While fruits are good for you, many are also high in natural sugars, which can cause swings in blood sugar that lead to hunger and cravings for MORE sugary and starchy foods.

If you are carb overloading already, start with having a small portion of fruit once a day and gradually increase to having very small portions up to three times a day.

There are some fruits that raise your insulin extra high and take you on a roller-coaster ride. These fruits are recommended only occasionally since they may be a hair-trigger for hunger and cravings.  They include watermelon, pineapple, dates and figs, fruit juices, and canned fruit in heavy syrup.

Basically, for now the fruit that is the most bang for your insulin buck is berries – better…BLUEBERRIES! Check it out -http://www.driscolls.com/healthy/index.php

But, again, for person taking in around 1,800 cal. per day,  have only 2 small hands-ful per day.

(FYI: that is what is recommended by the USDA Food Pyramid guide lines.)

Find more info. at  http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/nutrition/food-pyramid.asp#serving

What is a workout?

Some people think it is parking 50 feet from the entrance of Walmart instead of 20…

Some think it is housework, or gardening, or putting holiday decorations back in the attic….

Some think it is going to the bathroom between tv shows, and beers (or glasses of wine) you know who you are…

While all of these activities require movement, of some sort, they are not what is going to get you and keep you healthy, strong, fit and disease free.

The USDA recommends that we ALL need AT A MINIMUM 30 moderate exercise EVERY DAY.  Why am I caps-sing/yelling at you? Because I think only a handful of people have gotten through their heads that this is a fact!

read on… “At a minimum, do moderate intensity activity for 30 minutes most days, or preferably every day. This is in addition to your usual daily activities.  Increasing the intensity or the amount of time of activity can have additional health benefits and may be needed to control body weight.

About 60 minutes a day of moderate physical activity may be needed to prevent weight gain.  For those who have lost weight, at least 60 to 90 minutes a day may be needed to maintain the weight loss. At the same time, calorie needs should not be exceeded.”

I look at reaching these goals as much of a group effort as raising kids … IT TAKES A VILLAGE.

I am here and we are all here to help each other!

Ok, I’m off my soap box – let’s get on with it… :}

Does anyone remember the old Food Pyramid?  The one that recommended 6-11 servings of bread per day?

What the heck did that mean?! Could I have 6? Wouldn’t 11 be even better?

Wow, no wonder America got so fat so fast!

2 years ago I heard about the new Food Pyramid and because my skepticism for former USDA recommendations, it took me a while to jump on the band wagon.

The new Food Pyramid is waaaayyyy more user friendly in that it tells you what it means by servings and portions.  It helps individualize the information for specific diets.  And, an important ommission in the last Pyramid, it has recommendations for exercise!

Although I think it needs some fine tuning, I do recommend it as a base for solid information.

Check out the new Food Pyramid below:

http://www.mypyramid.gov/

A more 2000+ word is Blender Drink.  When we think smoothie we think yogurt or (yikes!) ice cream, fruit, milk and something that is getting very close to a milkshake.  A blender drink, on the other hand, is a blender filled with all of the ingredients to start your day right – every day.  Incorporating vital protein, carbs and fats, like flax, hemp, whey protien, oatmeal, small amounts of berries, greens (like spirulina) can set up the foundation of macro, micro and phyto nutrients to keep you super healthy.

If you don’t have time to research, buy, and blend all of the necessary ingredients you can purchase premade drinks ready to mix with water and go.  My favorite is Vega by Brenden Brazier, Ironman triathlete from Canada.  He seriously has taken the guess work out of your morning meal. He has a great website that pretty much explains everything you need to know about optimal health.   -  http://www.brendanbrazier.com/vega/index.html

Why is it that some days I feel like working out, and some days I want to turn the world off and hole up in my cave?

Some days, I want to workout but I am too tired to even keep a thought. 

Last winter I had one of those moments and somehow got my hand over to the keyboard on my computer and googled “running motivation”.  What popped up was miraculous – it was a website that calmly commanded me to “put your shoes on and walk out the door”.  Like a rebellious robot, who was too tired to complain, I did just that.  As I walked to the corner, I told myself (and the website voice in my head), “It’s cold and I am not going any further”.  When I got to the corner, I announced aloud, “Ok, a little further, but, I won’t run.”  As I approached the place where I usually begin running, I told myself, “Ok, I’ll run but I won’t go fast.”  …and I didn’t.   But, I finished 4 miles and when I arrived home I was so refreshed I was ready to do another 4!

I ended up having one of the best runs of my life – not because it was fast, but because it made me feel so incredibly good.   Who knew that letting the mere fumes of energy override my brain, allowing my body to take over my head, would create memories of an event that, to this day, helps motivate me?

I don’t think it should take surgery to look great…well, not much anyway!

This is where it all begins  – and ends.  Our love/hate relationship with food.

I love it when it tastes good and makes me feel great – and I hate it when it tastes good, and makes me feel horrible.

I hate the confusion – food information is constantly being updated, dissected and dissemenated, actually using it to stay healthy and active is completely confusing.

Eating chips and queso is not confusing – I know it taste good …AND I know it’s bad for me – most of it’s not rocket science!

It seems that men and women, but mostly women, are constantly in search of some remedy for flabby arms.

When I researched using the words “flabby skin” what mostly came up is liposuction and excision – both require going under the knife in some fashion or another.

http://www.realself.com/question/flabby-arm-fixes-liposuction-excision

I contend, yes, I am pretty passionate about this, that we can fill that flab with muscle.  When I say this to a client in need of such repair, they often come back with “but, I don’t want to ‘bulk up’”.   So, let me get this straight…they would rather have their arms swinging in a strong breeze than stong beautiful muscles.  What I actually say to them is, “Do you know how long and what it would take to get even Madonna’s arms on your body?” …”and wouldn’t you like to try?”

Think about it…

This weekend, I stood with my foot on my knee (sideways stork style) in the kitchen and while I waited for my tilapia and broccoli to cook, I scraped whole-grain crackers across the top of olive-oil/flaxoil “margarine”; and when that wasn’t enough, I poured a layer of agave nectar, that had gone virtually unused, up in the spice cabinet, on top of the “butter” (still in the tub, mind you), and then scraped this on to the cracker.  This is actually the “healthy” version of my previous creation of Wheat Thins scraped across Smart Butter with honey.

Now, that I’m thinking about it, I have better ones to share but, alas, it is your turn!