Sassy Sexy Shapely

 The National Center for Health and Statistics estimates 66 percent of American adults are either overweight or obese, and our jobs are a big reason why.

“Forty-five percent of workers have gained weight since starting their current jobs, a recent CareerBuilder.com survey finds. Twelve percent have experienced a weight gain of more than 20 pounds, while 26 percent have gained more than 10 pounds.”

So, what gives?  Why do our work environments hamper our efforts to maintain an appropriate weight?

• About 1/3 of us eat out at least twice during our work week.  That means we’re more likely to be tempted by less healthy items offered in excessive amounts.
• Many of us buy our lunches from vending machines, which typically stock the worst kind of food.  Nearly 2/3 of us buy at least one snack from a vending machine every day.
• In addition to eating larger quantities of bad food, we don’t usually exercise during the work week, so we’re not burning off those extra calories.

What can we do?

• Eat a protein-rich, fiber-packed breakfast.  Hopefully, that’ll quash the need to raid the vending machine.
• Drink plenty of water.  Thirst is often mistaken for hunger.
• Keep a food journal.  Writing down what you eat makes you mindful of your consumption.  Sometimes awareness is all it takes to keep you from downing that next mouthful.
• Move more.  Get up and walk around the office whenever you can appropriately do so.
• Chill out.  When we’re stressed, we often eat to soothe ourselves and calm down.  Instead, get more exercise, say a positive affirmation or do some deep breathing.

Americans love lists, especially when we’re trying to get healthy.  The best types of exercise, the best exercise equipment, the best ways to stay on track, the best foods to eat.  Lists give us that structure we crave.  Sometimes, though, the lists can be overwhelming, particularly if they direct us to stuff that’s hard to find or overly expensive.

Never fear!  The NY Times has our back on this one.  They asked Dr. Johnny Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth“.  Here’s his list of of 11 best foods we can easily pick up at the grocery store.  The article provides details as to why these are nutritional stars and even gives suggestions on how to prepare them.

• Beets
• Cabbage
• Swiss Chard
• Cinnamon
• Pomegranate Juice
• Dried Plums
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Sardines
• Turmeric
• Frozen Blueberries
• Canned Pumpkin

Regrettably, most of these are not in my shopping cart.  But, a couple are.

I almost always have canned pumpkin on hand because I use it to make Yum Yum Brownie Muffins, one of my BF’s faves.  I also have blueberries in the freezer in a mixed berry blend.  And, I have cinnamon, although not by itself.  It’s an ingredient in the Pumpkin Pie Spice I keep in the pantry.  I do, however, add cinnamon to my skinny latte at Starbucks. 

I have heard great things from Dr. Weill about Turmeric, who suggests drinking it in a tea, but I’ve never used it.  Pomegranate has gotten lots of terrific press recently, and I’ve just stared getting some in my diet through the Greens To Go powdered packets.

Looks like I need to make sure these items become regulars on my grocery list.

MSNBC has published yet another list of ways to cut 100 calories from your daily diet.  Many of the tips are commonsense and well known.

1. Flavor your coffee with cinnamon and nutmeg instead of flavored syrup.
2. Enjoy your salad without the croutons.
3. Order pizza with grilled chicken instead of pepperoni.
4. Leave 3 or 4 bites on your plate.
5. Season steamed vegetables with fresh lemon and herbs instead of butter.
6. Choose your piece of sheet cake from the middle, where there’s less icing.
7. Add a splash of 100 percent fruit juice to sweeten fresh brewed iced tea in place of sugar.
8. Control your portions by pouring an individual serving of pretzels or chips into a bowl instead of eating from the bag.
9. Ask for the bread basket to be removed from the table.
10. Dip fruit into fat-free yogurt, and veggies into bean dip or salsa.

#1 is especially interesting.  My first thought after reading it was to suggest using sugar-free syrup instead of regular syrup.  That’s what I do when I go skinny at Starbucks.  I also season my latte with both cinnamon and nutmeg.

There’ve been a lot of reports lately about the newly discovered health benefits of cofee, but cinnamon is a nutritional star, too.  Cinnamon is celebrated for its ability to improve blood sugar control and soothing an upset tummy.  Nutmeg is no slouch either.  It ”…appears to have some beneficial effects on mood, possibly enhancing serotonin’s activity.”

Even if you don’t swap out your regular syrup, you may want to use cinnamon and nutmeg in your coffee anyway!

 Even if you’re just opening a can, make it fun with sassy serving dishes.  No matter the meal, it’ll taste better when it’s attractively presented, especially when the serving dishes make you smile.  Here, a simple can of pasta rings with meatballs with a side of shredded cheese is elevated to a level of kitschy fun when it’s presented in brightly colored melamine bowls with a vibrant paper napkin and a curvy handled tray.

 Isn’t this a super darn hoot of an idea?!?!  Kudos to Sycamore Stirrings for this bit of maternal brilliance: filling a muffin tin with small amounts of your kids’ favorite foods.  This one has Goldfish, blueberry bagel chunks, cucumber sticks, strawberry yogurt, Gorilla Munch cereal, blueberries, pretzels, string cheese, dried apricots, red pepper, cheddar cheese cubes, peaches. 

It’s geared for kids.  Perhaps because I’m more of a kid at heart than most, but I love the idea for me.  It would make eating a lot more fun for me… much more entertaining.  And, the built-in portion control rocks!  I would fill mine with almonds, apple slices, fat-free ricotta cheese, Kashi GO LEAN Original cereal, Hormel turkey pepperoni slices, light string cheese cut into discs, grape tomatoes, Smart Balance Omega Natural peanut butter, cranberries, sugar-free preserves, Zbar chunks, and edamame.

I often find that stuff designed for kids, at least as far as food is concerned, is actually just right for adults.  For instance, ZBars are a staple in my pantry.  They are organic energy bars made for kids; yet they’re perfect for me in terms of calories (120-150 per bar) and even price ($0.59-$0.69 each).

Consider the McDonald’s Happy Meal.  It’s a “right sized” fast food combo that now comes with healthier options like, and it’s ideal for adult women who want to treat themselves to the taste and convenience of the drive-thru without blowing their diets.

So, when you see something nifty for kids, think about how you can use it for yourself.  You might be surprised.  J

  Looking for an easy but fun way to keep track of the nutritional info of certain foods? You need these cleverly cute food magnets. For about $12, you can pick up a handy dandy set of 50 magnets with all the details you need to make healthy food choices.

“Each food magnet includes key nutrients, calories, fat, fiber, and protein information to make choosing a healthy meal easy and fun! Just snap the magnets apart and arrange them on your refrigerator. Match up your favorites for a tasty meal or experiment with new and different combinations!”

Other nifty “cheat sheet”, multitasking cooking helpers include the Herbs & Spices Kitchen Towel Set and the Kitchen Tips Kitchen Towel Set. The towels not quite as cute as the magnets, but they’re still great ways to keep important info at your fingertips while you’re whipping up a tasty treat.

This weekend was difficult, so difficult I didn’t know what to write.  My weight has been hovering between three and five pounds up, and this weekend, it really got me down… really, really down… hide-my-head-in-the-sand-forever down.  I was uninspired, couldn’t come up with a “bright” side, couldn’t find or think of anything positive to post.  Since many of my friends read this blog, I am hesitant to post anything too negative.  So, I didn’t post.

Interestingly enough, it was Barnes & Noble that helped me raise my head to the sunshine again.  My BF and I made a visit on a balmy evening, and there on a table near the front was “The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation” by Elizabeth Berg.  The title chapter is first, and it’s great.  The main character decides she’s going to eat whatever she wants for a day, and she takes us on that journey.  After breakfast at a donut shop, lunch of a juicy burger, salty fries and a creamy shake at another cafe, and dessert at yet another eatery, she says:

“By now I was feeling the shame but also defiance.  Like here, I’m carrying the banner for all of you who cut off a little piece wanting a big one, who spend a good third of your waking hours feeling bad about your desires…”

“A good third of your waking hours feeling bad about your desires…” So, so, so true!  I am fighting what I want A-L-L D-A-Y L-O-N-G.  It is exhausting!  Reining those urges and impulses takes a tremendously tiring effort.  And, it’s so frequently disappointing.  If I could lay back at the end of the day and enjoy 30 minutes of genuine self-congratulation and satisfaction, it might be worth it.  Instead, I lament the tiny failures, the lapses in control.

There’s more to this gem of an essay, and nearly all of it suits me to a tee.  I highly recommend picking it up.  I am looking forward to the “other small acts liberation” in upcoming chapters.  It’s nice to have a “safe” outlet for those undesirable desires of mine… nice to be able to read about people who are not staying in their boxes, doing the right thing.  I don’t want to throw my lifestyle change out the window (usually), but I would like to be a bit freer.  Maybe this inspirational book will help.  Actually, it already has.

No, I’m not talking about romantic preferences here; I’m talking about “non mainstream” food and/or philosophical lifestyles. Sometimes they are the same thing. Take veganism, for instance.

The response to the new book Quantum Wellness has prompted me to consider buying it… and consider adopting a vegan diet plan, at least for 21 days like Oprah.

Being on a fiscal diet as well as a physical one has made articles about extreme anti-consumerism very interesting to me. Most recently, the article “For frugalists, bargain hunting is a lifestyle” caught – and held – my attention.

We tend to accept the status quo: what we see on TV, what our friends and co-workers are doing, what’s presented to us at the supermarket. It’s rare that most of us venture outside the norm and try something different. I did that when I swapped my office chair for a ball, and it still draws comments, questions and sometimes mockery today. I also get raised eyebrows when I talk about my stair workout. Sweating during the workday seems nutty to some. And these things aren’t that far off the radar.

Veganism is becoming more commonplace, particularly with the rise in popularity of food stores like Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s. These stores make it easier to live the lifestyle by offering pre-packaged items that meet all the criteria. I think it’d be easier for me to follow a vegan diet than it would a raw one. I’ve gotten more comfortable with cooking than I was before, so the recipes seem less daunting to me now.

As far as the anti-consumerism/frugal living ideas go, I haven’t worked up the nerve to try dumpster diving, especially for food. I want to do it, though, at least once… just to say I’ve given it a go. I’ve always believed that we should try most things once in our lives, if only to broaden our experiential horizons. Plus, I’d like someday to be able to live as inexpensively – but as richly – as possible, and if this is a way to achieve that goal, I want to explore it.

I have benefited from hand-me-downs including exercise shorts, a suede jacket, dresses, handbags and shoes. I never turn down a secondhand item that’s offered to me. Even if I don’t use it for the intended purpose, I can always find something else to do with it. One used purse I was given became an art project. I’ve sold other items at garage and yard sales. It feels good to recycle things while enjoying a “new” item that I might not have been able to afford myself.

Sometimes the fiscal and the physical goals work against each other, like when you’re spending extra dollars on organic produce at a store across town. With some planning, though, I think you can accomplish both goals successfully.

It’s food for thought… literally and figuratively! J

I’m not the only one who loves peanut butter.  In fact, I think doxiegirl1 likes it more than I do!  It’s good to know I’m not alone in my pb obsession.  The difference, though, is that I don’t normally keep it in the house.  Historically, those jars of nutty goodness have not been safe anywhere near me and a spoon.  After my PB&J party this weekend, I have extra jars of Creamy and Crunchy in the pantry.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised that I haven’t gone crazy and eaten them all up.

I typically think of myself as not having the remotest discipline when it comes to tasty treats.  But, there have been a few occasions like this where I’ve been tested, and I’ve passed with flying colors.  For example, when I bought the M&Ms for my art project.  Yup… I had 45 packages of M&Ms in the house and managed to eat only about half a package.  They were here overnight, too!  There was plenty of opportunity to go crazy; yet, I didn’t.  The peanut butter is another example.  A stock of ZBars is yet another example. 

I tend to focus, as most of us do, on the negatives, on what needs to be improved.  There’s always something I could do better, more completely and correctly.  But, every now and then, I need to remember that I make good choices on a regular basis.  I couldn’t have dropped 117 pounds without doing a few things right.  It’s important to continue to grow and become the best I can be, but it’s important to reflect on where I’ve come from and celebrate the accomplishments.

Note to self: take some time to appreciate and then get back to the job at hand.

The other day, I attended a foreclosure symposium for work.  One panelist noted that, for any approach to be successful, it had to include sustainable solutions.

In times of crisis, it’s tempting to react in extreme ways, to take drastic measures to correct a situation we feel has gone awry.  This definitely applies to weight loss.  We see a bad picture of ourselves and decide we’ve got to drop our calories to 1,000 a day and exercise for 90 minutes, six days a week.  It works for a couple of weeks, but we find ourselves starving and cranky, worn out and possibly injured, unable to sustain that plan, which leads us to drop it all together… giving up entirely on trying to lose weight and get healthy.

Weight loss and physical fitness need to be built into our lifestyles.  They’ve got to be something we can do for six months, a year, three years, five years and more.  They are not to be undertaken rashly.  At least, not if we want the weight loss to last. 

In a weird way, this is freeing.  We are free from the pressure to become weekend warriors and push ourselves to dramatically cut calories.  We are free to develop plans that we can manage within the parameters of our hectic, challenging lives. 

In the long run, sustainable solutions are the only way to achieve our health and weight loss goals.