Food Moment

So many people talk about wanting to lose weight, eat better and so on but they keep doing the number one thing that keeps them overweight and not as healthy – eat out every darn day at work. If you happen to be doing the same then I don’t want to hear complaints! Living a healthy lifestyle takes a bit of work and planning. Carrying your own lunch to work, however, is a very simple way to begin that process. How so?

Top Reasons For Being Overweight:

• Eating Out
• Excessive Portions
• Poor Food & Drink Choices
• Physical Inactivity

Top Reasons Why You Should Make Your Own Lunch:

• When you make your own lunch, you control the contents. Hence, you control your portion of bread, pasta, cheese, etc.
• When you control that portion every day you are preventing yourself from over eating.
• You are also controlling what goes into your food. For instance, when you make your sandwich you’re the boss of that sandwich and you decide what to put in it.
• Restaurants and fast food places buy food in bulk and they try to save money. So what you’re getting is not your top quality foods even though it looks pretty. Get your own food and put it together!
• When you make your own lunch you also have control over your drink. If there is no soda around, you’re less likely to drink it! When you’re out getting lunch that Pepsi looks way too good to pass up. You’re much more likely to bring water with you when you’re packing your own lunch.
• Last but not least, making your own lunch will save you money! You can then use that saved money to invest in a gym membership. Just an idea!

What You Need:

• medium lunch bag/box (you can get these at Target)
• ice packs
• whole grain bread
• deli meat of your choice
• low-fat cheese
• light mayo
• mustard
• vegetables of your choice
• fruit
• dairy products: cheese, yogurt, milk
• snacks can include nuts, dried fruit, whole wheat crackers, etc

 I want you to challenge yourself this week and try to make your own lunch and let me know how it goes. You don’t always have to make sandwiches. You can bring in left over dinner that includes pasta, soup, salad, whatever you want! Just have fun with it! Make your co workers jealous by the variety of foods you can bring in inside that lunch bag! They will soon follow the trend and will join the circle of wellness.

Common question at this time of the year – how do I get killer abs? The answer is: it’s a lot of hard work but you can do it if you put your mind to it.

• Exercise

Sit ups alone will not get you nice abs. You should include cardiovascular exercise 3-4 times per week (for 20-30 mins) which can be running, swimming, biking, dancing, Zumba classes, etc. Basically something that keeps your heart rate up. It should feel intense! If you don’t sweat then you’re not working hard enough. When you do cardiovascular exercise you burn fat. Remember that the fat burned will be overall body fat and not only in your abdominal area. There is no way to run and only burn fat on either your thighs or your abs!

On top of cardio you should also do core exercises that will work your abs. When you start losing the fat through cardio, your ab muscles will start to poke through. Believe it or not but when you exercise  chances are you’re automatically working  your abs even though you’re not specifically doing sit ups. Some of my favorite exercise that work the abs are:

1. Plank
2. Push Ups
3. Leg Lifts
4. Exercise Ball Crunches

I personally cannot stand sit ups and so I do planks and leg lifts to keep my abs in tact! You can probably research additional exercises that don’t resemble sit ups that will give your abs a workout.

• Diet

I don’t mean that you have to start a  strict diet regimen. Diet does, however, play a big role in keeping those abs tight. We all know that fat loves to collect in that area. With that said you really have to pay attention to:

1. Portion Control – this is huge! Portion control is very important not just for abs but for overall weight loss or weight maintenance. I recommend eating small portions but often. Ideally you want to eat 6 small meals per day. This really helps when it comes to keeping that stomach flat!

2. Food Choices – when you do eat choose superfoods. You’re consuming calories right? So those calories might as well contain all the other good stuff too. Superfoods are foods that are packed with nutrients and a few examples are  fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, egg whites and the list goes on. Avoid empty calories such as chips, cookies, candy, soda and beer. Those pitchers of beer got to go! 

• Persistance

Success does not come overnight. Being healthy and looking good takes work.  If you stick to exercise, practice portion control and make healthy food choices, you will get those nice abs you dream about. If you’re persistent enough then these habits will eventually become permanent and that’s what you want right? I’m sorry if you were looking for a magic bullet here but there isn’t one!

If you have any other ab exercise ideas or have anything to share that might be helpful in this area, please do!

You are in full control of what you put into your mouth! Yes, it’s that simple. You make that choice. You make the choice to eat in excess or eat too little. Nobody forces food down your throat! Isn’t that amazing?

We have the knowledge as well as control over our eating habits yet so many people require professional help in order to get on the right eating track. What’s up with that?

The answer is very simple. People often forget that being healthy and maintaining  healthy weight is about long-term behavior and lifestyle change. It’s not something you do for 3 months and stop unless you want to be back on the old road again. Instead, you keep on making lifestyle changes, one by one, until they become a permanent habit.

One example of a lifestyle change could be including spinach in your diet once a week and having at least 2 different vegetables every day. When setting goals, this change could be something that can be worked on for several weeks. It is a simple goal but once established it is so rewarding!

Another lifestyle change could be cutting back eating out from four times per week to twice per week. A simple change like this can cut back a lot of calories.

The beauty of creating simple lifestyle changes/goals is that they are realistic and achievable. Not only are you more likely to achieve the goal but you will also stick to it! By setting these changes one by one and allowing adequate time for each one, you are creating long-term changes that are more likely to stick.   Sweet, isn’t?

What does behavior got to do with it? Behavior is everything. You behave upon thinking and/or feeling something, right? For instance, you may be feeling sad and you know that a nice piece of cake will get rid of that feeling. Or maybe you’re home alone at night, bored to death and what is there better to do other than eat? You react to the feeling by getting yourself busy with eating food.

By changing your behavior, you control your reaction. In other words, rather than reaching for a piece of cake and getting busy with it, you could watch a comedy instead and get rid of the sad feeling that way. This way you are in control of your behavior. You make the choice of how to handle this feeling and food is not deciding that for you. When bored, you could do a little exercise or do something other than eating. It can be anything – writing, reading, cooking, or cleaning. Once you get your mind busy, you will forget the strong food craving that you’re having.

That’s what I mean when I say behaviour is everything!