Get Moving!

Want to feel better, have more energy and perhaps even live longer? Look no further than old-fashioned exercise.

The merits of regular physical activity — from preventing chronic health conditions to promoting weight loss and better sleep — are hard to ignore. And the benefits are yours for the taking, regardless of age, sex or physical ability. Need more convincing?

• Exercise improves your mood.
• Exercise combats chronic diseases
• Exercise helps you manage your weight. 
• Exercise boosts your energy level.
• Exercise promotes better sleep.
• Exercise can be — *gasp* — fun!
• Check out this week's flyer for more info

Need some more motivation?  Click here.  Want some ideas of activities to do? Click here.  You want to make sure you're keeping your heart rate quick enough that you can talk but can't sing a song, find a target heart rate calculator here.  You may also want to know how many calories you're burning doing your activity of choice -here. 

and last but not least...wanna run a 5k but have NO IDEA how to achieve this goal?  you need C25K!!!  The Couch to 5K program can help you get moving and running in no time at all - click here for more.

Breakfast Skippers Beware!!!

Breakfast isn't just the most important meal in the day...it can be the yummiest.  The word breakfast means: to BREAK a FAST!  That means that your body is in starvation mode until you eat something.  If your metabolism isn't working, you're not allowing your body to work effectively. If you remember nothing else...when you're choosing your breakfast, think - PROTEIN and FIBER!!  Make sure your breakfast includes both to help fill you up and sustain you until lunch.  Try to limit your processed carbs and sugar!

Research shows that the heartier your breakfast, the more likely you are to meet your wellness goals and avoid metabolic disease (by 40% when compared to breakfast skippers). 

Some yummy breakfast ideas:

• GREEN MONSTER!  (www.greenmonstermovement.com)
• Whole Wheat english muffin/waffle with natural peanut butter and a Banana
• Low Sugar Oatmeal with a handful of nuts/fruit (beware of raisins)
• more in this week's handout

Try to make your breakfast include all 4 of the below:

• Fruit and/or Veggies: green monster, banana, berries, oranges, (beware of juice)
• Whole Grains: oatmeal (try steel cut), whole grain bagel, waffle, English muffin, ground flax seed)
• Low-fat protein: natural peanut butter, lean meat (Canadian bacon, veggie sausage, egg whites/substitute
• Low-fat dairy: skim milk, low fat yogurt, low-fat cheese, cottage cheese

There are lots of excuses for not eating breakfast but your body needs to be kick started each morning.  Try it and you'll see a difference.  Being hungry (truly hungry - not stressed or bored) is a GREAT sign that your body is working...feed it!

Learn more here. 

Sugar: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Bad!!  Are we eating too much sugar? Yes, way too much! There is too much "hidden" sugar in food we eat each day - over 80% of the sugar we eat is hidden in "every day foods". Lets just take ketchup as an example. Ketchup contains far more sugar than most chocolate does! People eat in general around 100 grams of sugar every day - or 41 kilos a year!! That's two times more than we should!


Each cube of sugar represents a teaspoon!! 
There are 4 teaspoons in each ounce of sugar



Ugly...this image!

Good: What's the different between the sugar in fruit and refined sugar? Sugar in fruit will be absorbed more slowly by the body than refined sugar and will keep insulin and blood sugar stabile - refined sugar will make insulin and blood sugar rise very quickly and drop just as quickly...not satisfying the reason you wanted something sweet in the first place.

Learn more here.

Stress!!

It effects us all and although we don't necessarily have control over the stressor we do have control over our response to that stressor.  There are lots of ways to try to limit your stress. 

Great ways to cope with stress include: Exercising, Writing or Talking about your Stress, learning to isolate that stress then move past it. Read this week's flyer for more tips...

Sneaky Salt

One of our HBers sent this article to me!  Great info about Salt Consumption!  Take a read!
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/02/01/defeating-sneaky-salt-part-one/?hpt=C2

Sugar v. Substitute

If you're trying to reduce the sugar and calories in your diet, you may be turning to artificial sweeteners or other sugar substitutes. You aren't alone. The popularity of artificial sweeteners and other sugar substitutes is on the rise as manufacturers and consumers seek lower calorie alternatives to regular white sugar without sacrificing sweetness.

Today, artificial sweeteners and other sugar substitutes are found in a variety of food and beverages marketed as "sugar-free" or "diet," including soft drinks, chewing gum, jellies, baked goods, candy, fruit juice and ice cream. In addition, other sugar substitutes are being touted as healthier sweeteners than regular sugar, even if they don't have fewer calories, such as honey and agave nectar.

Just what are all these artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes? And what's their role in your diet?

By request please read the below interesting article from the Mayo Clinic:  Enjoy!
 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/artificial-sweeteners/MY00073

Week 4 - Labels "Warning"

Food Manufactures have mastered the fine art of False Advertising.  There are lots of tricks up their sleeves that could sabotage our wellness goals.  BEWARE!!!  Just because a product deems to be low calorie, does that really mean it is the best choice?  Take a look at this week's flyer to learn more!  Don't fall victim to commercial advertising; read the label for specifics and details.  TIP #1: Look at the serving size!!!