend

2007-04-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Even though most of us fight daily with food, trying to keep the weight off,
food can also be our friend. Food keeps us strong, provides the vitiams we
need, even provides the fluids we need. The best part of food being our
friend is that there are several foods that help to fight cancer.

By eating healthy we can help ourselves fight off one of the deadliest
diseases we have today. That is one big reason to keep our commitment
to ourselves to either continue to or to begin to eat right.

The experts at the American Institute for Cancer Research have said
that foods that help us manage our weight can also significantly reduce
your risk of getting cancer. How? Nutrient-rich foods are packed with
compounds that protect your cells from the type of damage that can lead
to cancerous mutations. While fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, and
whole grains are beneficial, the following foods are especially
recommended for their cancer fighting properties:

Fruits: Red and purple grapes and graped juice, strawberries,
raspberries, and blueberries.
Vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, bok choy,
kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, leaf lettuce, mustard greens,
collard green, chicory, swiss chard, tomatoes, and garlic.
Beans: Lentils, soybeans, and peas.
Whole grains: Brown rice, whole wheat, oatmeal, air-popped popcorn, wild rice,
kasha, and tabbouleh.

So load up your plate with "super food" and you will combat your cancer risk
and slim down at the same time. It's a win-win situation.

Are You Taking Care Of Yourself?

2007-04-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

These days women try hard to be able to do it all.
We work, take care of our homes, families and a
whole list of other things. With all that we do
we usually do not listen to our bodies when it is
trying to tell us something. If we feel a little
pain here or there we just suck it up and keep
going because there are so many that depend on
us and there are so many things that as women
we feel we must take care of. But the bottom
line is that we have to take care of ourselves
because no one else will.
It is a frightening reality that many of us do
not take that preventative measure to keep our-
selves healthy and in the end we pay a high price.
I am writing this today because it has been just
a little over two months that I lost my best
friend to cancer and this morning like all
mornings I was thinking of her and how we did
so many things together and now we can't.
It is important to take the time to listen
to what our bodies tell us so that we may be
able to be with our loved ones longer.
Cancer claims many lives each year and the
sad part is that most, if caught early,
can be cured. For example, cervical cancer.

Cevical cancer is one of the most preventable
types of cancer. Because of the Pap test, the
number of cervical cancer cases has dropped over the
past twenty or so years. Unfortunately a lot of
women still develop cervical cancer. It is a
fact that over 9,000 women in the U.S. develop
this cancer every year.
Although some cervical cancers can't be prevented,
there are still things that we can do to help
lower the risk of getting this cancer.
I found a list of 6 ways to help reduce your risk
of cervical cancer.

Much of what I'm writting is a direct quote from
an article from about.com. This site has an area
of information just about cancer. This is the
list I found there.

"1. Get a regular Pap smear. The Pap smear can be
greatest defenses for cervical cancer. The
Pap smear can detect cervical changes early
before they turn into cancer. Check with your
doctor to find out how often you should have
this done.

2. Limit the amount of sexual partners you have.
Studies have shown women who have many sexual
partners increase their risk for cervical cancer.
they also are increasing their risk of developing
HPV, a known cause for cervical cancer.

3. Quit smoking or avoid secondhand smoke. Smoking
cigarettes increases your risk of developing many
cancers, including cervical cancer. Smoking combined
with an HPV infection can actually accelerate cervical
dysplasia.

4. If you are sexually active, use a condom. Having
unprotected sex puts you at risk for HIV and other
STD's which can increase your risk factor for
developing cervical cancer.

5. Follow up on abnormal Pap smears. If you have had an
abnormal Pap smear, it is important to follow up with
regular exams or colposcopies or whatever you doctor
has decided for you. If you have been treated for
cervical dysplasia, you still need to follow up with
some sort of exam as dysplasia can return and if it
goes undetected it can turn into cervical cancer.

6. Get the HPV vaccine. If you are under 27, you may be
eligible to receive the HPV vaccine, which prevents
high risk strains of HPV in women. The vaccine, Gardasil,
was approved by the FDA to give to young girls as young
as 9. The vaccine is most efective when given to young
women before they become sexually active."

I hope that those of you who read this will take the time to
take care of yourselves. It is not just one more thing to do,
it's one thing we all should do.

Check out the site about.com for any questions you may have
about this subject. It is a site I highly recommend.

Take care and I'll type at you soon.

It's Been Awhile

2007-04-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I haven't updated in a long while. Time goes by to
fast anymore and if you don't stop and smell the roses some
times you could miss something. That is what I have been doing.
I have found some interesting things to do and I thought it
was about time to share them with you.

For one I have started a couple of correspondence courses.
One for becoming a writer. That is fun. and one for becoming
a medical transcriptionist. Both are interesting one you can
make an in home business and make real good money. The other
is for the creative side of you. It is real easy to find
things like these courses. If you ever seen these ads where
you can get items for free for signing up friends and completing
a few free trials that's where they are. And you can actually
make money for answering those free trial offers. I found
a site called Swapper Referrals and there are people there
who are trying to get the free gifts and they offer money
to those who are willing to help. I have made extra gas
money by doing this and it is a great way to meet new people.

The other thing I have found is that Denise Austin has
a website, of course, but what I did not know is that she
has an area for children. It talks about how to get them
to exercise and how to get them to eat better and things
like that. I found a couple of recipes I would like to
share with you and I will also give you the address because
there were several recipes I think would be fun for you
and your children to make together.

Banana Blasters

2 bananas
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup wheat germ
crushed coconut, cereal, nuts or granola

Cut the bananas into 1 inch thick slices. Push a fork or
popsicle sticks into a banana slice. Dip it into the orange
juice and the roll it around in one of the fun crunchy foods.
Freeze until they're hard and then enjoy.

Flay away fruit salad

2 pineapple rings
2 thin slices of apple
2 raisins
celery stick
Vanilla or fruit flavored yogurt
Teaspoon of peanut butter

Start with the celery stick for the body of the butterfly.
Place 1/2 of the pineapple ring on either side of the celery
stick for wings. Then spoon yogurt into the holes in the wings.
Place 1/2 teaspoon of peanut butter on each raisin and use these
for eyes. Finally, use the apple slices to make the antennae.

You can find more fun recipes and information at
www.deniseaustin.com/fitkids/recipe.asp?id=3

Have a great day and will type at you soon.

Can Mealtime Be Easy?

2007-03-01T12:57:00.001-08:00

I have always found mealtime to be so very frustrating.
I see families sit down to meals together and I wonder
Where did I go wrong?

That's easy enough to answer. As a working mother
it was easiest just to feed the children first and
then worry about what my husband and were going to
eat. Actually, it was more my husband since he used
to get off work earlier than I would. So our children
grew up having a seperate meal from us and so today
mealtime is like the battle of Gettysburg! One child
wants one thing, the other wants something else and
there is no compremise between the two. We used to
try to the "you don't leave the table til you eat
trick", they went to bed hungery. Then it was " Try
at least one bit, if you don't like it you don't have
to eat it" trick, they went to bed hungery. What is
a person to do with such strong willed children. Make
mealtime more enjoyable by making food fun. I learned
this when I was studing for my certificate. When they
were little I used to make faces with the food or tell
stories about were the food came from so that they would
be more interested in it. It was still an uphill battle
so now that they are older I get their input about what
they would like to eat. Sometimes it is still a fight
and one has his meal and the other a different meal, but
now the oldest of our two is trying more foods and
because the youngest doesn't want to be out done he too
is trying more food, thank my lucky stars. Now to keep
this roll going I have investigated several websites and
found some tips on how to make the family dinner fast and
simple. This is a direct quote from an eDiets.com article.

"First set aside time on the weekends to make foods in advance
and freeze them. Connect with a friend, double the recipes and
split up the meals for both families.

Don't schedule your kid's day so heavily that it intrudes on
time to prepare dinner. Instead, invite them into the kitchen
and teach them a few things about cooking--it's a life skill
that they will cetrtainly thank you for some day.

Invest in a slow-cooker. This is a fabulous machine for busy
families. You can prepare your main dish in the morning and
come home to a delicious ready-to-eat meal. (My own suggestion
to this is to also invest in a Tupperware all in one cooker.
Your main meal goes in the bottom container, then your starchy
food in the middle and your vegetable on top cook for about an
hour in the microwave and ta dah you have dinner).

Buy pre-washed veggies in the produce section of stores. The
clean and prep is often the most time consuming part of cooking.

Buy "no-cook" items like apples, pears, avocadoes and tomatoes.
A fruit plate or veggie salad makes a terrific side dish.

Keep it simple. There's no need to strive for gourmet everyday.
It is often the simpler dishes hat have the best flavors, too.

Share the burden. Team up with a friend and have a family dinner
at their house one night and switch to your house on another.
For a different twist on the same concept, divide up the menu
between families and share the work.

Plan your menus and make a grocery list. These two steps require
finding spare time, but they will save time in the long run.

Buy a few cookbooks with titles like 30-minute meals, slow-cooker
recipes or five ingredients or less. These types of books are
geared toward getting meals on the table quickly and easily.
Look for books that offer shortcuts, pre-written shopping lists
and menu ideas.

Make extra for leftovers. It goes without saying: Leftovers
make great llunches and snacks. If you're making a family
favorite, double the recipe and freeze a portion for nextweek."

It's funny how simple this list is. Wish I would have thought of it,
I could have saved myself years and years of frustration.

I hope you all find this helpful, I know I did and things are getting
somewhat better. I guess ony time will tell.

Have a great day and I wil type to you soon.

Put Your Metabolism to Work

2007-02-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

With all the hussle and bussle of today
there should be no overweight people.
What with house work, jobs, children,
errands it should stand to reason we
should all be thin. So why aren't we?
That pesty metabolism is just one
culprit. As children our metabolisms
are naturally geared up, but as we get
older, it slows down just like everything
else. So how do we kick it up?

For starters, excerise is one way to
perk up. When I was taking better
care of myself, I use to excerise
an hour everyday. That's right, one
full hour.
I did't start that way. When I started
I could only work out 10 minutes to
Richard Simmons Sweating to the oldies,
but I kept at it and I began to feel
better. I didn't feel like I could use
a nap everday anymore. What I didn't
know is that while I was doing all
this excerise each morning I was
jump starting my metabolism.
I had this extra energy all
day long and didn't understand
why. I thought since I would get
up at 5 a.m. every morning and
would work out any where from
20 - 60 minutes I should be
dog tired by the evening. Then
while waiting at the doctors
office I was thumbing through a
magazine, and there was this article
about how the best time to excerise
was in the morning, because your
body automatically gets geared up
to face the day. By excerising you
set your metabolism on high and it
naturally will stay that way all day.
The problem with excerising in the
late afternoon is that that's the
time of day your body is programmed to
slow down so the boost your give your
metabolism isn't as great because your
are going against what must naturally
take place.

Here is a little bit of information that
I got from the e-diets newsletter that
fits with what I am talking about.

"Your metabolism is genetically programed.
However, you can change your metabolism by changing
your body composition. Build lean muscle mass
through light weight training, and make yuour
body more metabolically active.
Muscular people burn more calories sitting
still than those with less muscle mass and
more body fat."

I hope this little bit of info helps.
I also want to say that since starting
my little adventure I have lost 20 lbs.

Tomorrow I will have a new recipe for you all.

Have a good one :-)

What Causes Dark Spots On Our Skin

2007-02-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hyperpigmentation (a fancy name for dark spots)
are common to our skin and as with anything else
there are different elements that cause the spots.

Spotting (as I call it) usually begins around our
middle ages and are most common on our face, arms,
neck and hands. Thee are several skin diseases that
cause these spots, but I don't know exactly what they
are or even how to pronounscce them, but I will list
them anyway.

**Linea Fusca
**Riehl's Melanosis
**Erythromelanosis Follicularis
**Melasma
**Poikiloderma of Civatte
**Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation

Feel free to look them up. That's what I'll
have to do so I know what I'm talking about.
There are also certain medications that cause
spotting: being out in the sun without sun-
screen causes spotting (it's the UVA rays that does this),
and other conditions and diseases cause spotting.
Here's a couple of examples:
**Pregnancy
**Liver Disease

Our skin is the largest living tissue we have and
it is very important we take care of it. To do
that you should always put on a good sunscreen
read the side effects on any medications you
may have to take and most importantly talk to
your Doctor if those dark spots become larger
discolored or seem abnormal to you in any way.

Hope everyone has a great day and take car of
yourselves inside and out.

Good and Bad Fats

2007-01-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

I know that the last thing you want to hear
is that fat is good for you. It is a fact
that dispite the downfalls we do have to
have some fat in our diets. We just need
to know the good from the bad.

Manounsturated fats and polyunsaturated fats
are beneficial to our health. You can get
these from eating olives, nuts and grains.
The fats to stay away from are saturated fats.
These you get from things like palm oil,
palm kernal oils and coconut oil. You want to
also stay away from trans fats which is the
fats we find in cookies, crackers, snack foods,
and such. The other one you do want to have
in your diet is omega-3 fatty acids. This comes
from the fish we eat and it is very good for you.
Now I'm not a real big fish eater, but I can say
if you don't have a taste for fish, the ones I
have found tolerable is cod and alaskan pollock
are good.

The other thing I want to mention today is that
proteins are very good for your skin, internal
organs and muscles. It also composes our
immune system and hormones. We can manufacture
14 out of the 22 essential amino acids and the
rest come from the foods we eat.
Animal fats contain all essential amnino acids,
and soybeans are the only plant source that contains
all eight. So eat a variety of foods to help
you obtain all essential amino acids.

I got this information from eDiets.com. It
is a very good website for health and nutrition
needs.

Have a great day :-)

New Recipe and Such

2007-01-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

I promised a new recipe and here it is.

I got this while studing the South Beach Diet.
( They have a great newsletter you might
want to look at with daily recipes.)

Chicken Capri
Serves 4

1 c reduced-fat ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4 Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
1 c crushed tomatoes
4 slices reduced-fat mozzarella cheese

In a blender or food processor, combine the ricotta
with the oregano,salt,and pepper. Process to blend.

Rub the chicken with the garlic powder. Heat the oil
in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the
chicken and cook for 12 minutes per side. Place the
chicken breasts, side by side, in a large baking dish
and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spoon 1/4 cup of the
cheese mixture and 1/4 cup tomatoes onto each chicken
breasts. Top each ckicken breast with 1 slice mozzarella.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in
the thickest portion of a breast registers 170 degrees
and the juices run clear.
Yummy!!

The links I wanted to share with you have different
articles that are very good and the one has a section
on beauty also, so you may want to check it out.

www.lifescript.com/healthyadvantage

www.about.com

www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing

Continuing Makeup

2007-01-25T08:49:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not updating yesterday, it got crazy.
However, I did find some interesting articles
that I want to share the links with you as they
pertain to health and the skin. But first let's
continue on how to apply your makeup. As with
everything there is a system to do it.

First of all you want to start out with your
concealer. The best thing to do is to start
with a small amount because you don't want it
to show through you foundation.
You want to use a shade slightly
lighter than your skintone.

Your foundation is what is used to even out
your skintone. It provides a smooth base
for the other makeup. Match the skintones
as closely as possible using the edge of the
jawline. To much can look unnatural, and do
not go pass the jaw line.
Your powder is what helps set your makeup
and reduces shine. You'll want to select
a slightly lighter shade than the foundation
and apply it across the forhead and down.
Eyeshawdow is what accents and defines the
the shape of our eyes. You should have a
base shadow and an accent shadow. When
applying do not pull on the skin around
your eyes as this is the most delicate
skin on the body and it will, over time,
cause wrinkles and fine lines.
You want to choose a light to medium color to
highlight and a medium to dark color to accent.
Step 1. Highlight: Apply lightest shade from
lash to brow. Then sweep the deeper shade on
the lid of your eye, then blend gently.
Blend the next deepest shade in the crease.
To define you eye glide on deepest shade with
a liner brush across the lash line toward outer
edge for a nice clean finish.
With that done, you want to pick an eye liner
that will enhance the shape of your eyes, to
make them look larger. Have some fun with your
liner and use different colors on different days.
You don't want to line the entire eye becuase
this can make them look smaller.
Your blush is what gives color and glow to the
face. Apply this by starting at the center
of the cheek and work up toward the hairline
above the ear.
Your mascara makes the lashes appear longer,
thicker and darker. It also makes the eyes
look wider and more open. Select your mascara
based on benefits and features. The one thing
you want to remember is never pump your
mascara wand in the tube as this pushes air
into to the tube and causes it to dry out.
It also traps bacteria inside, that is why
you should get a new mascara every three months.
Your lip liner helps with defining your lips and
helps to prevent feathering and bleeding into
the small lines around your lips. If you are
like me and have some problems drawing a
straight line, what I do is go ahead and fill
in my lips wityh the liner then put on my
lipstick. Not only do I get a perfect line
every tine, but I also seal my lipstick
better so I don't have to reapply as much.

I know this was long winded, but putting
on makeup and playing dress up was my
favorite thing to do as a chld and
even though we might know what to do,
pass this along to your daughters,
nieces ect.
HAVE FUN AND HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Let's Do Makeup

2007-01-23T12:37:00.000-08:00

Doing your makeup can be very confusing at times,
what with all the different colors and different
ways of applying makeup, can confuse anybody.
When I took my course to become a Certified
Beauty Advisor I did it with Avon Products.
The system they use is easy and fun. So
today I want to pass on some of that
information to you.

How to tell your undetones is the first
thing to do. Every skin tone has more
than one shade of underline color.

If you have: Hair= soft shade of brown,
blonde, dark brown or black
Eyes= blue, gray, or brown/black
Skin= Pink, Rosy, Beige, or brown
Then your undertone is a cool.

If you have: Hair= Golden or Red
Eyes= Green or Brown
Skin= Olive or Golden
Then your undertone is a warm.

The last undertone is Neutral. Most
people fall into this category.
Neutral is a balance between warm and cool
undertones. Now on to the color palate.

Your cool Color Family is Pinks and Roses. This
includes these colors: Pinks, Roses, Fuchsias,
Lavenders, Grapes, Cherries,
and wines.

Your warm Color Family is Browns & Bieges. This
includes these colors: Browns, Bronzes, Golds,
Mochas, Taupes, & Spices.

Your neutral Color Family is Corals & Reds. This
includes these colors: Peaches, Corals, Oranges,
Brownish Reds, Tawnies,
Apricots, & all shades
of Red.
Once you have established what color family
you are in then you need to know what intensity
you are. Intensity is how light or dark your
colors should be.
Light Intensity:
Blonde hair, light blue, gray or green eyes and
fair skin tone.

Dark Intensity:
Dark brown to black hair
medium to dark eyes
medium to dark skin

Medium Intensity:
Light to medium brown, dark blonde,
red, or auburn hair.
medium eye tone, and medium skin tone.

The next step is "The Ten Steps To A Perfect Face"
( I got that from Avon)

The items you will need are:
1. concealer
2. foundation
3. powder
4. base eyeshadow and accent shadow
5. eye liner
6. brow pencil or brow powder
7. blush
8. mascara
9. lip liner
10. lipstick

This is as far as I will go today as it is
time to pick up the children. You know how
that is. Anyway, not only do these products
help make our face look pretty, so does good
health. Drink plenty of water, but not to
much if you heard the news today, and to eat
right and get enough sleep.
All these things are equally important to looking
good and feeling good.
Tomorrow I will have a new recipe for you too.

Until tomorrow.

Take Care Of Your Outside As Well

2007-01-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I have been going
over alot of my books and things to refresh my mind and
it's interesting to see how much I did have to learn to
get my certificates. Now I would like to pass on that
knowledge to you.

The first thing you want to do before you put on your makeup
is to make sure your skin is in good condition. If you
have problems with adult acne you will want to get that
under control first. Makeup may help with accenting our
face, but it can also do more harm that good.

You will want to start with a good cleansing regimen.
Personally I use Avons' Anew line. This line was made
to compliment each age group and groups that have
specific problem areas and priced to fit the budget.
However, there are alot of other good products out
there and it's best to pick something that you know
you can work with daily.

Caring for your skin is like anything else in life,
it has a procedure. I got this information from
Avon to get my certificate.

The Five Universal Skin Care Steps.

Cleanse--"Cleansers rmove makeup, dirt, and germs
without stripping natural oils".

Tone -- "Toner, also known as an astringent, helps
return the skin to it's proper ph balance.
This is especially important for those who
have normal to oily skin. Avon has several
two in one formulas to same time".

Treat-- Back in 1990 Avon came out with it's Anew Line
and I have used anything else since, so forgive
me if this sounds like a sales pitch ( o.k. it
might be, just a little).
Your treatment is whatever product you need for
whatever your specific problem areas are.
Whether it is wrinkles or age spots.
Avon's Anew line has a product for just about every
problem area :-)
Moisturize and Protect-- "Moisurizers are extremely important
as they help to maintain moisture balance and help
with sealing in your treatment benefits. It also
makes the skin feel soft and supple, it minimizes
fine lines and wrinkles. Alway use a moisturizer
with a sunblock in it". You also want to put your
moisturizer on last so that the other products
don't block the protection.

Eye Care-- The delicate skin surrounding the eye needs special
handling and is more fragile and sensitive than the
rest of the skin on the face. Eye products are
specially formulated to protect the skin sround the
eyes and to reduce the appearance of puffiness,
dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles or to help
improve elasticity and firmness.

For the first couple of weeks you may
experience a bout of acne and that is o.k.
too. It is a sign that your cleanser and toner are
getting down into the pores and cleaning them out.

The next step is to use whatever treatment you may
want to target your problem areas. Whether it is
crows feet or lines around the lips, this is when
you apply the treatment.

Your final step is to use a good moisturizer. It
is very important to get a moisturizer that is not
to greasy. You want to make sure your moisturizer
goes on smoothly and penetrates the skin leaving
no residue. It is also best to choose a moisturizer
that has a sun block of 8 spf or more. Unfortunately
the older we get, the less the sun likes us. If you
are one that likes the great outdoors, always remember
your sunblock.

Your night time regimen is the same with the exception
that your treatment should be a product that is made
for night time use. You will want to choose something
that is a little lighter texture because at night
there are no elements that the skin has to compete
with.

I hope that this is some help. If you have any
questions or comments feel free to post them or
if you have some other kind of skin treatment let
me know. We are never to old to learn.

Have a good day :)

Feelin' Good

2007-01-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

With the soreness not so bad today I have to admit I feel good.
My energy is up, I'm not tired and dragging like I usually am.

Anyway, I was going over some of my books last night and
I started thinking that if any of you are interested, I could
make up example menus to help those of you who are going to
join me with my little adventure. It is important to know that
all the diets in the world will only work for as long as you
diet. The hard truth is that you have to make changes in the
way you eat everyday. That is the only way to keep weight off.

Let me know if you would like this. I would be more than happy
to do it.
Until tomorrow :)

SORE!!!

2007-01-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

The one thing I forgot is not to be to over zealous when you first start to workout.
My legs and arms are sore! How about you?
I have to admit that even with being as sore as I am, I seem to have more energy.

But I should've remembered that. While study for Dietary Management you learn what foods give you energy and which foods make you tired and such. I think it is time to pull out the books again because that was a major brain freeze.

I thought I would research some other sites about diets and exercise just to see what is out there. The most important thing to remember is crash diets don't work.
Oh, for short term, maybe, but in the long run it is a lifestyle change that is needed in order to keep the weight off. Alot of diets are about don't eat this don't eat that, but the truth is you can eat whatever you want to, but in moderation.
I used to belong to Weight Watchers and I did very well with it and have been playing with the idea of joining up again. The plan was so simple and I was never hungry, I got to eat all my favorite foods and got to visit with other people with my problem and got some real good advice and recipes.

Speaking of Recipes I have one that I thought you might like. It is lowfat, but it doesn't taste low fat. Here it is:

From a Richard Simmons Cook Book
Swanky Flanky Steak

Marinade
1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth
1/3 c each balsamic vinegar and
reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 TBLS Dijon-style mustard with horseradish
1 TBLS Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp each dried oregano, dried thyme and dried sage
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lb flank steak

1. Marinade: Combine all marinade ingredients in a
sealable plastic food-storage bag. Seal and
shake to mix.
Place steak in bag. Shake and mix.
Place in refrigerator and let
marinate 1 to 8 hours

2. Preheat broiler. Lift meat from marinade.
Discard marinade. Place meat on broiler-pan rack.

3. Broil steak, 5 to 6 inches from heat source,
about 3 min. per side for rare, or 4 min.
per side for medium.

4. Remove meat to cutting board. Let stand
10 minutes. Thinly slice across grain
on a diagonal.

I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I do. I like to serve it
with white rice and broccoli.

Have a good day :)

Bexercise

2007-01-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

I bet you are wondering if I misspelled my title. No I didn't.
Curious to know what it is?
It is exercise on the bed. (Now don't think that way:)
I once read in a Ladies Home Journal how if you haven't exercised in a while and you were a little out of shape, you could actually do a work out on your bed so that you would not hurt yourself while getting into shape to do other exercises.
For instance, if you want to do sit ups, you place both feet flat on the floor, lay back and then sit up. It saves your back and hips from hurting from being on the floor. Same with leg lifts. Whatever you exercise you would do on the floor (except for running in place or bouncing, but we know that. I had to explain to my boys not to do that), you can do on your bed.
Starting this morning I have begun my day with Bexercise.
Talk at you tomorrow:)

Food- It's a Four letter work!

2007-01-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting article today about trigger foods and how to deal with them.
I know one of my trigger foods is licorice. Even though the box says it's fat free, evetything has a little bit of fat or a high calorie intake. Sure, if I would just eat one or two pieces, I might be o.k., but when it's a box at a time, well, here comes trouble.

Do you know what your trigger foods are?

Check out the article at lifescript.healthyadvantage.com
Talk at ya tomorrow.

Beauty From The Inside

2007-01-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that beauty can be only skin deep, but it doesn't have to be. The best way to look your best is to feel your best, and to do that you start from the inside.

1. Get plenty of sleep. Sleeping is when your body takes the time to repair itself.

2. Healthier Diet. What you eat can actually show up on the outside like hips, thighs, you
know what I mean. Water is another very important factor. If you don't drink enough water
the skin gets very dry and those nasty little wrinkles look huge wrinkles and who needs that.

3. Get plenty of excerise. I should practice what I preach. The most exercise I get is going
from the house to the car etc. This year however will be different. I am going to take what I
learned from being a dietary manager and from becoming a certifed beauty advisor and
start working on some of my outer beauty.

I have learned that you can make anything fun if you put your mind to it. I like to exercise to the golden oldies. My boys think it is funny and it is, but what is most important is that it is fun, fun, fun!

I would like to invite you to join me. I would love to hear sugguestions on different types of exercise or diets or anything you feel like talking about. I am going to put my best foot forward this year and make it the best year ever and I would truely love the company.