Six ways to Squelch Bad Snacking

You’ve told me snacking too much is your downfall. Me, too!  That’s why it helps to have several strategies to prevent your snacks from ruining your goals.  Picks some of these strategies to help curb excess snacking.

1. Amuse yourself. Make a list of things you like to do. When you find yourself starting a snacking binge, stop and ask yourself, “I’m I snacking because I’m not  in a good mood?” Non-stop snacking can be a sign you're bored or depressed.   Pick something off your  list to distract yourself. Here’s a few suggestions: Play a game, work a crossword puzzle, meditate, listen to your favorite songs, work on a hobby. What's on your list?
2. Swap it out.  If you're prone to snacking on high-calorie, high-fat snacks,  search for substitute that is equally pleasing. Sometimes our eating is just habit. If we thought about it, we could probably find a healthier snack we enjoy just as much.  I have a friend who freezes low fat yogurt, and takes it out of the freezer about 15 minutes before snacking.  In the winter, I love Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Green Tea with a pinch of sugar. I love the warmth and the smell. I sip it slowly and thoroughly enjoy it.
3. Be a spendthrift. I’m usually a very frugal shopper, but I never buy snack food in the cheaper,  multi-serving bag.  I know I’ll eat more than one serving.  If I’m going to have empty calories, I make sure to limit the calorie count. Those 100 calorie bags are great.
4. Don’t go nuts. Nuts are healthy, but they are high in calories. Some nuts, if eaten in excess, can prompt kidney stones.  Several people tell me that instead of eating just one ounce, they’ll keep eating them.  It is hard to stop. To prevent yourself from the “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” syndrome, don’t eat the nuts from the bag or jar.  Measure them out and put the bag or jar away.
5. Pay the Price.  Before reaching for that snack, do something for ten minutes that you need to cross off your to-do list.  Examples: Do a quick exercise (20 push ups, abdominal exercises), make your grocery list, tidy up the kitchen, pack healthy lunches for the next day.  You’ll feel better by crossing something off your list. As a result, you may be prone to eat less or even forget your desire for a snack.
6. Play Aretha. Sing to yourself, “Think, Think about what you’re trying to do to me.”  That is, be aware of what you are doing to your body and your goals if you continue munch away.  Many times over snacking is just a matter of not being conscious of how much you are eating.

Having strategies ahead of time can increase of chances of keeping your snacking under control. Hopefully one or more of these strategies will work for you.

Let us know if they work or if you have other strategies you’ve used to control snacking. And here's a challenge for inventors out there. I'd love a snack dispenser that doles out only 100 calories a night and won't give you any more until 24 hours later. I bet you'd make billions!

Motivation List - 10 Reasons to Exercise

When you’re brain is thinking of excuses why you don’t want to exercise, keeping a list of reasons why you exercise can give you the boost you need to get going.  Make copies of the list and keep it in places where you can refer to it if you need it: the bathroom mirror, your office wall, the refrigerator, on your night stand where you can read it when you get up in the morning.

Here’s my list:

1. Exercise energizes me throughout the day and makes me feel peppy.
2. I like having a slim body that looks good in clothes.
3. I can eat a little more.
4. I am in a better mood. A friend told me when he kept a journal, he noticed he felt consistently happier on the days he exercised.
5. Since I exercise to music, it's a time when i can listen to my favorite music, which lifts my mood.
6. I feel good about myself when I do things that are good for me and I feel bad about myself when I don't.
7. When I exercise, I sometimes push my limits, a competition with myself and that gets my juices flowing.
8. I can handle the frustrations of the day.
9. It gives me the energy, flexibility and stamina I need to do fun things like hiking in Utah.
10. I’ve seen older people deteriorate because they didn’t stay active and I don’t want that to happen to me.

These reasons might not work for you. What are your reasons? Think of things that might inspire you. Or perhaps things you want to avoid. 

Share your list with us, so we can we can have even more reasons to get moving.

Here are links other lists:

The 10 Best Reasons to Exercise


Ten Great Reasons to Exercise


The Many Reasons to Exercise


Ten Top Reasons to Exercise

Music to Get You Moving

This week has suggestions for making playlists and links to playlist sites. 

A great playlist gets me moving and keeps me moving when my energy wanes.  As C+C Music Factory says "Let the rhythm move you!"  Technology has makes it easy to build a personalized playlist off the web in less than 1/2 hour and for less than $10.  Or, if you are less inclined to build your own playlist, the link list below contains sites where you can purchase prepared playlists.

Making Playlists

Personal Taste.  One of the most important things to consider is your taste and style. Think about what type of music energizes you. What songs do you love? A playlist of songs you love can draw you to a workout.  

Workout Type. Another thing to consider is the type of workout you do. For running I need a more consistent pace, nothing too slow. For spinning, the pace can vary greatly. If the song is slow, I can increase the resistance (which helps to build strength). I know, you maniac treadmill runners out there are going to tell me I could increase the incline on a slower song. Ugh!

Variety versus Consistency. What draws you to the workout? Do you get bored using the same playlist or do you look forward to the same songs each workout? Lucky you if you like the same playlist - it's certainly cheaper and takes less time.

Organizing the playlist. You want to think about your workout. Start with a slower song to warm up. I made the mistake of starting a couple of playlists with extremely fast songs that I love, but paid the price later in the workout. I like to put the most energetic songs at the end of a longer workout to boost me when my energy starts flagging. You might want to put some slower songs at the end for your cool down.

Length of workout.  You might consider separate playlists for different workout lengths. For shorter workouts, you can have faster-paced songs throughout. For longer workouts you might want to change pace a few times between high energy and moderate pace. I have 30 minute playlists, 45 minute playlists and a few playlists that are as long as three hours.

Pace. Beats per minute can be important if you exercise to the beat. Many mp3 providers now provide beats per minute or you can determine it for yourself by playing a song for 15 seconds and multiplying by four.

Finally, edit you playlist if it doesn't work for you. Earlier i said i started   a couple of playlists with lively songs. While using other playlists, I found that even though I loved a particular song, it just didn't keep my energy up in the workout.


List your songs: Use the comments to list your favorite songs. 

What topics would you like covered? One last thing.  Please use comments to tell me what health topics you are most interested in: eating tips, healthy recipes, exercises, stretching, how to keep motivated, how to track your progress. What you you like to see in this blog?

Prepared Playlists

JogTunes.com – Suggests playlists tailored to pace (beats per minute) and preferred song genres and/or artist.  Gives you help in determining your preferred pace. Also lists Prepared Playlists. You can buy the tunes from their suggested lists.

WalMart.com or iTunes.com sells Shape Cardio workout albums.

Songs for the Do-it-Yourselfer

Sue' favs - Song lists for several types of workouts, including a "happy songs" playlist

Shape magazines top 10 workout songs from 2010

Shape’s 20 Minute Playlist

Fitness Magazine – Our Best Workout Playlists

Fitness Magazine – Step it Up Cardio Playlist

Chicago Tribune – What’s Playing at the Health Clubs (2008)

And Now For Some Completely Different Super Bowl Health Tips

Temptation? 1 Hot Wing = 200 Calories

It’s Super Bowl Sunday. And instead of usual advice on healthy snacks and not overeating, today’s blog will hopefully give some tips you don’t see all the time.

But before I give you my unusual tips, here is an interesting fact from the Calorie Control Council : The average calorie intact of Super Bowl snacks is 1,200 calories and 50 grams of fat.  One LA Times article tells you how far you’d have to walk to burn off the calories from various popular Super Bowl snacks.  Another article on Live Well Nebraska from the World-Herald Bureau warns that between the snacks and the stress, you could have a heart attack.

Below I will give you links to healthier snacks. But here are my completely different tips:



Dump those Goodies

 

As soon as the game is over, throw the leftover snacks away (in a way you won’t be tempted to retrieve them a little later). Yes. Right now. Don’t wait a second. Grind those hot wings, blue cheese, chips and dip in the garbage disposal or put them in the trash and cover them with coffee grounds. Why?  If you are anything like me, over the next few days, you’ll continue to sneak from your snack stash. If you keep that food around, you may eat more fat and calories snacking after the Super Bowl than you did during the Super Bowl.  I confess, after my Christmas party over a week’s time span I ate a bowl of fat-laden spinach dip and crackers and a half a salami stick.

Do a little exercise when the Super Bowl ends.  I have a friend takes a half-hour walk after a big meal.  Dr. Oz recommends doing squats for 1 minute, just enough to kick up that metabolism again.

Add 5 minutes a day to your exercise regime for the next two weeks. That way those extra calories won’t add to a permanent weight gain.

So as promised, here are some links to healthy super bowl snacks (my favorite is sugar snap peas and jicama – crunchy and great even without dip).  Note:  All of these links are McAfee Secure Sites. Enjoy the Super Bowl (or whatever else you plan on doing tonight)!

Eating Well’s Healthy Super Bowl Recipes and Menus  - some of these looked scrumptious!

11 Healthy Super Bowl Snacks – from Health.com. Look great, especially the Lemon-drop chicken wings, but watch the calories in some of these

Healthy Super Bowl Recipe Roundup – Links to recipes from This Mama Cooks (on a diet)

6 Healthy Snacks and Recipes for a Super Duper Bowl – Fit Bottom Girls (ok Queen fans, love the title a word play on one of my all time favorite songs and this site has a lot of interesting stuff)

Notes on using the Swish Technique from last week’s .  My attempt to use the Swish Technique worked – I was able to replace my stay-in-bed self talk with a get-up response – but I forgot to add the and exercise part. Also, the link I gave you didn’t talk about making your replacement image as detailed, vivid and complete as possible – actually see and feel yourself in the new behavior. Good luck!