Friday 5 October 2012

Don’t sabotage your weekends…



Weekdays are often filled with structure and routine, making it easier for many to stick to a healthy diet and fit in your classes but what about the weekends? Do all your good intentions fly out the window? It’s an easy trap to fall into, with our calendars filled with socializing, dinners out, parties and coffee mornings. So how can you still attend these shindigs without undoing all your hard work? Here are some tips on how you can enjoy the weekend without undoing all your hard work…

* Measure your stomach, hips and thighs twice a week — either Friday
and Monday a.m. or Thursday and Monday a.m. There's nothing better to keep you on track than knowing that you have to face the dreaded tape measure come Monday morning.
* Eat right throughout the day – especially if you know you'll be
Splurging at night. Focus on eating meals that are packed with veggies, healthy fats and lean proteins - then you can feel good about having a little treat at dinner.
* Don't starve yourself to save calories for later. It doesn’t work!
Not only will it mess with your metabolism, but by dinner time, you’ll be so hungry that you’ll want to eat everything in sight. If you have done this in the past, you’ll also notice that you’re also more likely to pick the unhealthy option and fancy EVERYTHING on the menu, including the paper its written on!
* Have a healthy snack, like a ½ an avocado, a handful of almonds or ½ apple with nut butter before heading to a big lunch or dinner. It'll take the edge off your hunger, so you aren’t tempted to go overboard.
* Limit the martinis and cosmos. Alcohol is a diet double-whammy; it’s not only jam packed with empty calories, but it can also reduce your inhibitions and increase your appetite. If you are going to drink, stick to a few glasses of red wine and have water in between.
* Order soup or a salad to start, but wait to order the rest of your meal. After you've finished the starter then order your entrĂ©e. Chances are, you'll order much less than you would if you ordered your entire meal all at once. Also, finish your meal with a herbal or green tea. Chances are you won’t need a pudding because your stomach will be so full from the water!
Lastly – IF you do need to cheat on the weekend, plan what and when you're going to eat, enjoy it, then get back on track. One indiscretion won't set you back — but a weekend of multiple indulgences might.

Thursday 4 October 2012

The Importance of Staying Positive During Times of Adversity

Are you having a hard time staying positive?  Is the autumn madness getting the better of you and your moods?
Right now I am hearing a lot of clients and friends struggling with various parts of their lives- fighting with close friends, divorce and break-ups, overwhelming work stress and, for some, the death of someone close. These are all emotional big hitters!
During these times of high stress it is imperative to stay as positive as possible in even the most disturbing situations. One of my best friends and THE most positive person I know, Christina Tracy Stein, MFT wrote an incredibly motivating and empowering book with her world renowned goal setting expert father,Brian Tracy, called Kiss That Frog! 12 Great Ways to Turn Negatives into Positives in Your Life and Work.  Their book has very simple and effective tools for all ages to spin a situation from not ideal to ideal.  One of the major points of Kiss That Frog! is embracing the fact that staying positive is a choice requiring constant focus and dedication to arrive to and stay in a state of happiness.
Below is an excerpt explaining the two mechanisms in your brain relating to positive and negative thinking...

"...you have both a success mechanism and a failure mechanism in your brain.  The success mechanism is activated when you think positive, loving, forgiving thoughts about yourself and other people and focus on your goals.  These positive thoughts require conscious, continuous, deliberate effort on your part.  They do not happen by accident but by choice.
Your failure mechanism, unfortunately, works automatically when you stop thinking about what you want.  This means that if you do not deliberately choose to think thoughts that make you happy, your mind defaults to negative thoughts that make you unhappy.
Fortunately, by the Law of Habit, if you discipline yourself to keep your mind on positive thoughts, this eventually becomes an automatic way of thinking.  When positive thinking becomes a habit, you begin to feel optimistic about yourself and your life."

Begin now...only think positive, inspiring and loving thoughts.  When your mind strays pull it back to your happy thoughts. For more tricks to positive thinking you can find Kiss That Frog! on Amazon and Kindle.

Cheers to positivity!