All or Nothing

When it comes to exercise and diet are you

an all or nothing person?

Do you say to yourself," Well I already blew it today so

I'm just going to keep on blowing it."

This kind of stinkin' thinkin' gets us into trouble!

You've heard the saying that moderation is the key. Well I believe it is partly true.

When deciding to embark on a new nutrition regimen it is important that you allow yourself a "cheat" meal or a "cheat" day. Otherwise you will have deprived yourself of your favorite things for too long and really go crazy.

We all need to live our lives and feed ourselves with enjoyable activities. For me I love having a date night with my husband once a week which will usually entail dinner out by ourselves or with friends. This not only allows me to deviate from my nutrition program, but more importantly it enhances my life as a whole. I would hate to think how grumpy I would be if I didn't go out and ate only what was good for me all the time! Not to mention how this would overflow into every other area of my life.

Your 3 simple steps to positive progress:

1. Follow your preferred regimen
2. Allow yourself a cheat day
3. Forget all or nothing

Just the Facts Ma'am

Here's rule #1 I give all my clients:

Never eat carbohydrates alone!

Why is this the most important rule? The answer is two-fold.

1. When you eat carbohydrates alone (bread, crackers, chips, fruit - yes you heard me right, fruit!) you have an immediate spike in blood sugar (blood glucose). As blood glucose levels rise, the body secretes insulin, which is responsible for storing glucose in muscle and organ cells. Normal glucose levels are between 80-120 mg/dl. Whenever blood glucose levels fall well below 80 mg/dl we feel hungry, and the body reacts by slowing down its metabolism to save energy. Conversely when the blood glucose levels rise above 120 mg/dl the residual glucose is stored as fat! So the secret is to control and maintain blood glucose levels so you don't end up with a slow metabolism and high fat storage.

2. When eaten alone, carbohydrates empty from your stomach within 1 hour so you are hungry again. Then you reach for more carbs and the cycle continues. When you couple your crackers with a piece of string cheese or some turkey (both protein), you stay fuller longer. Protein takes 2-3 hours to empty from your stomach, so "coupling " cheese and crackers is actually a great idea. You are satieted for a longer period of time, and blood glucose will remain more constant.

Why Do You Exercise?

Do you exercise because you feel good or feel good because you exercise?

The first time I was posed this question I responded, "I feel good because I exercise of course!" At the time I was listening to Dr. Alex DeSouza talk to a group of ladies about beauty from the inside out. The more I listened the more I was persuaded to reverse my answer.

Have you seen Oprah's new live your best life series? In this series, she and trainer Bob Greene pose a series of questions to followers about their happiness in life and how it has affected their health, specifically weight loss/weight gain.

The point they and Dr. DeSouza are trying to make is this:

You can try and even succeed at losing weight and getting in shape,

but if you are not happy and fulfilled in other areas of your life

the likelihood of you regaining the weight is extremely high.

So for this new year I suggest that you do not think about resolutions, but examine ALL areas of your life to determine if you have any old "junk" you need to deal with. Get to the real reason why you are not acheiving your health and fitness goals. Once you face the "icky" stuff , you will be astounded at how everything else falls into place.