Sweet Sugar Blossoms

Sunday, August 11, 2013

4 Healthy Habits {to the power of 4}

Here a 4 sets of 4 habits that will help you be healthier,
courtesy of Woman's Day.

#1- Four ways to burn more calories (without exercise!)

1- Healthy Fats: Eat some kind of healthy fat with your breakfast to turn on your fat burners. Try 2 tbs of peanut butter on whole wheat toast or some avocado on an English muffin with a slice of cheese.

2 - Cold Water: I'm a HUGE proponent of water! Drinking two 8-ounce glasses of cold water increases metabolism by 30%! Sip some water with every meal. Add a slice of lemon for added flavor.

3 - Whole Grains: Your body uses more calories when it digests fresh foods, like whole grains. You can go half-and-half to start your transition to only whole grains: mix whole grain pasta with regular pasta; add a 1/2 cup fiber to your morning cereal.

4 - Spices: Ginger and cinnamon actually raise your body temperature so your metabolism has to speed up a bit to cool you down. Add some spice by putting 1 tsp of either ginger or cinnamon to oatmeal or smoothies.

#2 - Food Swap

1 - Swap blueberries for strawberries. Strawberries have 130% of your daily dose of vitamin C, which your body needs to burn fat.

2 - Swap hummus for Greek yogurt dip. You burn more calories digesting protein than any other nutrient and Greek yogurt has at least 10 grams per cup!

3 - Swap an 8" flour tortilla for a 6" corn tortilla. The corn version saves about 100 calories and adds 100% whole grain to your meal.

4 - Swap soy sauce for curry powder. Curry contains curcumin which helps control the hormones linked to weight gain. Soy sauce can also cause bloating.

#3 - Fun ways to burn 200 calories

1 - Shop at the mall
60 minutes

2 - Go bowling
45 minutes

3 - Hula hoop
30 minutes

4 - Play ping-pong
35 minutes

#4 - Fun ways to burn 100 calories

1 - Ice skate
15 minutes

2 - Stand while on the phone
45 minutes

3 - Bathe your dog
30 minutes

4 - Dance
15 minutes

What are you favorite ways to burn calories?
SOURCE: womansday.com

Saturday, August 10, 2013

My Top 10 Diet Tips

I did it!

I made it through 12 weeks of

hater comments, will-power, a few tears, and

several stages of "D.I.E.T. acronyms".

{I totally made these up so don't quote me!}

My first stage was this:

Do I Eat This?

It was hard to know what I should and should NOT eat.

There are a lot of protein options but getting the

right combination of type + amount can be tricky.

My next stage was this:

Doing It Even Though (it's hard)

I decided to not let my hard-earned money go to waste.

No matter the comments I got or

the temptations that came my way,

I figured I could handle for 1 summer.

Stage 3 for me was

Discipline In Eating Things

Out of sheer will-power (which is actually empowering!),

I did not cheat on my diet.

Not even a bite.

Not even a taste.

Not once.

I've now entered stage four:

Determined In Every Thing

I can do hard things.

If I want to run a 5K, I know I can do it.

If I want to go back to school, I know I can do it.

If I want to learn to play the piano, I know I can do it.

I can do hard things.

So here are my tips for those of you

who may be improving your habits of health.

1- Eat 6 small meals a day.

This helps your metabolism stay up and running.

2- Never skip a meal.

Your body needs food. Skipping meals will stop your metabolism in it's tracks and put your body in starvation/hoarding mode.

3- Eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up.

Jump start your metabolism EVERY day. Don't start your day in starvation mode.

You'll set yourself up for binging later on.

4- Drink 80-100 ounces of water a day

Water is vital to your system.

Often we're unknowingly dehydrated and our bodies think

we're hungry when we're actually thirsty.

5- Have healthy snacks with you, just in case.

We can't always control when and where accidents, emergencies, or just life will happen. Have a protein bar in your purse so you're not stressed about what to eat (or tempted to just grab some fast food).

6- Don't cheat.

It takes your body some time to start burning your fat reserves. If you start feeding it more fat, it will only burn that and crave more. You're too strong for that.

7- Think about what you CAN eat instead of what you can't.

Focusing on what's negative about your diet ("I hate that I can't have cheesecake!") will make you resent the diet itself. Think "I'm so glad I can still have steak!" instead.

8- Find non-food ways to deal with stress.

Listen to your favorite playlist, get out your crocheting,

walk your dog, or hug your children when you're feeling stressed.

9- Eat at regular times.

You should be eating every 2-3 hours; no sooner and no later. Your metabolism will be trained to burn off fat until your next high-protein meal.

10- Break down your Final Goal into mini-goals.

If you weigh yourself, do it once a week, first thing in the morning.

Tell yourself how much you want to lose in 1 week, in 2 weeks, in 1 month. Thinking, "I will lose 30 pounds 3 times" is easier to grasp than thinking "I have to lose 100 pounds!"

Here's to your health!

You CAN do it.
{linking up here}