Thoughts
Food For Thought
Friday, May 22nd, 2009 | Thoughts | 1 Comment
A little light reading for your holiday weekend… I’ve seen so many great articles lately, I just wanted to send a quick note to share a few!
Apparently healthy menu items cause us to choose the unhealthiest… sound familiar? here
Make small changes here
What is a healthy lifestyle anyway? here
There’s a lot of talk about taxing soda and sugary drinks just like alcohol and tobacco, what do you think? here
Have you ever thought about how unhealthy the average American school lunch is? Check out what Italian, Japanese and french kids are getting here
Tough economic times don’t mean you can’t make yummy filling foods, check out this guys blog here
Wanna ruin your appetite? Things NOT to eat here (Warning: Super Yucky)
Big Bummer, or Big Break?
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 | Thoughts | No Comments
How do you feel about what you’ve accomplished so far? Are you excited about how far you’ve come, or do you focus on the setbacks, and what you haven’t done? Is your attitude about yourself positive, or are you putting off celebration until some far off unnamed day when you’ll just lose 3 more pounds (or 40) and a magical transformation will occur and everything will be easy and perfect. (NOT!)
Whoa, what’s with the questions? Well, this journey, the one towards health and weight loss, it turns out that it’s a lot more about what’s inside than what’s outside! Your attitude, and flipping your outlook to be more positive makes a huge difference. It’s easy to see your issues with weight as a big bummer, but really, it may be your big opportunity.
This guy took his battle with weight, and turned it on it’s head, through his own struggle he saw a greater obesity problem in the nation, he used his struggle to found the Million Calorie March, getting Americans on their feet, and trying to prevent kids from going down the path of unhealthy eating. Do you think he would have done that if he’d never had a weight issue? (Note: Check the video… he was not at his goal weight when he started the Million Calorie March!)
What about this guy? During his weight loss journey, he found out what he was really hungry for, a sense of making a difference in the world. He overcame 140 pounds and is helping to end world hunger. Here
So… are you supposed to end world hunger now? Of course not, but your positive attitude can help you and people around you succeed in little ways every day. Next time somebody says, “Wow, you look great!” Stop yourself from saying “Thanks, but I’ve only lost 5 pounds” and try “Thanks, I’ve been working really hard.” A little focus on the positive and what you CAN change will get you a long way!
Check out www.darynkagen.com, it’s full of inspiring stories that help me put my own life in perspective, and it’s run by a former CNN correspondent, who…(like many people in these trying economic days) was fired. She decided not to let that become her big bummer, and started this website that share news stories about people who overcome the obstacles in their lives.
Taking a Moment Off
Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Thoughts | 1 Comment
Did you know that stress can make you gain weight?
“Um… duh, I know,” is probably what you’re thinking right now. Stress from work, home, school, our fabulous economy, it all piles up, and I know my first response is “I know what will make me feel better… a brownie! Yay, brownies!” But you know the story right? Inevitably the brownie bliss is short lived and unsatisfying, and only leads to a spiral of guilt, which leads to more brownies, and so on until a scary weigh-in experience occurs! Wow, this sounds like a total downer, how to avoid this scenario?
Well, some stress we can control we can choose to eliminate, and some of it we can’t, so what can we do about that? Lucky me, I was a lucky attendee at an amazing women’s conference this week, and one session discussed just this subject. So here are a few strategies I picked up, try a few out and de-stress yourself!
- Take a Break - Sometimes 5 minutes is all you need to clear your head and give yourself a new attitude! Set a timer, give yourself a break to look forward to, and actually go! Go outside if you can, take deep breaths and notice the scenery.
- Step out for lunch (and dinner, and breakfast) - I’m not talking about eating out here, I’m talking about stopping what you’re doing, moving to a table, outside on a bench, or to some other lunch type spot, and giving yourself a few minutes with no distractions to have a meal. Eating with someone else can be great too, the social interaction is healthy and refreshing!
- Find a Childhood Picture - I love this idea! Do you have a picture of yourself as a child? One where you’re really happy and smiley? Do you remember how you felt in that picture, what it was like? Find that picture, hang it up, and take a minute every so often to take a look. You’d be surprised how it can change your perspective.
Food P#rn
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Thoughts | No Comments
This came up in my Weight Watchers meeting… and how could I resist writing a post about it??? Seriously, too juicy to pass up! You know you’ve thought about it… it’s the Special K commercial with the chocolate ice cream seductively calling from the freezer, it’s the thought you had about eating all those scrumptious looking chocolate eggs in the grocery store. (Um, yes that was me that stood in front of the Cadbury display for an uncomfortably long period of time..)
I watched an immensely entertaining episode of No Reservations (with Anthony Bourdain) that talked about nothing but this subject…. and what did Anthony say about it? He said it’s on the rise, that more Americans today than every are sitting down to watch footage of food and food experiences that they are not likely to experience themselves in person any time soon. http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/read/the-money
Seriously, how often do you actually recreate the masterpiece that you just witnessed on food network? I’m guilty, I do get ideas and ”weightwatcherize” recipes all the time, but I also love to watch Iron Chef, Giada, Paula, all of them, making things that I will never dare to try. Really now, how on earth would I lower the calories in Paula Deen’s Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding????
So why do I like it? Here’s my theory, there’s more to food than food. Food is full of feelings, food is one of the first expressions of love that we recognize. It’s full of memories of childhood, the smells can remind us of good times, of being a kid, of family dinners, of things we wish we had more of, things that aren’t stressful. Michael Pollan (in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma) has the theory that eating is a communal act, we’re looking for community or belonging, sort of a stopper for our loneliness drain. Maybe when we’re staring at food network, or the giant crazy honey bun, we’re confused… we’re like the teenager who confuses what love really is… we’re looking for love, but all we get is food lust.
Willpower
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Thoughts | 4 Comments
That’s the topic this week at weight watcher meetings. It’s one that gets me thinking. Is willpower what makes you succeed, what vaults you into the realm of people who lost weight versus the ones that never do? Is that what it takes to lose weight? Somewhat it is, it has to be, because at the end of the day, no matter how much support you get or don’t get, no matter where you start from, it’s you. You are the one that decides every day to keep going no matter what, and that takes willpower
I think that willpower evolves over time, it’s not static. At first it’s the willpower not to eat like you used to, the willpower to wake up every morning and put in a good workout, all the stuff you think about when losing weight but I think these are only the beginning, the obvious. After a while it takes willpower to keep going even when you don’t get the results you think you should. Willpower to show up to your meetings even though you know the news is bad, to forgive yourself. The willpower to face yourself and the reasons you gained weight in the first place… that one’s a tough one, but of course, the hardest is possibly the most important.
Celebrate Spring
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 | Thoughts | No Comments
It’s definitely spring, I know, I know it snowed last weekend, but isn’t that how spring is? Gorgeous flowers interspersed with tricky surprise snow and ice storms? Enjoy them. Really, at last the long grey winter has broken and it’s time to celebrate!
Think about it, this time of year we celebrate newness and change in everything, so why not the newness and change in yourself? This spring, it’s all about noticing the little things. The birds that weren’t there before, the flowers that didn’t die in the ice storm, the day that was warmer than yesterday, the second cookie you didn’t take, the healthy breakfast you made time for, the 20 minutes of working out that you gave yourself! These little changes, they add up to so much more, next spring you can look back on this one, and see what a difference you’ve made!
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Thoughts and Sites
- 9 Cold Hard Diet Truths
- America’s Healthiest Diets
- Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes on YouTube
- Bacteria and Weight Gain
- Calorie Counting is coming back!
- FANTASTIC Muffin Alert!!
- Learn the French Way
- What do you mean you don’t have time to plan healthy meals????
- Who is Sabotaging Your Weightloss?
- You Are What You Eat?