Weekly Web Round-Up

I wanted to share with you some of the links to some wonderful and informative posts that I found this week on the web.  Every morning I post a new link to a blog post or recipe that I think will help you reach your goals of being healthy on the Desirefitness Facebook Fanpage. 

1- Motivation- Read this article from pickthebrain.com to help you develop confidence, focus, and direction. http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/how-to-motivate-yourself/

2-Kale Chips- I have not made them yet.  I have been seeing them on a few healthy/fitness blogs lately. The plan is to make them this week.  If successful I may bring them to the family Christmas celebration.  Here is the recipe I am going to try. http://askgeorgie.com/?p=1754 

3-Healthy Snacks- Wholeliving.com has posted 50 healthy snacks for you to try.  My 2 cents though with this list is to watch the portions you eat. http://www.wholeliving.com/photogallery/best-snacks-for-work/

 4-Exercise- The Burpee- The Burpee is a full-body combo exercise that builds strength and gets the heart pumping.  You do not have to do too many of them to start breathing heavy and sweating.  The Art of Manliness does an excellent job explaining and showing you video of this great exercise. http://artofmanliness.com/2010/01/27/the-burpee-the-one-exercise-to-rule-them-all/ 

Let me know what you think of any of this information.  Try one of the recipes? I want to know how it turned out.

Have a great week!

Healthy Snack Mix

Check out the above video.

Yes I do know how to pronounce cashew correctly.  Don’t know why I went with casio.

Anywhoo.

I eat 1/4 cup of a nut mix pretty much everyday.

Nuts are a great source of healthy fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

The grand total of the purchase of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, and almonds was $12.35.

This mix should last me about a month.

So $12.35 is a nice little investment into my health.

You must store the nuts in a dark cabinet, so they don’t spoil.

Avoiding the Freshmen 15- Part 2

Are you packed yet for school?  Got the workout clothes in your suitcase?  Working on setting your overall goals for the new semester?

I recently asked current college students that I know did a great job keeping off the freshmen 15 how they did such a good job. .  To be honest I think they maybe in better shape than when they started the first semester.  Following their quotes will be information on how to start/keep eating healthy at the dining hall. Please share this post with all your friends.  It is much easier to keep healthy habits when your friends are too.

“As freshman year of college began, I made sure to stay focused on working out whenever I could.  I made sure to balance myself between classes and free time.  I involved myself in intramural volleyball both the women’s league and co-ed and I joined the women’s rugby team as well.  I also made sure that I wasn’t eating junkfood like crazy, just because I had the opportunity to go down to the dining hall and get food at 12 at night didn’t mean I had to do it.  I’ve always been involved in sports so I made sure to continue that when I got to college.  I maintained a healthy diet, took advantage of the campus gym as well as athletic activities on campus and together that helped me stay in shape and live healthy.”

Sharyn, Kutztown University, PA

“Well I definitely think I was able to avoid the freshmen 15 by going out for the lacrosse team.  I went in as a walk on and wound up doing pretty well and making the team. I obviously had to stay in shape for lacrosse and the schedule we had was pretty intense with practice everyday for 2 hours and 6AMs two days a week on top of that.  But if I wasn’t on the lacrosse team. I feel like I’d go to the gym a lot just because it is so close. It literally takes me 5 minutes to walk there, not even.  So instead of always having to wake up and drive to the gym like at home at school I can just decide whenever I want to go and walk.  Having the gym so close and available makes it easier to go and helps me keep in shape.”

Krystine, Kutztown University, PA

“I took advantage of the gym as well because it was so close and was included in the tuition fees.  If you are not a gym person, they had classes and a rock climbing wall as well as a basketball court all inside the rec center.  I also really took advantage of the salad and fruit bars at school. And of course I walked to all of my classes which adds up at the end of everyday!”

Jackie, Miami University, OH

“Yeah I’m with you guys, track helped a lot but I still go to the gym two or three times a week to do extra core stuff that the team doesn’t do. Its not bad once your in a routine. I stay away from the burgers, grilled cheese, soda, etc at lunch and dinner and I have omelets in the dining hall in the morning. Eat healthy, definitely don’t skip breakfast and set some sort of a routine.”

Matt, Kutztown University, PA

Awesome advice there for ya !

Now it’s a nice late August day.  You are with your awesome roommate and new friends all walking to the dining hall together.  There is a frisbee game going on. Maybe a little hacky sack is being played. You go inside and check in with the lovely dining hall employee.  Into the dining room you go where there is quite a few choices for you.  What are you in the mood for?  Here is some help with making the better choices.

- Try to eat veggies and fruit at EVERY meal. Throughout the day try to eat every color of the rainbow in fruit and veggies, especially the green veggies.

- Stay away from the sugary cereals and artificial coloring.

- Stick to what you can find in nature.  Windex blue will not be  in the food in the earth’s nature food sources.

- Drink a small amount of juice. Water, green tea, herbal tea, coffee is better.  You may want to do extra research on caffeine. Don’t drink sweet teas and soda. There are lots of extra calories in them that you don’t need.

- One of your daily meals should be a huge salad. Use minimal dressing though.  You can add protein with beans, nuts, hard boiled eggs, grilled chicken. Learn to like salad.

- Keep to a minimum the fried food, ice cream, burgers, pizza, hot dogs, and the make your own waffle station.  Just because it is offered doesn’t mean you should eat it.  Have this stuff once or twice a semester.

- Take some fruit with you to eat during the day/night.  Beware though I don’t think the staff would appreciate you filling up your backpack with all their apples.

Avoiding the Freshman 15- Part 1

What a great adventure you are about to go off on!  I LOVED college!  Meeting new people.  Learning what you want to learn.  Learning about yourself.  I did learn that not only college, but life is a lot more fun when you are HEALTHY and STRONG.  So many opportunities come your way.  Let’s learn how to make sure that happens.

Get Prepared! If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.

1-Schedule- Write out now in a planner or spread sheet your class schedule for the week.  Then look up the hours your college’s gym is open. Next fill in your workout times on your schedule.  Block off about an hour for at least 4 days a week.  Eliminate the excuses for not going. If you plan on playing intramural sports find out that schedule too and plug it into your week.

2-Clothes-If you do not have workout clothes, then go buy some. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy.  I do suggest a good pair of sneakers though.

3-Snacks for your room- Skip the soda, sweetened tea, and juices.  They add minimal nutritional value to your diet and lots of extra calories.  They also make your wallet lighter.  What you want to bring is a water filter if you don’t trust the  water in the residence halls, water bottles, tea, coffee, and a tea kettle to heat up water for tea.  Also skip the cookies, chips, and other junk food for the same reason as the soda-minimal nutritional value and lots of calories. Pack dried fruit, nuts, popcorn kernels, and oil to pop it in.  You can bring fruit too. Taking what you would need for a day from the dining hall maybe a good move too.  You also have oatmeal and prepackaged fruit in a cup with 100% fruit juice as options.

4- Two notebooks- One for a daily food journal, helps tremendously in keeping yourself in check.  If you lose too much or gain too much weight a food journal helps you see where you need to make adjustments. The other is a goals book.  Get in the daily habit of writing ten goals you would like to accomplish.  You will be AMAZED at how much you accomplish and at the speed it takes you to accomplish them.

5- Procrastinate?- Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy is an excellent resource to learn how to overcome this.You can have it read in one weekend.

I recently asked my Facebook friends what they wished they knew in college, that they know now about staying healthy and in shape. Here is what they had to say.

“That we aren’t going to be young forever.  And that it is just as hard to stay with a workout routine after college as it is in college(at least for me) and that you have to make time for it, and I should have worked at it harder in college.:)”- Stacey

“What she said and to get those killer abs when you are 18 is much easier.”-Dawn

“That in addition to getting your body in shape, working out helps you relieve stress, sleep better, etc.  I wish I had seen it as a form of relaxation that would help me when I was busy and stressed rather than yet another thing I “had” to fit into my schedule.  Oh and keep touching your toes, while you still can.. haha.”-Jessica

Next post will have advice from current college students who successfully avoided the Freshman 15.  So make sure you come back and visit!

Canceled Client Means Extra Workout

Hey there healthy readers,

I can’t always workout on a Wednesday, because of a pretty full schedule of clients and driving around to get to them. One client  cancelled this morning, so I was able to work one in.  Knowing that I was going to do this outside I have been drinking a ton of water all morning.  The half gallon pitcher that I fill up in the morning was finished before I headed outside.

Warm-up- dynamic joint movements from head to toe, then hindu squats, push-ups, kettlebell swings, KB cleans, KB high pulls, KB presses, KB snatches, squats, split squats, rows, and 1 mile run.

Today focused on upper body-

5 rounds of

12 push-ups right into 8 body-weight rows

I attempted an unassisted pull-up, but no such luck.:(

Stretched and made a great smoothie

coconut water, water, frozen cherries, frozen mangoes- YUM!

If you are interested in juicing this Iowa  blogger has been on a kick.

I am planning on writing posts in August on staying healthy and in shape while away at college.

Is there anything you know now about living a healthy lifestyle that you wished you knew then?

Memories and Health in a Cup

When I was a kid in the 80s a trip to the mall may have included a strawberry banana smoothie from California Smoothie. Mmm so tasty!  In the summers my parents would have a lot of BBQs at our house.  My Mom would make  strawberry daiquiris for the adults and non-alcoholic ones for the kids.  I loved them. To this day I prefer the non-alcoholic ones.

Quite often I make smoothies at home.  Gotta get some extra nutrients into my family.  Making a smoothie is pretty simple.  A basic smoothie includes a cup of liquid and a cup of frozen and fresh fruit.  You can also add nut butters, ground flax seed, veggies, yogurt, syrup, etc.   My most recent smoothie was make with coconut water, OJ, and frozen strawberries.  Quite nutritious! Delicious ! I have also played around with green and herbal teas. The beauty of tea is zero calories with lots of flavor. A peach tea mixed with frozen peaches and raspberries makes a decent, refreshing smoothie.

I have also made the flu-buster from Super Smoothies by Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whiteford. One of the great parts of this book is that it provides you with all the nutritional information for each of their recipes.

When making smoothies, it helps to have a great blender.  The Oyster Fusion is the one we use at home.  One of the features is the Frozen Drinks/Shakes setting. The blades change directions which results in a well made smoothie.

Super Fast, Healthy, and Low-Cost Dinner

I was shopping at Trader Joes a few weeks ago and came across their falafels in the frozen food aisle.  A falafel is a Middle Eastern food made primarily of chick peas.  A serving is 320 calories with 6 grams of fiber and vitamins A + C.

My husband and I first heard of them many years ago on the Food Network’s show Throwdown with Bobby Flay. We have tried them in a few places all coming up short on taste.    So I was hopeful Trader Joes version would be good.  Well low and behold they were very tasty.  You can microwave the whole bag in two minutes on high.  Onto the dinner schedule they went.  Monday night my family and I ate them with tzatziki sauce, a greens salad from the bag, tomatoes, and several clementines.

Best Plan You Make All Year?

Creating a dinner plan for every night for the rest of  this year has a lot of potential. “Mom,what’s for dinner tonight?”  ” Hon., any thoughts on dinner for tonight?”  You could have that answer with a quick look at your dinner calendar.  With a yearly plan you don’t have to figure out every afternoon or every week what you will prepare.  Mental energy is freed up which you can use to focus on your family.   Weight gain can be avoided, because you will have made your choice for dinner before you are hungry.   You will be able to make healthier choices for your meals.   Money can be saved.   Planning your meals months ahead of time, allows you to buy many ingredients in bulk. Before the economy went haywire I saved over $100 a month by using this planning method.  With a plan you can prevent having take out too many times a week.   Time is saved.  First off you are not spending time every week deciding your meals. Second you can choose meals based on the amount of preparation needed for any given day.  Here is how I save money, time, energy, and avoid weight gain with a yearly dinner plan.

You will need to set a few hours aside for a day or two to complete this task.

1) I print a blank year calendar from MSWord. Continue reading “Best Plan You Make All Year?” »

Choosing to be Healthy, Strong, Fit

My little one has been sick since last Friday.  So I really haven’t thought about today’s post too much. So it will be a short one.

99% of the information you need to improve your health and fitness levels has already been discovered, recorded, and published for you.

You have to take action.  ”You can’t hire other people to do your push-ups for you.” - Jim Rohn

Check out some of these quality resources.   Continue reading “Choosing to be Healthy, Strong, Fit” »

Baby It’s Hot Outside!

Here are some tips from the June 2011 issue if IDEA Fitness Journal on how to stay properly hydrated when exercising in hot weather.

Before exercise: Drink 500 milliliters 2 hours before exercise.

During exercise: Drink about 200ml every 15 to 20 minutes, aiming to match fluid intake to sweat loss. Maintain 400-600ml of fluid in the stomach to optimize gastric emptying.

After exercise: Drink 1 liter per kilogram of weight lost during exercise.

Continue reading “Baby It’s Hot Outside!” »