5 Foods to Avoid

Condiments:
Condiments can turn your healthy, lean meal into a calorie binge.  Use condiments sparingly.  Dress your grilled chicken sandwich with lighter dressings such as mustard.  Give your salads a splash of balsamic vinaigrette.  Try some of Mrs. Dash’s salt free seasoning and add some lemon to flavor up a meal. 


Soda/Energy Drinks:
Need a pick-me-up to get through your day?  Skip the sodas and energy drinks.  Downing 2-3 of these a day can cost you anywhere from 200 – 600 extra calories a day and loads of sugar.  Not to mention what the cost of these will do to your pocketbook.  Grab a black coffee – and skip the sugar and cream!


White Sugar: 
This grainy, white, sweet additive is the culprit and main cause behind obesity.  White sugar creates the fat that clogs arteries and stores as body fat.  This little demon is found in sweets, condiments, and even processed meats.  Read your labels carefully.  Focus your diet on vegetables, fresh fruit, whole grains, lean meats, fish, and low-fat dairy products to avoid access added sugar.


Cheese:
Cheese is found on many dishes in America.  It tends to be the unnecessary addition to favorite foods from potatoes to chicken and broccoli alike.  Grilled chicken on its own can be a healthy low cal option, however adding calories worth of cheese to it makes it no longer a low cal option.  Try to avoid this by using salt-free seasonings to dress up your grilled chicken and broccoli.

White Flour:

White flour is found in everything from bread, pizzas, cakes, pastas, and cookies.  It is nutrient deplete due to it being a refined food.  Refined foods are those foods that have been so heavily processed, causing it to lose its nutritional value.  These refined foods consumed over time cause weight gain.  Replace your favorite pasta dish with whole wheat pasta.  Seek out whole wheat alternatives.  You will find they are easy to find and affordable.

7 Months!

Happy 7 Months to my baby girl!  Can't wait to see what you do next!

Free Food and a Social Butterfly

One great thing about being in the military is all the offers and support you receive being a military family.  Last night, Lincoln Military Housing handed out free meals to all the San Onofre neighborhood residents.  Included was a family-size lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and a 2 liter of soda.  It was a quick easy meal that was free and tasted great.  Can't beat that! 

On another note, as I parked to go pick up my food, a little girl about 3 years old approached my car.  She was holding two dolls.  As I started to unload my stroller she came right up and wanted to chat with me and even asked me to go to the park with her.  She wanted to see the baby as well.  All I kept thinking was "where are her parents".  I know I was in a neighborhood so she could just be right outside her house but I was still looking around for her parents.  After I got the baby all set in the stroller she took off running to the park where there were other children.  This scenario makes me nervous as my little one grows up.  I am all for having an outgoing child as this little girl was, but where is the line?  She practically wanted to take a ride in my car with me and asked me to go to the park with her!  How do you tell your kids not to talk to strangers but to still be their outgoing selves free to be inviting to people?   What do you think?  What do you tell your children?

New and Final Look...at least for now

I know, I know.  I've changed the look of this new blog several times now.  But hey, I am new at this and still trying to figure out this whole blogging deal.  I found this Blogger template and it caught my eye as it had Alpha Sigma written all over it!  My fellow Sorority sisters from my college days would understand. 

Alpha Sigma is a local sorority at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  I pledged (affiliated to be politically correct) the sorority in the fall of 2001.  The mascot of Alpha Sigma is the owl.  Although, when you graduate you hand down your trusty owl collection to younger members to carry on, somehow we don't loose our eye for anything owl.  In fact, just the other day I received a gift from one of my closest friends Kelly:

My daughter has had owl shirts and now owl bibs.  I think this one is especially cute and I love that it is big because she is one messy eater!  

The owl template is here to stay!  ....at least for now anyways:)

Blogging Time

Sometimes I feel like I am going crazy being a stay-at-home Mom.  Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful and thankful that I get to spend so much time with my precious little one.  I get to see and experience everything new that she learns.  But recently, this little girl just wants Mommy 24/7.  If I walk away to get a diaper she is throwing a fit.  Mommy has stuff to do!!

My wonderful friend Becca (and Baby Nurse as I refer to her - she was present for the birth of my daughter while my Husband was deployed to Afghanistan) decided to watch her for me this last Thursday.  She wanted practice watching two kids, to see what it would be like.  And I needed time to actually get some things done around the house.  Needless to say, they had a blast.  And Mommy did too with a pot of coffee, country music on the radio, and blogging.

Eating On The Go

Many days, our schedules are filled to the brim leaving us vulnerable to catching a quick and albeit, unhealthy meal or snack.  Avoid this by planning ahead.  Keep a stash of carrot sticks or almonds with you as a healthy alternative for a snack.  Take the extra time at night to pack a lunch instead of being left to grab finger food on the go.  It may take a few extra minutes of your day, but it will pay off in the long haul.

Cardio VS Weight Training

 Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardiovascular (Cardio) exercise is aerobic exercise that causes more oxygen to be processed by the lungs with less effort, more blood to be pumped by the heart in fewer beats increasing blood supply to the muscles.  All this is increasing the body’s physical endurance and efficiency.  Other benefits to cardiovascular exercise include weight loss, stress reduction, cardiovascular disease prevention, and increased life span.

There are a variety of activities that encompass cardiovascular exercise.  They include running, swimming, cross-country skiing, biking, kickboxing, dance, sports, etc.  It is important to enjoy what you are doing so try a variety of these activities and see what fits you best.

Weight Training

Weight training (resistance training) is a type of exercise used in increasing muscle strength and size.  Weighted bars, dumbbells, and weight stacks are used as the force against concentric or eccentric contractions.  This type of exercise focuses on specific muscle groups through each type of movement.  Benefits of weight training include osteoporosis prevention, maintenance of lean body mass, and injury prevention.

Those who are new to weight training may want to start out with machine weights.  This allows the person to work out alone and to get to know different exercises and the muscle groups they target.  Free weights are great to use with a partner so that you have a spotter.  A spotter serves as support and safety to ensure that the athlete does not drop the weight on him or herself.  Free weights also use one’s natural range of motion and strengthen the stabilizer muscles. 

It is also important to know what the individual’s goals are through weight training.  Is the person looking to tone and maintain lean body mass or is the goal to gain muscle mass?  If the goal is to tone, using lighter weight and higher numbers of repetition can achieve that goal.  If the goal is to gain muscle mass, the use of heavier weight and less repetitions will assist in achieving the goal.

Exercise and Why We Do It

Exercise is any physical activity involved in maintaining or improving the body’s physical health and wellness.  Many people are physically active for a variety of reasons that include weight loss or maintenance, improving athletic performance, gaining muscle strength, improving cardiovascular endurance, and pure enjoyment.  Those who make exercise a part of their lifestyle can benefit by helping to prevent heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type II Diabetes, obesity, and depression. 

Physical exercise is known to reduce an individual’s stress levels by releasing feel good endorphins that distract you from your daily worries.  And since one may often have an increased perception of body image through exercise, as well as increased self-esteem, sex drive is also increased. 

Are you still looking for a reason to exercise?

Fitness Myths

Crunches Flatten the Stomach

Myth - Your body and its genetic code decide where and when to store fat.  There are no exercises to reduce fat in any specific area of the body, only exercises to build and tone muscle. 

The best way to get a flat stomach is to burn calories through cardio exercise, which burns calories and in turn reduces body fat overall.  Crunches will tone areas, but won't reduce the fat there on their own.

If the majority of your fat is in your stomach area, you'll notice a difference.  Crunches do burn calories, so if you were to perform many of them on a daily basis, it could contribute to weight loss.  However, cardio will get the job done more effectively.

Muscle Can Turn to Fat

Myth - Muscle doesn't turn into fat and fat doesn't turn into muscle.  They are two different types of cells.  What actually can happen, is when someone stops working out, he or she is rapidly losing muscle and gaining fat.  Many people who do this do not cut down on their calorie intake, causing a quick gain in fat since they are no longer burning these extra calories through exercise. 

Stretch Before Exercise to Prevent Injuring Yourself

Myth - Research has changed over the years indicating that this is not so.  Individuals who have been injured are more prone to re-injury.  However, you need to warm these muscles up in order to prep them for a good stretch in the first palce.  Nothing too intense - start off slow, giving yourself a three to five minute warm-up, then stretch.  Stretching is mostly effective after a workout when these muscles are nice and elastic.  Stretching now will be helpful in maintaining flexibility and in turn, avoiding injury.

Diet Myths

Eating at Night Makes You Fat

Myth – There is no conclusive evidence that late-night snacking can cause you to put on weight.  The truth is that too many calories cause weight gain, and in many cases, high-calorie foods tend to be consumed late at night.  Try to stick to regular, earlier mealtimes to avoid the nighttime binge.

Not all Sugars are Alike

True - Added sugars such as high-fructose corn syrup, honey, and table sugar which are added to products such as soda, candy, and other sweets, have a lot of calories.  Natural sugar, on the other hand, does not contain any artificial ingredients or chemicals.  Instead of scouring the ingredients on every box, remember that fresh produce will contain natural sugar whereas your processed foods will contain added sugars.

Coffee Isn't Good for You

Myth – Serving up 2 to 3 cups of coffee a day is part of a healthy diet. Research has shown that drinking coffee in moderation (such as 2 to 3 cups/day) may help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, gallstones, Parkinson's disease, even some cancers.  What can make coffee unhealthy is all the added fixings such as cream, sugar, and flavored syrups. (Refer to #2 above)

The Less Fat You Eat, the Better

Myth - Your body needs protein, carbohydrates, and fats to survive.  So fuel your body.  The key to remember is that there are good fats and bad fats.  Nuts, seeds, and low-fat dairy contain high-protein and healthy fats (unsaturated fats).  Fats to avoid are saturated and trans fats found in high-fat dairy such as butter, red meat, and many processed foods.

Drink Water – Lose Weight

Myth – There is no arguing that water is good for your body, however, will it really help you to lose weight?  Not specifically.  If you tend to drink high-calorie drinks throughout the day, replacing them with water will help keep those unnecessary calories away and help you to lose weight.  Simply adding water into your diet along with those high-calorie drinks will not aid in any number drops on the scale.