Happy Thanksgiving - Eat Well, Exercise, and Enjoy!

Thanksgiving has arrived, and this Turkey day my wish for you all is - eat well, exercise, and most of all enjoy!!!

Here are some healthy tips to keep you feeling good, "not gorged," and grateful for this special time with your family and friends:

1. Get moving Thanksgiving morning - start your Turkey day off with a workout because you will feel great knowing you took care of your body and fitness before the big feast


2. Eat breakfast - even though you will be having a big meal later in the day, you'll want to eat a healthy breakfast to get your metabolism rolling and to keep your appetite under control (think something with whole grains, fiber, protein, and a little healthy fat to keep you feeling satiated)


3. Snack throughout the day - although Thanksgiving may be a big eating day, you still need to fuel yourself on supportive snacks or "mini-meals" every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism up and to make sure that you are not too hungry when dinner time arrives


4. Allow yourself small portions of your favorite foods - Thanksgiving only comes around one time of year, so give yourself permission to indulge in small servings of the foods that you truly love, but remember you can have leftovers for days - so no need to overdue it in one seating


5. Follow your feast with a family walk- weather permitting, how about initiating a family stroll after your amazing Thanksgiving dinner? By getting your blood flowing, you will feel a lot better than falling into a food-induced comma!

Follow these Thanksgiving Day Tips to ensure that you do not starve yourself or set yourself up to overindulge, and instead have a wonderful experience with your family and friends - which will leave you feeling great about yourself the next day too! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

"See your situation as an opportunity, not an obstacle"

"See your situation as an opportunity, not an obstacle"

I love this quote and see it as an empowering reminder that we always have choices on how to view and deal with any situation in our lives.

We have all experienced minor and even major setbacks at some point - but I believe these occurrences are less of a "problem" or the "obstacle" than how we choose to cope with them.
It is only when we linger and dwell on these moments that may not have gone our way that we can really get stuck - especially when it comes to our health and fitness.

So many times I have heard clients, friends, and even family beat themselves up for "cheating" on their diets or for "missing a day at the gym" - they then allow these isolated situations to spiral into more days off from exercising and more self-sabotage with their eating.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, I encourage you to see your "time off from the gym" or "cheat day" not as a mistake or obstacle, but as an opportunity to learn more about yourself. By
helping yourself identify what's at the root of your behavior, you can then use your insight to armor yourself with new ways to deal with the situation that fit into your lifestyle.

For instance, if you stopped going to the gym because were you getting up too early, were bored with your routine, or perhaps setting unrealistic goals -then you can uncover better ways to make regular exercise work for your life.

If you were getting up too early - try breaking up your workout into smaller ones throughout the day - instead of getting up a half hour early to go for that walk or run, try doing 10 minutes of jump roping in the morning, a quick power walk at lunch, and another walk with the dog after dinner. You can still reap the benefits of cardio when it's split up with out wrecking your sleep. If you are bored with your routine, try taking a new class like spinning or working out with a friend a couple of times a week to break up the monotony. And, if your goals were too demanding, such as a going to the gym 7 days a week - try cutting back to 3 or 4 and slowly adding more so that you do not burn out, over-train, and swear off of the gym forever!!!

As far as eating goes, we all have many triggers that can drive us to overindulging and making less supportive choices. I find a food journal can help identify what is at the bottom of your eating and to help guide you back to making choices that are more supportive. While much of our eating can be emotionally driven, much of it can also be mindless....out of boredom for example, or simply just because it was there. So take your moment of divergence as a way to figure out what your eating is telling you, so that you can get back on track to eating the foods that nourish your body, mind, and soul - and always remember the key to a balanced diet is everything in moderation.

Some Quick Holiday Fit Tips!

The holidays are rapidly approaching!!! With Halloween behind us, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas are all along the way!!! Yes, we are entering that fun, festive time of year filled with many great traditions, and of course many involving lots of our favorite holiday foods!!!
While we all love the holiday season, it can get kind of stressful… between traveling, lots of time with the family, parties, shopping…it is definitely easy to get overwhelmed!!! And, the holidays can also generate stress as so much of our time is spent centered around food!!!
That being said, I would like to leave you with a few tips to help ease your bodies and minds this holiday season:

1. The holidays only come once a year, so treasure this time with your family, friends and loved ones because they are greater than any gift you will receive.
2. Remember “everything in moderation” not “deprivation.” Allow yourself to enjoy some of the delicious foods you love, especially those that are only served during the holiday season. Go ahead and have that slice of pumpkin pie and some of your mother’s sweet potato casserole because these treats are less likely to be around the rest of the year. So indulge every now and then this season because you only live once, and being perfect all the time is not only unbalanced but it is unhealthy and unfulfilling.
3. Never go to a party starving. Listen to your body and honor your hunger by having a snack every couple of hours on protein filled choices like almonds, yogurt, or apples with natural peanut butter to keep your energy up and your blood sugar steady. You will also be much less likely to binge at the buffet table and lose all control if you take care of your body and give it the fuel it needs throughout the day.
4. Commit to your weekly workouts as they will keep you healthy, ease your stress, and help you maintain your waistline this holiday season. If you can’t make it to the gym, take an extra long walk with the dog or do a body-weight circuit at home. Try Alternating strength exercises like push ups, squats, triceps dips, lunges, and planks with blasts of cardio -jumping jacks, mountain climbers and running in place for 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Don’t let “all or nothing” thinking allow your eating to spiral out of control. Even if you ate one too many slices of pie at the office holiday party, it does not mean that the whole season is ruined so you may as well overindulge…
   Remember nobody is perfect, and one or two extra pieces of pie will not lead to you gaining ten pounds. However, if you decide to throw all self control out of the window because of one or two nights of overindulging – well that can lead to guilty overeating and unwanted pounds that you and your body don’t deserve.

Hope these quick holiday fit tips help you enjoy this special time of year with ease, comfort and lots and lots of joy!!!

Exercise Your Right to Vote!

Today is a really special day - election day has finally arrived and I am asking you to perform the most important exercise there is today in this country - Please Exercise Your Right to Vote!!!

We are so blessed to live in this country which allows us the opportunity to vote for the candidate of our choice in safety and comfort - a right that is so precious and powerful - it is what keeps our democracy alive and what truly makes America free.

Just as we cannot complain about our bodies if we do not choose to fuel them with healthy foods and engage in regular exercise - as Americans we cannot complain about the situation in this country if we do not get off our "booty"and exercise our right to be heard in this election.

So whatever your choice is - just go out there and do it! This election will have a powerful impact on your life. Voting is by far the most important exercise you can perform today for yourself and this country!!!