How to Lower Your Stress Level

I was recently talking to a client about the "S" word: STRESS.  Stress can cause all kinds of problems.  I'd like to share an article that I found very helpful - it was written for our blog, by Karina Alvare, who is a contributing writer at www.dentalinsurance.net...

Tightly Wound Without an Outlet — How to Lower Your Stress Level
When people get stressed, ironically enough, they tend to exacerbate their stress level in the process of searching for ways to lower it. Individuals that want to reduce stress can do so with some of the methods that are listed below. These are some surefire ways to reduce your stress level and bring some joy back into your life. The great thing about these methods is that all of them work rather quickly.

Get Some Sleep
This may sound cliché, but stressed out people are usually people that are not getting proper rest. The only way to truly combat this is by getting some sleep. People that are not well rested can become very cranky in a short amount of time. This can often lead to confrontations that lead to a lot more stress. This is why it makes sense to stop the domino effect early and get some sleep.

Read a Book
A book is a great escape from the world that you are in. It doesn't matter if you read a comedy, romance or thriller. When you are stressed out, sometimes anything is better the place where you are in life. The awesome thing about books is that they can take you into another world. It can become a getaway of the mind. It can take your mind off of whatever you are enduring at the time. Over time a reader that reads multiple books can be transported to different worlds. These masterful escapes of the mind will help reduce stress levels dramatically.

Change Your Environment
Sometimes the stress may be part of your environment. It may be home or work. This may require a little more than an escape of the mind. In certain cases you may actually need to change your physical environment. This may involve getting a new job that is less stressful. It may involve getting out of a bad relationship or reevaluating your friendships. All these connections can play a part in stress. You may have no choice in some matters. There are times when you may have to remove certain people or elements from your life to reduce your stress.

Listen to Music
A chance to truly improve your mood can be found in music. This is something to really think about. Music will often play in the background in elevators, dentist offices, spas and work environments. There has to be something to the joy of listening to music. People that find salvation in soothing sounds will often repeat the process of listening to music to keep their stress at bay.

Watch a Movie
A book is a great mental escape of the mind. Music also plays a wonderful part in stimulating parts of the brain. There may be times, however, when you need some visual stimulation. A movie can be the perfect solution to reducing your stress at times. This can be something that is good for helping you forget about the problems of the day. It can be difficult to let go of things if your mind is not focused on something else. A movie can take your complete attention and lock your mind into it.

Take a Day Off
Sometimes your stress can come from a lack of time. This is why you may need to take a whole day off. This may often be the only way that you can do things like watching a movie or reading a book. An occasion day off can work wonders.

These methods have been tried and tested ways to manage stress. Fortunately, these things don't cost much to incorporate into your lifestyle.

I'm off to read a book now! :)

Measurements Are An Important Indication of Your Success!

If you are having a slow weight loss week (or weeks), remember this...

The number on the scale is not the only indication that you are doing well.  For instance, I haven't lost more than about 4-5 pounds total in the last 3 weeks.  I've been kind of depressed by that!  It didn't make sense, because I feel thinner, and my clothes are fitting differently.  But, after I weighed last Thursday, I remembered that I haven't done my measurements for about 3 weeks.  So I got out my measuring tape and went to work.

Imagine my surprise when I found that I had lost 9.75" in the last 3 weeks!  That's why my clothes are bigger, and why I think I look thinner - I DO!  I've even gone down a full size in my pants this last 3 weeks.

If you haven't done measurements yet... STOP what you are doing, and pull out your measuring tape.  It's important!  You need to be able to look at the whole picture - literally.  Why do you feel different and look different if you haven't lost weight?  Because your body is losing inches, too. :)  Isn't that great?

For a guide to taking your measurements, look on the right sidebar.  This is how I take my measurements.  I don't just do bust, waist, and hips.  I do 12 different areas on my body, because I know that I'm losing inches everywhere.  I even wish I would have taken a measurement of my neck before I started - I know I've lost there.

This week's challenge - do your measurements.  Compare them to the measurements you took before you started.  Even if you've been on the plan for only 2-3 weeks, I know you'll see a difference.

-Kara

Exercises To Tighten Your Body/Skin After Weight Loss

I don't know about you, but I'm finding that as I lose weight, I've got a bunch of excess skin "hanging" around!  I think this is because we are losing weight rapidly.  Plus, the older you get, the less chance of your skin "bouncing" back - it has a lack of elasticity.  Here are a few exercises you can do for those trouble spots you might experience:

Neck and Chin:
Stand with your arms at your side. Tilt your head back until you are looking directly at the ceiling. Do not strain your neck. Open your mouth and close it, slowly touching your teeth together. You can feel a slight pull on the muscles of your chin. Repeat this exercise five to 10 times per day for optimum results.


Arms:
Light 5 pound dumbbells tone the muscles in your arms. Overhead stretches help to tone this troublesome area. Simply sit comfortably with your back straight. Hold one dumbbell in each hand, resting them down at your sides. Raise your arms straight out in front of you with your palms facing inward. Slowly lift the dumbbells straight up so they are above your head. Bend your elbows; your hands should be behind your ears. Hold for five to 10 seconds and lower your arms. Do 10 to 12 reps every other day.

Legs:

To address the saggy appearance on thighs, lay on your left side with your left leg bent under your right leg at a 90-degree angle. Prop yourself up on your elbow. Keeping your right leg straight, slowly raise it until you feel a slight pull in your inner thigh. Hold for five seconds and return to your starting position. Repeat 10 times and move to your left leg.

This information is found at the Livestrong site.  To read more, click on the following link:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/426580-exercises-to-tighten-your-body-after-weight-loss/

Six Fuelings For Your Body Every Day

What are the benefits of eating a small amount of food more often?

--Helps you to lose weight
--Controls hunger
--Reduces blood insulin (a factor in fat storage and inflammation)
--Lowers total cholesterol levels
--Reduces LDL ("bad") cholesterol
--Depresses glucose levels
--Increases bile acid secretion
--Suppresses free fatty acids levels
--Reduces serum uric acid levels, a common risk factor for coronary heart disease
--Increases uric acid excretion
--Reduces adipose tissue enzyme levels
--Reduces fluctuations in satiety (fullness)
(from "Habits of Heath", chapter 6, page 63)

One of the things I've noticed as I've adopted this healthy habit of eating 5-6 small meals every 2-3 hours, is that I'm never hungry.  I'm constantly fueling my body, and it's happy!  And just look at all those benefits up there!

As you progress on this eating plan, don't forget to eat ALL of your meal replacements - you need those calories.  And, please space your meals every 2.5-3 hours. It's very important.

**HINT:  Take at least 2 meal replacements and a bottle of water with you whenever you leave the house.

My TOOLS!

Yesterday, I promised to post my "TOOLS" - those things that make my life a bit easier on this eating plan.  So... here they are: 

1.  This adorable scale is a Paula Dean scale, from Walmart.  I got it because RED makes me happy.  I use this to weigh ALL of my meat AFTER it's cooked.  I love that it has a really big bowl on top.  It holds lots. :)

2.  This is my amazing water bottle.  It's from Contigo.  I got it from Costco. It comes in a three pack (not sure if they sell these anymore - I got mine during Christmastime).  It's 24 oz.  I drink 4 of these every day.  When I first started the food plan, I weighed more, so I drank 5 of these.  The straw makes it SO SUPER easy to drink all of my water.

I am headed to Costco again today, because I saw these same water bottles (in a two pack) that are stainless steel and insulated.  They are around 20 oz.  They are supposed to keep drinks cold for up to 20 hours!!!  So, now I can make a shake before I leave the house, put it in one of these babies, and have that in my car for a MF meal while I'm out and about!  Sweet!

3.  This is my Magic Bullet blender.  I LOVE this thing.  I throw some pebble ice in (about 2/3 full), dump in the shake mix, any extract I want to use, and a bit of Truvia sweetener, and BBZZZTTT!  I've got a shake in about 10 seconds.  This is SO easy to use.  Costco has the set for around $40-$50, I think.  I've had mine for over 3 years.  LOVE it.

4.  This is an oversized mug.  It probably holds at least 3 cups.  I use this to make my soups in.  If I use anything smaller, my soup boils over and makes a mess.  Especially since I usually add a bit more water and bouillon.

5.  This is a small thermos (shhh... I got it at Jenny Craig years ago!)  My coach told me to put the soup mixes in a thermos in the morning, with boiling water, and let them sit until lunch time.  I tried this the other day - it was amazing!  The soup was SO much better!  Doing it this way allows the veggies and meat in the soup to soften up.  I think this one holds about 2 cups.

6.  And this is my little group of tools I use to mix things up - 1/4 cup measuring cup, small whisk, small mixing bowl, 1 tablespoon and 1/4 teaspoon.  I use these every single day.  The spatula is to clean out the bowl after mixing pancakes.

7.  Because I use all of these every single day, I just keep all of the small stuff in a cheerful red bowl on my counter!

8.  And, of course, I use one of these whenever I make pancakes!  Pull it out... heat it up... cook the pancakes... wipe it out... put it away!  Easy Peasy!

Hope this helps!

-Kara

Food Supplies for your Take Shape for Life Eating Plan - What I Use!

Just a few ideas for today. I found a website that has lots of recipes that you can make with your Medifast meals! So, you can now think outside of the box! I'm excited to try these. Here is the link: http://healthycheapandsimple.weebly.com/new-medifast-recipe-creations.html 

PLEASE make sure you only use the recipes for the Medifast Meals.  That way, you'll stay on plan. :)

Also, I had a client ask me about a shopping list for the start of the eating plan. Here is what I use...

1. Sugar-free maple syrup - Walmart has one called Maple Grove Farms. Very good!  You can use 1-2 Tablespoons of this syrup as a condiment.

 2. I've been experimenting with extracts lately, and have had great success! I use them in the shakes, pancakes, and oatmeal. I get the Watkins extracts from Walmart - they are a good size, and they are about $2.30-$2.50 each. The extracts I use are: banana, peppermint, orange, raspberry, maple, coconut, strawberry, lemon, vanilla nut, and rootbeer. My sister told me that she adds the caramel extract to her Dutch Chocolate shakes, and it's YUMMY!

3. Make sure you have some "Pam" on hand - for non-stick cooking (pancakes).

 4. Get some packets of sweetener. I use Truvia. It's natural, has no calories, and only a few carbs. I add some of this sweetener so whatever I put extracts in. I've found that it is very sweet - so you only need maybe half of a package. Again, Walmart has this - it comes in a green and white box.  Remember that 1 packet of artificial sweetener counts as 1 condiment.

 5. Bouillon - chicken and beef. Get the low-sodium. I usually add an extra 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water with bouillon to my soups. This gives me a bit more soup.

 6. Costco canned chicken!!! I love this product. It's packed in water, and it's all white chicken breast. I like to use about 2 oz. of shredded chicken in my soups and chili. Adds more bulk, and then I don't have to try to eat 6 oz. of protein during my lean and green. Plus, being able to open a can and have instant cooked chicken is great! Lots of times, I just use the rest of the can I opened at lunch time on top of my salad. You can throw it into a pan and heat it up, and use BBQ sauce (1/2 tsp - on the condiment list), or a tiny bit of sweet and sour sauce. Sometimes, I'll just mix it with balsamic vinegar - that's my favorite. Remember to weigh your chicken, though. Usually, one can of chicken is around 7 oz. (that's the chicken, not the can plus chicken! :) So, you can have almost the whole can in one day. Makes it easy to split it between two meals!

7. I use the balsamic vinegar from Costco. It's amazing. (I'm drooling just thinking about it!)  (You can have 1 teaspoon as a condiment)

 8. Make sure you have a good supply of baking powder - you'll use this in your pancakes. Plus, I use cocoa in my shakes and pancakes. So, have some of that on hand.  (Cocoa is not really on the plan, so you have to be careful with how much you use.  I only use 1/8 - 1/4 of a teaspoon.)

 9. If you are having trouble drinking all of your water (you need to consume half your body weight in ounces every day), add a powder like Crystal Light, or Propel Zero (my favorite). I have a 24 oz. water bottle with a straw, and I usually drink 2 of those during the day, put Propel Zero in another one, and drink that at dinner with my lean and green. And then, I sip on the 4th bottle of water all night - and I've had all the water I need for the day!

 

10. Get a good, low-carb dressing for your salads. My favorite is Paul Newman's Olive Oil and Vinegar - just 1 carb. (Remember, this will count as your healthy fat - 1 serving is up to 2 tablespoons)

11. I also always have a supply of pebble ice from Sonic! I use this in my shakes.

12. Remember to stalk your fridge with protein (meat and eggs and tofu, if you'd like), and lots of veggies.  Check out the list of veggies you can have in the Quick Start Guide.

I think that's about it.  Tomorrow, I'll post my favorite tools for this eating plan - there are just certain things that will make your life easier while you are fixing these meals (like a Magic Bullet blender!)

-Kara
Health Coach

The Path to Optimal Health - It's all about HABITS!

Habits of Health by Dr. A... Yesterday, I was reading in the Habits of Health book, and something I read really made a lot of sense to me:

Most changes we try to adopt (like dieting) are based on solving a problem or trying to get rid of an unwanted situation. This type of motivation almost never leads to lasting changes. You make changes at first, but later you fall back into your old ways of behavior. So, for instance: think about your health problems... you might hate the way you look or feel, and your natural response is to feel terrible about it. In order to end that feeling, you take actions that make you feel better - you go on a diet, or you exercise. But those actions aren't motivated by what you want (just by what you don't want), so they lead you into a predictable cycle... you act, and then because you've acted, you feel better - even if the situation hasn't changed much. Feeling better takes the pressure off, lessening the bad feelings. Less emotional conflict means there's less reason to continue doing the things that reduced the conflict in the first place. Since you feel better, you no longer feel a pressing need to follow through on your actions. And the original behavior returns. That's what we call a "yo-yo pattern". Conflict-driven motivation in one of the major reasons people yo-yo. So, we need to change the way we're motivated...

We need to motivate ourselves by focusing on what we want - not what we don't want! This is the difference between a problem-oriented motivation and an outcome-oriented motivation. Changing our emphasis from what we're against to what we're for has a dramatic impact.

I found this fascinating. If I'm understanding this right - what I need to do is change my motivation from thinking that I don't want to be unhealthy, to thinking that I want optimal health. Instead of trying to lose weight, I need to focus on gaining health! I love this idea! If I focus on losing weight, then at some point, I'll lose all the weight, and then what? Most likely I'll stop doing what I'm supposed to do, because I've reached that goal. But, if I focus on gaining health - well, that never ends. It's a life-long pursuit. And that means, I'll be working constantly on that. No more yo-yoing!

On the front of the Habits of Health book, it says "The path to permanent weight control and optimal health". I'm now well on my way down that path, and I've got the goal of optimal health in mind. It makes me happy just to think about where I'll be in 2 months, in 6 months, in a year - or even 2 or 5 years.

-Kara