Avoiding Diet "Potholes" At Work

Avoiding diet "potholes" at work.



You know what I'm talking about, you're walking past the break room and there sits the doughnuts that a grateful sales rep has left. Even though you've already had your breakfast and your not hungry you still grab one and hurriedly eat it before someone sees you. Later you think what did I do that for, I wasn't hungry and it wasn't even fresh! Yuck.



Welcome to what I call the "potholes" of eating well at work. From vending machines full of junk food, to break rooms laiden with treats from well-meaning folks, to the treats the receptionist has on her desk, temptation is around every corner. When you consider how many waking hours you spend at work each day it's easy to see why these "potholes" can pose hazards to your healthy eating.



Try using some of these tips to help you stick to your healthy eating plan at work:

• Make time for meals. Studies show that when people eat in front of a computer, they eat more and feel less satisfied. Schedule some time in your workday to take a break, get away from your desk, sit at a table and enjoy your food.


• Bring your snacks. To avoid the vending machine, steer clear of the "pothole" by bringing an assortment of healthy snacks to have on hand for mid-morning and mid-afternoon treats, plus you'd be surprised at how much money you can save by bringing your own snacks. With the money save you can treat yourself to manicure or a pedicure, that bag of chips isn't so good now is it!


• Walk it off. Are in you in the swivel chair "pothole", stuck behind a desk all day? Make an effort to get up and move around during the workday. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away, get up and deliver a message instead of e-mailing it. try taking a power walk on your break. Remember any movement is better than none, just stay way from the "potholes".


• Take an alternate route. If you are having a hard time resisting temptations in the vending machine or break room, try detouring around them. Chances are that if you don't see it, you won't want it.


• Think it through. Before having junk food or sweets at work, wait ten minutes. Most likely, the urge will pass.


• Let them eat it. Chances are that during your ten minute delay your co-workers will polish off the free food before you get there. Problem solved!

For a healthy snacks that are chocolate nougat, apple cinnamon, or chocolate peanut butter, they all taste great and have lots of protein to help fight off cravings.

For those who need extra help with appetite control, Metabolic Nutrition System (MNS) that works great to slim you down faster!

Blessings for a Glorious Day!

Sleep More To Lose Weight?!

Sleep more to lose weight?!



That's right, the quality of sleep and your weight or connected. Research has shown that people who get less than five hours of quality sleep each night are at a significantly higher risk of obesity than those who get seven to eight hours of quality sleep each night.



The reason is "disordered" sleep affects your body in all sorts of way. When it comes to your weight, lack of quality sleep increases levels of the leptin in your blood, leaving you hungrier and more likely to snack. Lack of sleep also stresses the body, causing it to process and store glucose differently. It is also harder to commit to being more active and to plan and prepare healthier meals if you are tired all the time. In short, not getting enough sleep is hazardous to your weight! If you're not getting seven to eight hours of high-quality sleep, try these tips for better sleep:

• Remove the TV from your bedroom. You should be sleeping, not watching TV late at night.


• Avoid caffeine or alcohol close to bedtime. Both lead to lower quality sleep.


• Don't exercise within 30 minutes before bedtime - doing this may make it harder to fall asleep. However, getting regular exercise earlier in the day will promote better rest.


• Develop a sleep schedule and stick to it, going to bed and getting up at the same time from day to day. This helps set your body's internal clock.


• Don't sleep late on weekends, which can disrupt your pattern. It's better to get up at your regular time and take a nap later in the day if your need to, or if you need an extra boost of energy any day of the week try this quick pick-me-up or this great lemon-aide flavored drink that is ready made, only 2 ounces!


• Make sure your bed is comfortable, a good mattress, bedding and pillows.

If you still experience trouble getting a good night's sleep after making these changes, talk to you doctor. There are many medical conditions that could be impacting your quality of sleep, some are serious and require medical treatment.

Let's concentrate on getting high quality sleep, it's critical to your weight-loss success!

Blessings for a Glorious Day!

The Fear Factor - Facing Your Weight-Loss Fears!

The fear factor - facing your weight-loss fears!

When embarking on a new way of eating - and thinking - it's a major life step, but don't let fear hold you back. Fear itself leads to failure. It can cause you hesitation and uncertainty when making important decisions. It can keep you from trying new things entirely, or not following through when you do try something new.

When embarking on your journey toward wellness don't let fear affect your progress. You already took a major step when you decided to change your eating and lifestyle habits. Remember that courage progress through this change. The Bible tells us: "I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me, freeing me from all my fears. those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow or shame will darken their faces. I cried out to the Lord in my suffering, and he heard me. He set me free from all my fears. For the angel of the Lord guards all who fear him, and he rescues them." (Psalms 34:4-7)

Facing your Fear

Take some time to meditate on your fears and whether they're holding you back. Write about it in a journal, or discuss it with a friend or a family member. Sometimes identifying your fear is all it takes to resolve it.

To learn about a healthy approach to weight-loss from a company who's first guiding principle is to put God first go to www.advocare.com/05051046.

Blessings for a Glorious Day!

Get Healthier By Thinking Positively!

Get healthier by thinking positively!

As someone wanting to get to a healthier weight, one of the worst things you can do is to fall into the pattern of negative self-talk (the inner voice that tells you you will never reach your goal, today was a bad day you deserve some chocolate, you've already cheated today so have that cheesecake, and so on).

Don't be a victim of negative self-talk anymore, a little cognitive reordering will fix you right up. This type of intervention involves identifying your sabotaging thoughts, questioning their validity, and then taking positive action to change it.

Think about the person who constantly thinks, "I've always been heavy and I'll always be heavy, diets never work for me." Rather than using past experiences as an excuse to do nothing, they would be better off questioning why no diets have worked for them before and thinking about alternative approaches to weight loss.

First off, think about what to review all the diets you have tried to see if they failed because they were unreasonable to begin with. If they were extreme (no sugar, no carbs, no fat) or bizarre (cabbage soup morning, noon, and night), you might respond to the negative voice by saying, "If I had tried a healthy, sustainable diet for once, I'd actually succeed." If your diet history reveals that you made informed food choices, you might want to focus on exercise as a primary weight loss tool along with a sensible eating plan Either way, turn the negative self-talk into positive self-talk - the single most important ingredient for successful weight loss is to believe in yourself and start off with a positive attitude. Are you ready for a new start?

Blessings for a Glorious Day!

Why Didn't I Think Of That Sooner!

Why didn't I think of that sooner!

Did you ever have one of the "aha" moments, when the solution to a seemingly impossible situation just comes to you, or you see a situation in a whole new light?

We often get stuck in a rut when it comes to problems. We may fixate on one solution, trying over and over to make it work, rather than trying a different approach. Sometimes "Thinking outside the box" can help. One example being, eating fast-food too often is a problem. After thinking about it, you realize that it isn't a love of fast-food that does you in. It's that you drive home from work hungry and that when you see the fast-food restaurant's sign you stop and buy dinner there - even if know you have a healthier option waiting at home.

After thinking and brainstorming a list of possible solutions to this problem, you try having a healthy snack before you leave work and then drive home using a new route that doesn't go right past the fast-food restaurant. Suddenly, the old strategy of relying on willpower alone to bypass the drive-through - isn't needed anymore.

After a few weeks, you look back and see that thinking outside the box, aka "aha" moments work to your advantage. This week, spend some time thinking about some of the old problems standing in your way of success. Try looking at them in a different light. Is there a new way to do things? Give it a try, I know you can do it!

Blessings for a Glorious Day!

Cravings Be Gone!

Cravings be gone!

How do you cope with your cravings? You know, those urges that tell you to eat certain foods? Did you know that craving and urges are normal and to be expected? They are not signs of failure. They instead provide you with an opportunity to learn what your triggers are.

Cravings are like a wave in the ocean. Just like a wave, your cravings are strongest at the peak, and start fading like the wave when it recedes. Instead of giving in to the craving right away, give it some time and it will pass. Stay busy/distracted for a few minutes by reading, writing in your journal, deep breathing, taking a walk, positive affirmations (thoughts) "I am in control, I can wait it out." After a few minutes check in with yourself, try to look back at what was going on at the time the craving started. Can you identify it? Was it a feeling, situation, person, event, or do you need to maybe look at adding more food to your meal or snacks? We all know that stressful situations can trigger "stress eating", but sometimes it is a matter of not having enough to eat at a meal, especially protein, or skipping your healthy snack. Trying to stick to the idea of eating several smaller meals a day usually helps to lessen cravings. This of course, usually means planning ahead in regards to healthy food choices. One such solution for a healthy snack that helps with chocolate cravings as well is my favorite snack bar, it has 11 grams of protein, great taste, and only 140 calories!

Remember that most of the time a craving is your bodies way of telling something such as, it doesn't a situation, person, or simply it is time to eat - so pay attention to your body and listen to what it is telling you.

Blessings for a Glorious Day!

Is Your Scale Ruining Your Weight Loss?

Is your scale ruining your weight loss?



Are you one of those people who is constantly stepping on the scale every day, or even several times a day? You could be sabotaging yourself. Studies have shown that people who step on the scale at least once a day are more likely to become frustrated and give up on their goals of obtaining a healthy weight. It makes it harder to stick to the plan if you see your weight go up one day, let's face it, it will not go down every day.



Studies show that people who weigh themselves every day become obsessed with their weight and resort to unhealthy means to try to reach their goal weight. They often times resort to binging and purging, skipping meals, smoking, prescription diet pills, or laxatives. Those who frequently weigh themselves tend to gain more weight than those who weigh less often.



The problem with weighing frequently it that a person's weight can vary drastically from day to day, or even hour to hour. If you weigh first thing in the morning your going to weigh less than if you weigh in the evening because in the morning you have an empty stomach and my even be a little dehydrated. But by later in the day you have eaten and replenished your fluid level which will of course make your weight higher. Another factor in varying weight for women is hormones. Hormone variations can cause the scale to tip in a way not reflective of your overall healthy weight. If you are bloated with your menstrual cycle, that extra water is going to look like wight gain, when it really isn't.



The appropriate way to weigh yourself - it is recommended that you weigh yourself no more than once a week, be sure to do this at the same time each time so that there is consistency in your measurements.



If you find that you are not reaching your goal weight than it is time to take a close look at your diet and exercise plan and switch some things. We'll discuss this more later this week.



So only grace your scale with your presence once this week, okay!



Blessings for a Glorious Day!