From the category archives:

Dieting and Weight Loss Tips

Have a skinny Halloween: more tips on keeping healthy this candy filled season

candy corn in a jar Last year I wrote two posts on keeping yourself gaining weight on Halloween: 5 Things Dieters Can Do with Halloween Candy (Beside Eating It) and 5 ways to trick, treat and have a healthy Halloween.

As a mom, I don’t mind giving the kids a little candy as a treat, but want to keep them from OD’ing on sugar during the holiday. The experts at Wellspring, a treatment program for overweight children and teens, have several recommendations for parents this year at Halloween:

Wait to buy your candy. We tend to eat what’s in the pantry. This year, try waiting until Halloween day to buy your candy or at least hide it somewhere until then. Odds are everyone will be snacking a bit less on this year’s treats.
Plan your own activity. Halloween is about having fun, not hoarding stashes of candy. Corn mazes, haunted houses, even planning your own party are activities that take the focus off of sugary treats.
Limit the amount you grab. It’s hard to not take a handful of anything that’s free, but limiting your children to only one item at each of your stops is a healthy start. At the very least, it’s polite for the trick-or-treaters after them.
Offer healthy alternatives. Don’t worry about getting toilet-papered, not every house needs to offer candied apples. Gum, hard candy, glow sticks/glow necklaces, and plastic rings are all popular, healthy alternatives to candy with high levels of saturated fat.
Ration the amount of candy eaten afterwards. The typical dietary recommendation for candy is a maximum intake of 22 pounds per year for a 12-year-old child, which can often be eaten in a single night during Halloween. Having the occasional treat is good for you, offer one after a healthy meal, exercising, or finishing homework.

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Posted on October 22, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Health and tagged as healthy snacking

Changing our ways of eating

pix 053 I cleaned out my cupboards this weekend as part of my Pantry Makeover Challenge.* As I was sorting through the food and deciding what I’d keep, donate to the food bank, or throw out, I started reading labels.

I was shocked at some of the stuff I bought just a few months ago. The graham crackers left over from summer camping s’more making weren’t made with whole wheat flour and even contained high fructose corn syrup. I bought them because they were cheap – about half the price of the organic, whole wheat graham crackers I recently purchased. I had to wonder what was the true cost of those cheap, empty calories – maybe lowered immunity, obesity, diabetes, and cancer?

Dump it!

Since ants had gotten into the box, I didn’t feel bad about tossing the leftover crackers into our electric composter along with some stale spring roll wraps and bagel chips. The leftover candies from school Halloween and Valentines parties ended up in the trash. If the kids ever notice, I’ll tell them that the ants had gotten into them, too.

The all white flour pancake mix was dumped as well. The last time I used it, the kids didn’t like the pancakes very much. Must be that their tastes are changing and they’re starting to prefer whole wheat over white flour.

I will admit to keeping some of the junk like pudding packs, sugary snack bars, instant ramen and boxes of mac ‘n’ cheese. Once we were out of them, I’ll find healthier alternatives. There were signs of positive changes to our diets, too, like organic 100% juice, instant brown rice, organic snack bars, no high fructose corn syrup pancake syrup, organic peanut butter, whole wheat pasta, organic flour (both whole wheat and white) and enough boxes of tea to start my own branch of Celestial Seasonings.

Clean it up!

Getting your family to eat in a more healthy way is an evolutionary process. Why not jumpstart it with your own pantry makeover?

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*Click here to see my before pantry picture and learn how you can win $250 by spending a couple of hours cleaning out your own pantry, and posting your before and after pictures.

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Posted on September 14, 2009 in Contests and Giveaways,Dieting and Weight Loss Tips

An interview with Dr. Susan Mitchell, Target’s Nutrition Expert

Susan Mitchell Target Nutrition Expert Dr. Susan Mitchell is an advocate of nutrition education and believes in integrating nutrition and exercise into busy lifestyles to achieve better health, increased energy and creativity. As a self-proclaimed chocoholic, she believes that realistic amounts of almost any food can be part of a healthy diet, too. She also has a fantastic blog where she writes about everything from weight loss to gluten free diets to greening your kitchen.

She’s now bringing her industry expertise and fun, informative philosophy to Target in her role as their health and nutrition expert, which is how I got the opportunity to interview her.

How to get your family to eat healthy both at home. at school and on the go

This Mama Cooks!: A lot of people complain that healthy food is expensive and that it’s cheaper to buy a burger off the dollar menu than to make your kids a healthy sandwich with whole grain bread and lean meat. What’s do you say to that?

Dr. Mitchell: It’s a little more than simply comparing apples to apples. It’s a trade of time and low cost for a refined white bun, higher fat (and more saturated fat) meat, fillers and additives plus a higher salt/sodium content. On extremely stressful days, this option can be the easier route and an occasional treat for kids. On a regular basis, it makes for a nutritionally bankrupt diet. The good news is that most fast food restaurants now have apple slices to substitute for French fries, chocolate or white low fat milk for sodas.

This Mama Cooks!: Getting kids to eat a healthy but quick breakfast each morning is a struggle. I can barely get them to brush their hair? Do you have any tips on quick meals (to prepare and to eat) that pack a nutritional wallop?

Dr. Mitchell: Breakfast can be a challenge to get children to eat, healthy or not, so the younger you begin the breakfast routine, the better. Breakfast doesn’t have to be a huge production. It can be as simple as yogurt or soy yogurt with added chopped fresh fruit and/or granola such as Archer Farms blueberry granola. Lower sugar, higher fiber cereal with fruit and fat free/low fat milk or soy milk. Whole grain English muffins with peanut butter or low fat cream cheese topped with raisins, microwave scrambled eggs rolled in a whole grain tortilla (with salsa if desired), or an under-5-minute-smoothie are all easy yet very healthful ideas. Even grapes and cereal tossed in a plastic bag or container work…to eat as you go.

My publicist, Terri, says she leads by example. Her young daughter likes hard boiled eggs because she sees Terri eat them. She also doesn’t buy foods high in sugar so her kids have never been used to them.

Simple PB&J Smoothie Recipe

1 cup apple juice
2 T. peanut butter
½ cup strawberries (frozen are fine)
1 banana
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
ice

Blend all together and serve.

Breakfast doesn’t have to be traditional foods either. Left over cold veggie pizza is often a kid favorite. Add cut up fruit and it’s very simple. Pre-sliced fruit is also available if time is really an issue. A fun idea is to buy fresh pizza dough and have kids make their own pizza…you provide the sauce, cheese, and the healthy toppings. The leftovers are great for breakfast.

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Posted on August 24, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Health,Travel

Do Nice Girls Finish Fat? A book review

Since last spring, I’ve read several diet and health books such as:

Jillian Michaels' Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing Your Hormones for a Hot and Healthy Body!
Anticancer: A New Way of Life
The Skinny: On Losing Weight Without Being Hungry-The Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss Success (read my review here)
The UltraMind Solution: Fix Your Broken Brain by Healing Your Body First
An Apple A Day: The Myths, Misconceptions, and Truths About the Foods We Eat
Jane Goodall’s Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating

They all deal with food and what you should or shouldn’t eat. But none of them addressed emotions. And that’s why I liked delving into Nice Girls Finish Fat: Put Yourself First and Change Your Eating Forever by Karen R. Koenig.

Karen is a cognitive-behavioral therapist and author of three books on eating and weight. She feels that women put too much on their plates both figuratively and literally. She also feels that women who have a tough time saying no to food, but importantly to friends, family and coworkers who take advantage of their uber niceness. Then they feel used and eat to excess as a way of taking nurturing themselves – i.e., food as self-care.

Nice Girls Finish Fat is for those who say they’re fine when they’re not. And it’s for those who try to fix everyone else’s problems at the detriment of themselves and their health.

Sound like you? If so, enter my giveaway of four copies of Nice Girls Finish Fat.

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Posted on August 10, 2009 in Books,Contests and Giveaways,Dieting and Weight Loss Tips

Weekly menu planning: can it help you lose weight?

As you may know, I do the occasional recipe roundup for the FoodieView Blog. (My last one was Recipe Roundup: A Berry Wonderful Summer.) Then they turned the heat up a notch in my virtual kitchen and asked me to contribute to the FoodieView Meal Plan of The Week.

My first weekly meal plan attempt is a combination of healthy low calorie, high protein lunches and dinners for summer – mostly salads and sandwiches for lunch, grilled items for dinner, and fresh fruit popsicles for dessert or snacks. Check it out!

Will a weekly meal plan help you lose weight?

It was challenging to create a weekly menu, since it’s not how I cook. Since we have a steady supply of venison and fish thanks to my husband, the hunter, I plan meals about what I’m trying to use up in the freezer. I’m also pretty good about keeping healthy food on hand like frozen vegetables, wheat pastas, and organic prewashed lettuce. So in a way, I’ve already planned to succeed, but maybe I could do better.

My first menu plan had too many ingredients and could have been more economical – mistakes I’ll try to correct when my next FoodieView Meal Plan of The Week posts in seven weeks. Still, it was easy to put together, since you can find delicious, healthy, low POINTS recipes on the websites of food brands, food commissions and boards, and magazines. Many of them feature nutritional information along with their recipes so you can figure out your Weight Watchers POINTS, too.

Do you create a weekly menu at home? If not, maybe it’s something to try to help you stick to your diet and weight loss plan and goals – and not be tempted with fattening foods.

How to create a weekly menu

Tackle one meal first: If you’re new to menu planning, just try coming up with a weekly plan just for dinner. You can always double recipes for leftovers to have a lunch the next day. If you like ending your meal with a sweet treat, make sure to plan dessert, too, even if it’s putting a reminder on your shopping list to pick up a few boxes of Skinny Cow bars.

Pick a theme. Consider the season. You don’t want to be slaving over a hot oven in the summer and you should take advantage of the sales on seasonal foods, too. Experiment with new foods or consider going vegetarian one week.

And there’s convenience, too. Maybe you want to do a week’s worth of slow cooker Crock Pot recipes because you have a crazy schedule coming up. maybe you’re having a hankering for soups, so try a week of that (cold soups like gazpacho for summer, and warm, spicy soups like chunky red dal for winter.)

Gather your recipes: Then start going through your cookbooks, your favorite magazine and online for recipes. Try the cooking magazine website, your local paper’s website and Weight Watchers online (of course) for healthy recipes. Make sure they have nutritional and proportion information so you can figure out your Weight Watchers POINTS (or calories, protein, fiber, etc. if you’re on another weight loss/healthy eating plan).

Get organized: I recommend printing out all your recipes (or photocopying them out of a magazine or cookbook), placing them into sheet protectors, and putting all of them into a three-ring binder. Not only have you created a mini-cookbook for the week, but you protect the recipes from food stains and you create a resource you can go back to later.

Create your shopping list: This is the most time consuming part. If you can, copy and paste the ingredient lists of all your recipes into a master shopping list in a word processing program. You’ll start to notice duplicates, like one recipe calling for three tomatoes, another for four. Start combining these. Also, include the ingredients any side dishes you usually prepare, like salads, brown rice or steamed veggies.

Melanie at Dietriffic shares 5 Quick Tips for Successful Menu Planning suggests create a shopping list on your normal route around your local supermarket. I like to hit the produce aisle first, so I list fruits, vegetables and any fresh herbs I need to pick up.

Make sure you have the basics in your pantry before you head to the store, too. Do you need some cider vinegar? How’s your supply of soy sauce?

DIY Alternatives: You can always stop by the FoodieView Meal Plan of The Week. There are also paid plans you can try out like Menus for Moms, Relish, and E-Mealz.

If you use Weight Watchers eTools, try experimenting with the Meal Ideas feature to prepare a weekly menu. You just check the meals you like for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and add them to your POINTS Tracker. You can also print out a daily or weekly recipe list. However, the program doesn’t come with a grocery list, so you’ll have to do that on your own.

If you’re on another online weight loss/healthy eating plan, see if it will provide you with a weekly menu and grocery list. It’s probably part of your online membership and something you’re already paying for, so use it!

Do you plan your meals weekly in advance? If so, please share some tips!

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Posted on July 18, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Weight Watchers

Tracey’s weight loss story: My Journey to Health, Discovering My Own Power & Finding Shades of Grey

Occasionally, I get fan email at This Mama Cooks! On a Diet. Sure, it makes my day to receive a compliment, but even better it gives me a chance to get to know some of my readers better.

When today’s guest poster, Tracey, told me she had maintained a 60 pound weight loss over the past seven years, I had to learn more about how she did it. So I asked her to share her weight loss journey with us all.

First, just a little bit about Tracey’s background. She’s 28 and has been living with her boyfriend for over four years. She works as an inside sales rep for an indoor tropical plant company on Long Island NY and has an associate’s degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Bachelors in Management Technology.

Her current stats are Height: 5’7 Weight: 130 lbs 19% body fat.

Tracey’s story: My Journey to Health, Discovering My Own Power & Finding Shades of Grey

My earliest food memory was back when I was about eight years old. My parents were getting divorced and I remember food being my comfort. I can remember my grandpa bringing over ice-cream sundaes when my mom (a single mother raising three girls) needed a break. It seemed food was always a stress relief or something to look forward to. Since my mother was busy working three jobs, I was left home alone quite often with access to a lot of "junk" food. I used to come home from school and watch TV for several hours until my mother got home.

Entering high school I can remember weighing 176 lbs. It was especially hard for me to deal with because I was pretty athletic despite my weight. I felt trapped by it. I loved to kickboxing and bike ride, so although these things helped keep me fit,I had no clue about nutrition and remained overweight and depressed.

This all changed when I met my then-to-be stepmother Pat. She had taken my sisters and I for summers and taught us how to read food labels, etc. I can remember grocery shopping with Pat and her saying as long as we can read the ingredients we were allowed to put it in the cart. Needless to say my sister and I would try and sneak cookies and ice cream in the grocery cart. But Pat really opened my eyes to what good food tasted like. She was of Italian descent; so many meals were made from scratch, which was not something I was accustomed to growing up. Another influence was Pat's sister Stephanie who was the first vegetarian I met. Stephanie was slender and very attractive so of course I wanted to become a vegetarian. It was my introduction to reading researching nutrition.

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Posted on July 10, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Inspiration

Guest post: The Satisfying Power of Protein and Fiber Rich Foods

The kids are on Spring Break, so I’ve invited Zane, the owner of Best Diet Pills, a website that focuses on providing consumers with no nonsense diet and diet pill reviews, to do a guest post to help out during this busy week.

The Satisfying Power of Protein and Fiber Rich Foods

j0401300 Dietary experts assert that the key to maintaining energy, fullness, and a satiated appetite is to consume healthy foods that are rich in fiber and protein.

Fiber and protein help control hunger while boosting weight loss results for an array of reasons. Foremost, protein’s nutritional makeup is simply more complex for the body to digest. As a result, the protein rich foods are more slowly processed by the body, allowing individuals to feel fuller for longer durations of time.

Similarly, the body also has a more challenging task when trying to break down fiber; therefore, fiber also moves slowly through the digestive tract. Adding to this benefit, fiber also expands when it encounters water, allowing the stomach to literally become fuller with fiber rich foods.

By consuming these high protein and fiber foods, consumers can enjoy greater appetite control, maintain energy levels for longer periods of time, and experience greater weight loss and health benefits!

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Posted on April 8, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips

Recipes for dieters from The Mayo Clinic: The Essential Diabetes Book

I don’t have to tell you that the rise in obesity means that more people are becoming diabetic earlier in life. But did you know that diabetic books, cookbooks and websites are a great source of healthy recipes for anyone trying to lose weight? Diabetic recipes always contain nutritional information and are usually low in calories and fat, and high in nutrition.

Just released this week, Mayo Clinic Essential Diabetes Book from the world's first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group medical practice offers clear direction on managing diabetes. It also contains diabetes-friendly recipes that don’t compromise taste or quality. Here’s a few that are also very low in Weight Watchers POINTS.

Grilled Salmon with Sliced Cucumber and Radish
Serves 8

Ingredients: salmon

2 lbs. salmon fillet
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. olive oil
Black pepper (optional)
2 c. cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced
¾ c. thinly sliced radishes
1 tsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. vinegar
¼ tsp. dill weed

Directions:

Rub salmon with lemon juice, then oil. Sprinkle with black pepper. Cut into 8 pieces.
Place salmon, skin side down, onto aluminum foil that’s been sprayed with cooking spray.
In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Mix well and refrigerate.
Grill or broil at medium to high heat until salmon is flaky but still moist.(For best results use a food thermometer – the internal temperature should reach 145 degrees F.)
Top each serving of fish with the cucumber and radish mixture.

Nutritional info per serving: Calories 168, Protein 23 g, Carbohydrate 1 g, Total fat 8 g, Monounsaturated fat 3 g, Cholesterol 62 mg, Sodium 54 mg, Fiber trace

Exchange list servings:

Free food 1
Meat and meat substitutes 3

Weight Watchers POINTS: 4

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Posted on March 12, 2009 in Cookbooks,Desserts,Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Fish,Weight Watchers and tagged as Mayo Clinic

More March Madness tips from Weight Watchers

To help avoid an overload on calories, Weight Watchers recommends the following March Madness Maneuvers:

1. Pre-Game Meal: Eat something small before heading out, such as a salad or a bowl of soup. With a fuller stomach, there will be less temptation to overeat during the game.

2. Benefit from Bad Parking and Nose Bleed Seats: Parking a couple of blocks from the arena may not seem ideal, but it’s a great opportunity to get in some exercise. Add in some steep stairs to those upper level seats and incorporate an aerobic work out that’s good for the heart and the waist line.

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Posted on March 4, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers helps you make sense of the March Madness Munchies

j0422558 Whether scoring a seat at the big game or cheering your favorite team at home, chances are March Madness celebrations will be teamed with the March Munchies. (Mostly I just hide upstairs away from the snacking hordes at my house. Luckily, I’m not much of a basketball fan and would rather read a book in bed.)

Don’t panic, with these Weight Watchers tips, watching the game at home or at the sports arenas will be a slam dunk.

Hot Dog vs. Hamburger – which one is better?

In a one-on-one game, the hamburger takes the game. But when it comes to this duo, it’s size that matters. A quarter-pound hamburger (hold the cheese and mayo, of course) comes in at around 420 calories (or about 10 POINTS value) while a foot-long dog (hold the chili) weighs in at nearly 500 calories (or 12 POINTS value). Eek!

A regular sized burger reduces it to a little over 250 calories (6 POINTS value) and a plain old hot dog comes in at about 300 calories (8 POINTS value). The average hot dog on a bun is about 400 calories (8 POINTS value), but up the order to a foot-long and the calorie count nearly doubles at 700 (14 POINTS value).

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Posted on March 2, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Weight Watchers

Throw an Award-Winning Oscar Party with Weight Watchers

j0406478 Planning an Oscar Party this weekend? Here are some timely tips from the folks at Weight Watchers.

Pre-Party

Party like you’re a celebrity by dividing your get-together into two parts. You can have the pre-show in one area of your home where you can “dish” on your favorite actors and your favorite fare. Once the show begins, move the scene to another part of your house with the TV … away from the food. This will help prevent mindless eating and keep the focus on the Oscars – not the finger foods.

Beverage Bar

Make sure to fill your bar with lots of no-calorie drink options, such as diet sodas, bloody mary mix (minus the alcohol), flavored waters, teas and coffees. Of course alcohol has a place at the party, but be aware that it can reduce your resolve. Try to extend your drink by turning your wine into a spritzer, mix vodka with local lemonade or stay away from alcohol altogether with a beautiful pitcher of sparkling water with sliced lemons, limes and oranges.

Dress Red Carpet Ready

Make sure to dress the part. Although you may just be lounging with some friends, it’s important to feel great in what you choose to wear. Wear something that makes you aware of your body and what you are eating. Wearing fitted, tailored styles will help remind you when you have had plenty to eat.

Looking for a great recipe to serve? Check this one out.

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Posted on February 20, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Recipes,Weight Watchers

Tips for Healthier Eating for Stuck-in-Their-Ways Adults

Not only does Phyllis Pellman Good’s new cookbook, Fix-It And Enjoy-It Healthy Cookbook: 400 Great Stove-top and Oven Recipes, feature recipes, it also has some sage advice. Here’s an excerpt:

Tips for Healthier Eating for Stuck-in-Their-Ways Adults

Are you stuck in a food rut and having a hard time changing to healthier eating habits? If you want to make lasting changes to the way you eat, you need a plan. Follow these steps for changing an unhealthy behavior into a healthy one:

make a plan 1. List your behaviors that you think are unhealthy. For example, maybe you eat too fast, or snack throughout the day instead of eating regular meals, or eat whenever you’re under stress.

2. Choose one behavior that you would like to change. (Trying to change everything on your list at once can feel overwhelming.)

3. As you think about strategies for changing, try to figure out how you developed the behavior. For example, do you tend to snack all day because you’re under constant stress?

4. Brainstorm about ways to change your behavior. Think of five to seven possible solutions. Then pick one strategy that you think is practical and doable. For example, choose a healthy habit that you can substitute for an unhealthy one.

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Posted on February 19, 2009 in Cookbooks,Dieting and Weight Loss Tips

How to lose your job and some weight at the same time

I was intrigued by the new Weight Watchers Momentum Plan especially after I had LaaLoosh guest post about it. Then I received a coupon in the mail inviting me to start going to meetings again as a Lifetime Weight Watchers member. Hmmmm, I thought, maybe I should go to a meeting and check it out.

But when was I going to find the time? Most of the meetings were in the mornings when I was scheduled to be online as a community manager for a social networking site. Then thanks to the economy, I got laid off and had time to go to meetings again. Lose a job and lose some weight, I guess.

Not to worry, I did pick up extra freelance work to make up for the two community manager gigs I lost that week, but it got me thinking about so many others who have been laid off. Yes, I know looking for work is a fulltime job. However, many career advice gurus recommend that if you cannot find a job, you should do volunteer work to keep busy so you don’t get depressed. What’s another healthy way to keep busy? Exercising and eating right!

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Posted on February 15, 2009 in Dieting and Weight Loss Tips,Weight Watchers

The Pasta Queen on eating healthy on a budget

I’m honored to have Jennette Fulda of the Pasta Queen doing today’s guest post. Jennette was my roommate at BlogHer 2008 - she’s a terrific person to room with since she goes to bed early like me. (We may look like fabulously hip bloggers, but inside we’re rather tired, achy ladies. Sigh.)

We were both at the Quaker Oats Blogger Event, and Jennette won their oatmeal recipe challenge with her Oatmeal Expresso recipe. (She never did make it to the Lafayette Oatmeal Festival though, LOL.)

Along with reading her blog, you need to check out her book Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir or her Half-Assed website. Did I mention she lost half her body weight?

Eating Healthy on a Budget

by Jennette Fulda

When I started the process to lose over half my weight, I was still recovering from a mountain of credit card debt spent on college expenses, 12 cavities, and a new transmission. Yet, I didn't let my tight budget stop me from pursuing a healthier lifestyle, though I did dedicate a few more dollars towards dental floss.

Now that our economy has entered a recession, some experts hypothesize that we may pack on recession pounds as people turn to cheaper, processed foods high in empty carbohydrates. There is no doubt people are looking for ways to make their money go farther, but that doesn't mean they can only eat off the dollar menu. Here are some tips on how to live healthy without living in a cardboard box.

Shop the sales

Most grocery stores put their weekly ads online, so even if you don't subscribe to a newspaper you can find out what's on sale this week. Fruits and vegetables that are in season will be cheaper than out-of-season produce that have been shipped in from exotic locations.

Make a meal plan

After you've looked at the ads, decide what you're going to buy and make a meal plan for the week revolving around those items. If you plan ahead what you are going to make, you can make adjustments to make sure you don't go over your budgeted amount that week. You can also plan a day at the end of the week to have soup or chili which uses leftovers from earlier in the week.

Stock up and freeze perishables

If you have room in your freezer or pantries, stock up on items when they are on sale, but try to avoid buying too many processed foods which can be high in sodium and artificial ingredients a.k.a. fake food. Frozen vegetables will not go bad, unlike rotting vegetables in your fresher drawer that you meant to eat, but never did.

Use coupons

It can be wise to subscribe to the Sunday edition of the newspaper, which usually includes a pack of coupons. You can also find coupons online, like my local paper does here. Sites like The Grocery Game give tips on how to maximize your savings by combining coupons with sale items. Clever couponing can save you money, but you should only buy items you would buy anyway. Just because you have a 50 cents off coupon for cookies doesn't mean you should use it.

Start a vegetable garden

I live in a one bedroom apartment without a yard or an apartment, but I am envious of a coworker of mine who has a vegetable garden in his backyard. During the year he sometimes brings in tomatoes to work because he and his wife cannot eat them all before they go bad. If you have a patch of earth in a sunny spot, the price of seeds and water is usually cheaper than buying veggies at the store. Ask an expert at a gardening store what plants are best suited to your climate.

Drink water

Water is cheaper than sodas, coffee or tea and doctors agree that drinking more water is good for you. If you don't like the taste of tap water, invest $30 in a water filter and you'll save more money in the long run than if you buy bottled water.

It's easy to imagine weight loss would be easy if you could afford a personal chef and a home gym, but if you are determined enough to live a healthy lifestyle, it is possible to do so no matter what your financial circumstances are. Good luck!

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Posted on January 21, 2009 in Books,Dieting and Weight Loss Tips

Seven tips for using visualization to plan your holiday eating

j0428640 Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., author of Healthiest Meals on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What Meals to Eat and Why, has a marvelous idea to combat overindulging during the holidays – visualization.

Here are his seven tips on how to use visualization to help you with holiday eating:

1. Close your eyes and really picture the situation clearly.
2. Ask yourself whether what's being offered is going to be something that supports you in what you're doing or takes you off course.
3. Decide what you wish to allow yourself to indulge in — if anything — and when you decide to do it, indulge in it with gusto.
4. Make the choice and take the action.
5. Don't arrive hungry. A cup of soup or vegetable juice before arriving at a big event will help keep you in charge of your own actions.
6. Remember that stress leads to stress eating. Stress management is a critical part of managing weight gain during the holiday season.
7. If you do indulge, for goodness' sake enjoy it!

I like his philosophy behind indulging. If you do decide to indulge, do it consciously, guilt free, and make it worth your while. (Have a taste of a wonderful cheese or fine chocolate, not a Big Mac.)

Dr. Bowden goes into more detail about how to plan for holiday eating through visualization below.

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