have a healthy weekend!

Simple appetizers! Some looks complicated, but they all look delicious! (shrimp, anyone?)

Heart healthy gifts from the kitchen.

Here are some delicious must-have Christmas recipes!

The top 10 over-rated health foods of 2009...interesting!

Some tips for keeping extra holiday friction out of your relationship!

So it's a little late for an advent calender...but pick your favorite! 25 healthy holiday goodies!

4 back strengthening exercises.

Professions with the most risk for catching the cold/flu.

Some tips to soothe a sore throat.

be safe preparing for Christmas!

Holiday Stress

The holidays are stressful. With students, it coincides with final exams and projects. Trying to go to school, raise a family, work part/full time AND enjoy/provide the holiday cheer canbe exhausting. Here are some ideas from the Mayo clinic to remain stress-free (or close to it) during the upcoming weeks:

Recognize holiday triggers

Learn to recognize common holiday triggers, so you can disarm thembefore they lead to a meltdown:

• Relationships. Relationships can cause turmoil, conflict or stress at any time, but tensions are often heightened during the holidays. Family misunderstandings and conflicts can intensify — especially if you're thrust together for several days. On the other hand, facing the holidays without a loved one can be tough and leave you feeling lonely and sad.
• Finances. With the added expenses of gifts, travel, food and entertainment, the holidays can put a strain on your budget — and your peace of mind. Not to mention that overspending now can mean financial worries for months to come.
• Physical demands. Even die-hard holiday enthusiasts may find that the extra shopping and socializing can leave them wiped out. Being exhausted increases your stress, creating a vicious cycle. Exercise and sleep — good antidotes for stress and fatigue — may take a back seat to chores and errands. To top it off, burning the wick at both ends makes you more susceptible to colds and other unwelcome guests.

Tips to prevent holiday stress and depression

1. Acknowledge your feelings. If someone close to you has recently died or you can't be with loved ones, realize that it's normal to feel sadness and grief. It's OK to take time to cry or express your feelings. You can't force yourself to be happy just because it's the holiday season.
2. Reach out. If you feel lonely or isolated, seek out community, religious or other social events. They can offer support and companionship. Volunteering your time to help others also is a good way to lift your spirits and broaden your friendships.
3. Be realistic. The holidays don't have to be perfect or just like last year. As families change and grow, traditions and rituals often change as well. Choose a few to hold on to, and be open to creating new ones. For example, if your adult children can't come to your house, find new ways to celebrate together, such as sharing pictures, emails or videotapes.
4. Set aside differences. Try to accept family members and friends as they are, even if they don't live up to all your expectations. Set aside grievances until a more appropriate time for discussion. And be understanding if others get upset or distressed when something goes awry. Chances are they're feeling the effects of holiday stress and depression too.
5. Stick to a budget. Before you go gift and food shopping, decide how much money you can afford to spend. Then stick to your budget. Don't try to buy happiness with an avalanche of gifts. Try these alternatives: Donate to a charity in someone's name, give homemade gifts or start a family gift exchange.
6. Plan ahead. Set aside specific days for shopping, baking, visiting friends and other activities. Plan your menus and then make your shopping list. That'll help prevent last-minute scrambling to buy forgotten ingredients. And make sure to line up help for party prep and cleanup.
7. Learn to say no. Saying yes when you should say no can leave you feeling resentful and overwhelmed. Friends and colleagues will understand if you can't participate in every project or activity. If it's not possible to say no when your boss asks you to work overtime, tr y to remove something else from your agenda to make up for the lost time.
8. Don't abandon healthy habits. Don't let the holidays become a free-for-all. Overindulgence only adds to your stress and guilt. Have a healthy snack before holiday parties so that you don't go overboard on sweets, cheese or drinks. Continue to get plenty of sleep and physical activity.
9. Take a breather. Make some time for your self. Spending just 15 minutes alone, without distractions, may refresh you enough to handle everything you need to do. Take a walk at night and stargaze. Listen to soothing music. Find something that reduces stress by clearing your mind, slowing your breathing and restoring inner calm.
10. Seek professional help if you need it. Despite your best efforts, you may find yourself feeling persistently sad or anxious, plagued by physical complaints, unable to sleep, irritable and hopeless, and unable to face routine chores. If these feelings last for a while, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional.

Take control of the holidays

Don't let the holidays become something you dread. Instead, take steps to prevent the stress and depression that can descend during the holidays. With a little planning and some positive thinking, you may find that you enjoy the holidays this year more than you thought you could.

Enjoy the upcoming holidays!

Fitness Basics &; Getting the Most from Your Workout

The Mayoclinic offers some advice on starting a fitness program. It's important to remember that starting a fitness program doesn't mean tomorrow you will run a marathon when you haven't exercised in weeks. Exercisings is one of the greatest things you can do for your health, but it doesn't have to be monumental. Consistently and correctly, small amounts of exercise can do so much good for your body.

First, Mayoclinic says to think of your goals. What exercises do you like? Acknowledge your limitations before you begin a program.

Stretching and Flexibility

Stretching is a powerful part of any exercise program. Most aerobic and strength training programs inherently cause your muscles to contract and flex. Stretching after you exercise promotes equal balance. Stretching also increases flexibility, improves range of motion of your joints and boosts circulation. Stretching can even promote better posture and relieve stress.

As a general rule, stretch whenever you exercise. If you don't exercise regularly, you might want to stretch at least three times a week to maintain flexibility. When you're stretching, keep it gentle. Breathe freely as you hold each stretch. Try not to hold your breath. Don't bounce or hold a painful stretch. Expect to feel tension while you're stretching. If you feel pain, you've gone too far.

Aerobic Exercise

Regular aerobic exercise can help you live longer and healthier. After all, aerobic exercise reduces health risks, keeps excess pounds at bay, strengthens your heart and boosts your mood. Better yet, aerobic exercise can be done in short bursts or longer sessions. So what are you waiting for?

For many people, walking is a great choice for aerobic exercise. In fact, walking is one of the most natural forms of exercise. It's safe, it's simple — and all it takes to get started is a good pair of walking shoes and a commitment to include aerobic exercise in your daily routine.

Of course, there's more to aerobic exercise than walking. Other popular choices include swimming, bicycling and jogging. Activities such as dancing and jumping rope count, too. Get creative!

Strength Training

Strength training can help you tone your muscles and improve your appearance. With a regular strength training program, you can reduce your body fat, increase your lean muscle mass and burn calories more efficiently. Better yet, strength training doesn't take as long as you might think. For most people, two to three strength training sessions a week lasting just 20 to 30 minutes are sufficient.

Strength training can be done at home or in the gym. Free weights and weight machines are popular strength training tools, but they're not the only options. You can do strength training with inexpensive resistance tubing or even your own body weight. With proper technique, you may enjoy noticeable improvements in your strength and stamina in just a few weeks.
The Mayoclinic gives advice on eating and exercise and how to time the two for maximum results.

• Eat a healthy breakfast. Wake up early enough to eat breakfast. Most of the energy you got from dinner last night is used up by morning. Your blood sugar may be low. If you don't eat, you may feel sluggish or lightheaded while exercising. If you plan to exercise within an hour after breakfast, eat a smaller breakfast or drink something to raise your blood sugar, such as a sports drink.
• Time your meals based on their size. Eat large meals at least three to four hours before exercising. You can eat small meals two to three hours before exercising.

  Most people can eat snacks right before and during exercise. The key is how you feel. Do what works best for you.

• Don't skip meals. Skipping meals may cause low blood sugar, which can make you feel weak and lightheaded. If you're short on time before your workout, and your choice is candy or nothing, eat the candy because it can improve your performance, compared with eating nothing. But keep in mind, all candy is high in sugar and low on nutrients, so a snack of yogurt and a banana would be a better choice. Know that for some people, eating something less than an hour before exercise can cause low blood sugar. Find out what works for you.
• Eat after your workout. To help your muscles recover and to replace their glycogen stores, eat a meal that contains both protein and carbohydrates within two hours of your exercise session if possible. Women, in particular, may need protein after resistance training.

They also remind you to eat carbohydrates, especially cereals, breads, vegetables, pasta, rice and fruit. You should also drink plently of water and remember your past experience. Eat what feels good for you and don't try to overload your stomach or your body!

Remember, exercising is important, but you can do it at your own pace and accomplish your health goals with an individual plan.

A good goal is starting with 15-30 minutes of aerobic exercies (remember that walking to school can count!), adding a day or two of streching or strength training during the week. Try to build to an hour a day, and see the FAQ for the 2008 recommended guidelines for adults.

Have a healthy weekend!

How to keep your home safe during the holidays.

6 kinds of cookies from one healthy cookie dough? Talk about efficient!

8 reasons to make time for family dinner.

Five delicious holiday meals.

8 holiday foods that are the worst for you.

Survive the holidays without gaining weight.

7 foods health experts won't eat. (oops.)

Lose 90 calories a day...doing a sudoku?

How the pros lose 10 lbs.

Have a Healthy Weekend!

Hope your Thanksgiving was great! Here's some post-Thanksgiving pre-Christmas articles!

What to do with all that left-over turkey!

The tastiest and healthiest pies.

A healthy and minimalist menu for upcoming holiday dinners.

Your holiday stay-slim guide.

Your black Friday 101 guide.

Enjoy the holiday weekend...and get some good deals!

have a healthy weekend!

Need some more Thanksgiving food ideas? Here's some delicious looking sides! (and why we eat what we do for Thanksgiving).

While you're making all those great dishes, here's how to not get super-stressed about it.

And don't make these: 13 fattiest Thanksgiving foods. (bacon/apple pie? cute mashed potato sundae and krispy kreme for dessert....yum!)

Everything you need to know about turkey for Thanksgiving.

10 forgotten winter fruits and veggies and how to cook with them.

Some yummy fall casseroles.

Gourmet meals in less than 20 minutes? Yes, please!

How to make a healthier sandwich.

Here's some healthy living tips

Five healthy snacks that fill you up.

Everything you ever wanted to know about fruit.

10 exercise secrets

Successful exercise tips

One more set of tips. Including: when to eat, different kinds of exercise and sports drinks

10 tips for healthy eating in college.

College eating and fitness tips 101.

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menu planning

I have tried and failed over the years to create menus. For a few months I or we did great. But then school gets in the way and I don't want to make anything that takes longer than 10 minutes. Sound familiar? There are plenty of meal ideas that I have that are yummy, usually healthy and pretty quick. For some reason, menu planning in school is tricky! I've tried calendars and lists...and while they don't work for too long...I won't get discouraged yet!

One tip my mom gave me and that I've found a few places is to spend an evening and cook chicken and hamburger or sausage and then refrigerate or freeze. Then, when you want some tacos or soup or pasta and chicken, you don't have the added step of cooking the meat.

At the more matters website, they have so many great tips on menu planning. They are tried and true principles that if you can pick just one or two, I think meals can be faster, healthier and cheaper.

And get this: they even have five weeks worth of planned menus complete with shopping list. Some of them may be complicated or expensive (they calculate the approximate price). If you find ideas with things you already have, are only cooking for 1 -2 people, it will be cheaper!

I definitely say take advantage of pre-planned menus as a way to kick-start your own. As previously posted, even picking two or three days when you make a more involved meal, you can have leftovers (of which I am a firm believer) and can have a healthy delicious meal.

I have great links to all sorts of recipes. Check them out!

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have a healthy weekend!

i'm sorry this is a bit later in the day. i've been feeling under the weather so today's posts isn't super long or from multiple sites. there should be enough to keep you occupied :)

how to survive anything. sweet.

focusing on your core can reduce the risk of diabetes and cancer. great tips for healthy strong abs.

here's one I found super useful. I eat too much all the time, and then feel sick for the rest of the night. here's how to fix that :)

best and worse appetizers.

all about calcium.

some ways to get a good night's sleep.

and...super cute/cool idea...a pie in a jar!

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30 ways in 30 days [part 3]

ways 21 - 30 on stretching your fruit and vegetable budget:

21. (not super applicable to all - sorry) Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) can be used to purchase vegetables

22. When trying new fruits and vegetables, buy in small amounts. Taste test before you change your list. (oh man, I struggle with that one).

23. Keep it simple. Buy dried beans, peas and lentils in their raw or uncooked form instead of the processed and packaged versions which cost more. (and here's how to cook them)

24. Avoid buying single servings. Small packages are often more expensive than buying in larger amounts. Freeze!

25. Shop at discount grocery stores. (BUY LOW!)

26. Shop at large grocery stores instead of small convenience stores when possible as their prices and variety differ greatly: cheaper and more.

27. To make many fresh fruits and vegetables last longer, store them in refrigerator or freezer soon after getting home.

28. Clearly label foods in the freezer and refrigerator with contents and date to stay with in a safe time frame.

29. Get creative! Make salsa from tomatoes and smoothies from your fruits. Find recipes at more matters.

30. Buy frozen fruits and vegetables in large bags to stretch your budget (ie green beans and blueberries). Avoid those with added sugar, salt or sauce.

source of 30 ways

a healthy relationship with food

food, hunger & diet tips:

1. Reject the Diet Mentality - Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently. Get angry at the lies that have led you to feel as if you were a failure every time a new diet stopped working and you gained back all of the weight. If you allow even one small hope to linger that a new and better diet might be lurking around the corner, it will prevent you from being free to rediscover Intuitive Eating.

2. Honor Your Hunger - Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for re-building trust with yourself and food.

3. Make Peace with Food - Call a truce, stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can't or shouldn't have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing When you finally “give-in” to your forbidden food, eating will be experienced with such intensity, it usually results in Last Supper overeating, and overwhelming guilt.

4. Challenge the Food Police - Scream a loud "NO" to thoughts in your head that declare you're "good" for eating under 1000 calories or "bad" because you ate a piece of chocolate cake. The Food Police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created . The police station is housed deep in your psyche, and its loud speaker shouts negative barbs, hopeless phrases, and guilt-provoking indictments. Chasing the Food Police away is a critical step in returning to Intuitive Eating.

5. Respect Your Fullness - Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show that you're comfortably full. Pause in the middle of a meal or food and ask yourself how the food tastes, and what is your current fullness level?

6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor - The Japanese have the wisdom to promote pleasure as one of their goals of healthy living In our fury to be thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence--the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience. When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that it takes much less food to decide you've had "enough".

7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food - Find ways to comfort , nurture, distract, and resolve your issues without using food. Anxiety, loneliness, boredom, anger are emotions we all experience throughout life. Each has its own trigger, and each has its own appeasement. Food won't fix any of these feelings. It may comfort for the short term, distract from the pain, or even numb you into a food hangover. But food won't solve the problem. If anything, eating for an emotional hunger will only make you feel worse in the long run. You'll ultimately have to deal with the source of the emotion, as well as the discomfort of overeating.

8. Respect Your Body - Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally as futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation with body size. But mostly, respect your body, so you can feel better about who you are. It's hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.

9. Exercise--Feel the Difference - Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise. If you focus on how you feel from working out, such as energized, it can make the difference between rolling out of bed for a brisk morning walk or hitting the snooze alarm. If when you wake up, your only goal is to lose weight, it's usually not a motivating factor in that moment of time.

10 Honor Your Health- Gentle Nutrition Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel well. Remember that you don't have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It's what you eat consistently over time that matters, progress not perfection is what counts.

originally from here, discovered here.

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