How to Holiday Eat

This is my take on Holiday Eating. I see nothing wrong with eating with family, company and at the same table eating the same foods. I LOVE Holiday eating.  Every setting will have:

Turkey: pure meat
Veggies: prepped in different ways, I am sure you can get creative to keep it clean and lean
Starches (good ones): a small serving is good
Gravy: I hope I do not have to go there, we don't want it to come here....
Stuffing: I am sure we can live without it....who wants GMO and glue gunk in their intestines anyways....yukkkkk
Salad: of course

Pie, desserts etc: I am sure if you kept it clean a little treat after dinner, wait a while, don't stuff it all in at once, will NOT hinder your progress.  All assuming you have been sanely eating up to this feast.  If not, that is a whole different ballgame I get it. I am human too, learned the best way, on my own skin....through my own journey to and from the self.

The leftovers are great, again, treat it like real food, yourself with respect and love.

Remember when you love something, you care for it, you protect it.  Stuffing yourself sick, and eating fast is not love for food, nor treating yourself.
Enjoy what you Eat.

xo

Exercise + Diet

Exercise + Diet = Happiness + Wellness

What if, you substituted the word Exercise for Movement, and Diet for Eating.  It feels so much more attainable, and doable, doesn't it?  It is our nature to do both.  Take the pressure off, daily commit to:

-Movement, and, get up daily, and do a little more than you think you should

-Eating, choose a little wiser than you KNOW you DO.

That is it.

We need to do both, it is our nature--with better quality choices !

52 weeks of bodily bliss: week 24: ICE ICE baby

ICEwater.

We all know we need to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day to boost health, performance, and even weight-loss.  What you may not know the colder the water the more calories you burn.

I.e. if you drink ice water instead of room-temperature water, your body will burn up to an extra 9 calories per glass.  If, drinking room-temperature water can burn about 16 calories per glass, you would put yourself to 25 calories in deficit per glass for ice water drank.  Even if you stay at your minimum 8, you are about 70 calories daily for no effort only benefit, 350 calories a week. In 10 weeks only changing THIS factor you can lose one full pound of body fat. I am in!!!!!!

Don’t forget, water is a MUST for all your bodily processes, including the ones that run your metabolism. If you're under hydrated, your body will underperform.  Not to mention when water flushes out fat deposits and toxins, it can up your energy levels…

Keep drinking and keep shrinking!!!!!   

52 weeks of bodily bliss... week 21: Better than ICE CREAM !!!!!!!

If you know me, you know, I LOVE ICE CREAM!!!!!  I mean I L O V E ice cream!!!!!  If I could, I would live on nothing BUT ice cream.  Unfortunately I can't, so the need for better alternatives has been tickling my curiosity, and this week I will share some fun ideas with you.

As the weather warms up and our hearts are more free and wanting to enjoy life's great fun and cool treats, ice cream moves way up the list.  Not so hard, at the grocery stores the freezer isles are displaying the latest indulgences, the TV reminds of the yummy, the streets have ice cream trucks circling playing the fun music, not to mention the beaches, where the fresh cones with scoops melting down the forearms are calling our taste buds for a party.

While this is all fine and dandy, if not kept in check, our waist lines soon will rebel against the indulgence of our taste buds, and we bulge out of the bikinis.  Where did all the hard work go at the gym all these weeks?????  Now what?

Fret not, there are some easy tricks to keep the cool cravings satisfied.  One of my favorite things to do is, freezing bite-sized watery fruits to snack on.  For example, pitted and diced plums, mangos, cantaloupes, grapes, or blueberries make for a cool and nutritious revive.  These are amazing alternatives for ice creams and even a little over indulgence will not do too much damage.

These fruits, and others you love, are loaded with nutrients and vitamins to even further boost your indulgences, and keep your waist line slim and tight:

1 cup plums have 76 cals, 19 g carbs, .5 g fat and about 2 g fibers

1 cup blueberries have 82 cals, 20 g carbs, under 5 g fat and about 4 g fibers
1 cup grapes have 104 cals, 27 g carbs, 0 g fat and about 2 g fibers
1 cup mangos have 107 cals, 28 g carbs, .5 g fat and about 3 g fibers
1 cup cantaloupes have 54 cals, 14 g carbs, .5 g fat and about 1.4 g fibers

So simple, so delisc, so good for you.

Happy Snacking !!!!!

xoxo
Monika