Tuna on Tuesdays!

I must confess to not enjoying fish. I know all the health benefits, but still have a hard time incorporating it into my daily routine. So for any of you that love fish, great!

I have found a way to remember to eat it though. I call it Tuna on Tuesday! So, any day of the week that starts with "T" gets a serving of fish. That way at least I'll get the bare minimum of the two servings a week of fatty fish for the Omega 3 fatty acids.

I have found if I refrigerate the tuna packets it is somewhat easier to eat!

Health and happiness to all!

So far, so good.

The last few weeks have been especially challenging as I have been dealing with some extra stress in my life. It would be so easy to give in and just start on the comfort food.

I actually found myself in some situations where I had to ask myself, what would I advise a client to do?  Although I'm not on the 5and1, I still have to make healthy choices.

 Examples: On Friday as I'm taking my mom on errands, she wants to go to a fast-food restaurant for lunch. I resisted and had a bar while she ate her double cheeseburger.

That night, I'm making a home-made banana pudding for my husband to take to work the next day.  How am I going to stay out of it???  I popped a super strong piece of sugar-free gum in my mouth while I was making it, so I wouldn't put one vanilla wafer in the bowl, one in my mouth type of thing!

Next day as I'm out picking up something at the pharmacy, there is all the candy right there within arms reach. The peanut M&M's were whispering my name, it was okay, at least they weren't screaming!

Today, we became engrossed in cleaning out closets, etc. (Yeah,sounds like a fun holiday week-end type of activity, right)?  Next thing I know, it is past dinner time, my son heads to a fast food restaurant. Yikes! I resisted and had a pouch of salmon with mayo and dill relish, along with cucumber and some rice crackers.

My reward will be later,  I have a nice Medifast Brownie cooling in the refrigerator, that with a glob of peanut butter and a bit of cool-whip will taste decadent, but won't be!

It is all about choices and as much as I LOVE the gooey, fattening chocolate, the hot, salty fries...I LOVE myself more and want to make the right decisions so I can be here for a long, long time with my family.

May you all remember to make healthy choices!

Picnic Time

Healthy Tips for Picnic Celebrations
Holidays such as Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, or any picnic
holiday can cause break-downs in our otherwise healthy Take Shape
for Life eating plan. It is extremely important to be very aware that
picnics can pack thousands of calories that we would not normally
indulge in. So, what should you do?
1. Continue to practice your healthy eating habits on the picnic
day. Do not skip meals or save calories for the “big meal”. That
sets you up to overeat!!!
2. If going to a party or picnic, offer to bring an appetizer and
side dish. That way you can guarantee there will be healthy
choices for you.
3. Be watchful of your portions and choose NOT to have the
desert!! Instead, maybe bring a box of sugar free popsicles to
share with the crowd or have a cup of coffee instead!
4. Make sure that you do not slack off from your daily exercise
routine the day of the picnic. Try adding 10 or 15-minute brisk
walks twice that day with available family members or the partygoers.
Plan active activities such as bike riding, ping-pong or
taking a hike instead of sitting around and talking or watching
TV.
5. If you are throwing the party, have lots of vegetables
available, instead of chips only. Prepare lower fat dips and offer
salsa. Explain to your guests in advance your determination to
make this a healthier holiday celebration, and ask them to keep
this in mind when preparing any dish they may be bringing.
6. Stay away from high calorie beverages such as sodas, juices,
smoothies, and blended coffee drinks. There are nearly 150
calories in one 12-ounce can of soda or juice. Smoothies and
coffee drinks are often 250-500 calories, excluding the whipped
cream. Alcohol is packed full of calories and carbs. It can also
cause you to let down your defenses and overeat or make poor
food choices. All of these indulgences will kick you out of the fat
burning stage and you’ll have to start over (in a sense).
7 Make sure to have a Medifast supplement before going to the
picnic... ALWAYS plan ahead.
8. At the picnic choose healthy foods and stay away from the
chips and bread and corn.
9. If the holiday party is at your house, send some of the leftovers
home with your guests, especially the desserts!!
10. Remember to eat slowly, which will help you to eat less and
feel full and satisfied.
11. During holiday weekends, make your goal to maintain your
weight and not to gain any!
12. Be positive. Don’t let your weight and cravings take control
of you.
13. Holiday traveling, don’t forget to pack your convenient
Medifast meals! Put Medifast in zip lock bags and use them to
cushion around items in your suitcase. Also bring a cooler full
of fresh vegetables and water.
14. Remember to focus on 'fellowship' and not on 'food'!
15. Habits are habit forming... People form habits but habits transform
people! Let's Take Shape for Life! Let’s transform our thinking to
become choosy about what we eat. Let’s make it a habit to select
healthy foods and plan to integrate Medifast foods as part of our
‘prescription for life’!

Eat Breakfast Every Day

If you don’t already have breakfast every day, it’s time to start.

Lifelong early eaters have a waistline about 2 inches smaller than that of breakfast skippers, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals. An A.M. meal may rev metabolism; plus, it may cause you to make less of an enzyme that raises cholesterol.

Aren't we thankful that the Be-Slim Philosophy teaches us to eat breakfast every morning and with our meal replacements, there is no excuse not to!

Be-Slim, the "B" is for breakfast!

Throw Out Your Bathroom Scale?

I must confess.  I've weighed myself nearly every single day for about 30 years!  Lately though, I haven't even bothered.


As a health coach, I am getting concerned over the almost morbid fascination with the scale. That little piece of machinery is the cause of a lot of discouragement.

What we need to realize is that our weight can fluctuate a great deal daily and weekly.  I think a more accurate picture of where we are is taking our measurements. Also, do not wear loose, baggy clothing!  If you live in loose clothing, you will not feel a gain or a loss!

  I keep a certain pair of jeans and about twice a year I put them on and make sure they still fit properly. I don't even wear them anymore, they are my sacred "make-sure-I-can-still-button-them" jeans!


A body-fat analysis is the way to go, go to a Doctor, a trainer, or a gym and ask for one. Just remember, different places have different machines,  your body fat percentage will vary so try and have the same machine do the percentage every few months.

Another good indicator of health is the "waist-to-hip" ratio. You can 'google' it for an on-line calculator. Or take your waist and hip measurements and divide the waist number by the hip number. For women you want an .7 or less and for men you want a .9 or less in both cases. You all know me, and according to mine, I need to lose a half-inch off my belly to be in the "healthy" range as my mine is .79


It is interesting that the older I get, I have gained weight in my waist. I have my measurements from years ago and they are the same except my waist is bigger! (gasp)!

Bottom line:  weigh yourself about once a week, take those measurements, do your waist-to-hip ratio and get a body-fat analysis!

Good health and happiness to all!

Musings of a Health Coach

Have you ever tried to lose weight for a specific event? Perhaps it was a friend's wedding or a high school reunion? Do you remember the focus and the passion you applied to this project? Nothing was going to keep you from looking good on that specific day! You sailed through business lunches, family gatherings, and special occasions because you had a razor sharp focus on that one day!

What happens when you have attained that goal? Do you slip right back into old habits and gain everything back and then more? Is it hard to find your motivation in the fast pace of everyday living?

I'm here today to tell you that living healthy every day should be our focus. Isn't every day of our lives a gift to be appreciated? We may not be perfect every day, but a positive attitude towards honoring our bodies and only putting good things in them should be our goal, not for one day or a single event, but everyday for the rest of our lives!

I read something yesterday that said that if a person would replace one meal a day with a nice, healthy salad, he or she could possibly lose 30 pounds in one years time. Imagine if that person ditched the soda habit and tried to be a little more careful of sweets!

Now when I say eat one salad a day as a meal, it doesn't mean that you can load up the salad with so much stuff that you may as well have had a Quarter-Pounder!
Remember to load up on the lower carb veggies of the lettuces, celery, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms, etc.

Put a little oil and vinegar on your salad and when I say a little oil, be careful. One tablespoon of oil is about 120 calories. I bought a little non-aerosol oil mister/sprayer. It is soooo cool. I never, ever buy the aerosol cans of cooking spray anymore. I have one with canola oil, one with olive oil and I mist my salad with it and then use my vinegar mister/sprayer and it coats my salad very well and it tastes good and saves me calories and money to boot! I picked up my oil misters in the cooking dept at Sears but I have seen them everywhere for about 10 bucks.

So, there is our goal for the week, a salad a day! That, along with the extra work-out we are trying to sneak in and kicking the soda habit, we will be well on our way to optimal health!

The More I know, the Less I know!

Here we are for the latest installment of my sifting through the piles of information that are available about nutrition and trying to find nuggets of knowledge to share!

My latest venture was to go and have my body-fat composition tested.   It was offered free at a local Doctor's office, so in the interest of finding out if it is worth sharing with others,  I went in for my free analysis.

My results were in the "average" range, which is cool I guess, I obviously still have some work to do.  In the mood for full disclosure, here were my results:

 Body fat 29.5%

Water     48.5 %

Bone 4.4 %

The computer said I had the body composition of a person 33 years old.  I was sorely tempted to give the computer a kiss for that one!

What kind of struck me about the numbers ( besides the fact that I am almost a third of jiggly-fat) was the amount of water that makes up ME! I know I've always heard that we are made up of a certain percent of water, but seeing the numbers really helped me to see the importance water can play in our health!

I'd like to ask you to think about that the next time you reach for a frosty can of nasty soda. In my humble opinion, there is NO place ever for soda in our daily calorie allotment and don't even get me started on the chemical mixture called diet soda.

Give your bodies delicious, all-natural, calorie-free WATER! I used to be a Pepsi-holic, now it is water or plain green tea. Period.   Trust me, you get used to it. I haven't had a soda in about 15 years, so I know it can be done! You start with about a 1/4 of a cup of the green tea with no sugar added, then you make yourself drink it every single day. After a while, you actually start to like it. Seriously, you do!

If you are interested in the free body-fat analysis, give me a call and I'll give you more information!

Good health and happiness to all!