GUEST AUTHOR REBECCA J. CLARK ON A HEALTHIER DIET

Contemporary romance author Rebecca J. Clark is also a personal fitness trainer. Her nonfiction book The Checklist Diet is the same basic, no-nonsense information she’s been teaching her clients for the past 13+ years. When she’s not training, teaching, working out, or deciding whether or not she really needs Cheetos, you can find her in her office penning her latest romance novel. Learn more about Rebecca and her books at her website.  

Baby Steps to a Healthier Diet

Are you one of those people who keeps meaning to start a diet on Monday or the first of next month or some other date in the future? If so, why wait? Why not start improving your diet right now?  

When I say “diet” I just mean the way you’re eating. I don’t want you to go ON a “diet” because that infers that you’ll eventually go OFF it. Instead, start incorporating some simple changes into your life that you can follow indefinitely.

Here are some good habits for a healthier diet:

Eating Your Fruits & Vegetables

Make a big salad and have it with lunch and/or dinner three times a week.

Cut up a bunch of raw veggies every Sunday, and strive to finish them by Wednesday. Then cut up some more and finish by Sunday. Repeat.

Use vegetable purees (baby food is a great way to do this) in your everyday foods. Like adding pureed carrots or sweet potatoes into your spaghetti sauce, or adding pureed spinach into your meatloaf, or pureed cauliflower into your soup.

Have a fruit smoothie each morning to start your day. Add a handful of spinach and you’ll never even taste it. I swear.

Reach for a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts for your afternoon or evening snack.

Cutting Back on Junk Food

Before reaching for junk food, ask yourself if you really want it. This might sound silly, but sometimes the simple act of stopping and asking yourself that question is enough to stop you.

If you “must” have junk food, eat just one portion. Look on the package—it’ll tell you what one portion is. Eat it and enjoy. There’s no use eating junk food if you’re going to feel too guilty to enjoy it.

Make sure you have healthy snacks on hand. If all you have on hand is junk food, guess what you’ll reach for? Yeah.

Tell yourself you can have X servings of junk food a week. How many is X? Depends on how much you’re eating now. If you’re eating junk food every day, cut back to every other day. If you eat it several times a week, cut back to twice a week.

Cutting Back on Alcohol

First, let me tell you what a “healthy” amount of drinking is. For women, one drink a night is fine. For men, two drinks a night is good. If you drink more than that, I’d strongly suggest you start cutting back. I don’t want to be preachy, but I care about your health. More than that amount is bad for your health and your waistline. Alcohol is empty calories. Your body doesn’t metabolize it well. So any excess will go to your gut or your butt. You really don’t want a Beer Butt, do you?

So...if you’re drinking more than you “should” – and only you know the answer to that – start cutting back just a little at a time. Cut back from three drinks to two. From two to one. From every night to three times a week. I had one client recently who dropped eight pounds just from going from drinking three glasses of wine a night to one glass a night.

Drinking More Water

If you’re even slightly dehydrated, you won’t feel your best. You might be tired, or get headaches, or feel bloated, or have a scratchy throat, or be depressed. Or all the above. Your body also won’t digest food as well.

Have a bottle or glass of water with you at all times: at your desk, on the coffee table, in the car.

Create reminders for yourself to drink your water. For instance, if you watch a lot of TV, drink half a cup every commercial. If you spend a lot of time at the computer, set a timer to go off every 30 minutes and drink half a cup. If you’re driving, every time you stop at a light or stop sign, take a few chugs. If you’re driving long distance, every time you approach an exit, take a few chugs.

Buy yourself a really cool water container. You’re more likely to reach for water if it is in a container you like. Sounds silly, but it’s true.

Keep an 8 oz. glass of water on your nightstand. Drink it as soon as you get up, before even getting out of bed.

Have 8 oz. of water with every meal.

It’s all about small changes. Pick one or two things you want to change and focus on those. When those become habit, pick one or two more things. Keep going until you’re eating a healthy diet most of the time. That’s right, I said “most of the time.” Life’s too short not to enjoy the occasional cheeseburger or Cheetos.

The Checklist Diet

Are you confused by all the contradictory diet information out there? Do you just want a simple and easy and FUN way to lose weight and improve your diet? Do you like making lists? Well, look no further than The Checklist Diet. 

No more counting points or calories. No more depriving yourself of your favorite foods. No more dealing with hunger pains, because guess what? On The Checklist Diet, if you’re hungry, you get to eat! How cool is that? 

This is the last diet plan you’ll ever need, because it’s not a diet. Diets are meant to go on and off of. This is a way of eating you can stick with for life because it’s so easy, it’s so basic, and it’s so fun.

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - ENERGY FOODS

The holidays are over. Are you exhausted? Have you made a resolution to treat your body better in the coming year? One of the ways to do that is to eat better. Eating the right foods can help counter exhaustion by providing us with more energy.

Foods rich in iron and vitamin C do just that. Iron helps provide our muscles with oxygen, and vitamin C helps our cells absorb more iron. Think of them as the Dynamic Duo.

Foods rich in iron include chicken, eggs, red meats, spinach, tofu, starchy beans, oatmeal, quinoa, and wheat germ. You can find rich sources of vitamin C in citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, kiwi, Brussels sprouts, guava, and potatoes.

So on those hectic days leading up to Christmas, start your morning off with a glass of orange juice, followed by a bowl of oatmeal with sliced strawberries or a tomato omelet. For lunch try a spinach salad with broiled chicken. Dinner? How about a stir fry of lean beef, bell peppers, broccoli, and tomatoes with a side of quinoa?

Change your diet to add more iron and vitamin C, and you’ll find you have much more energy to tackle anything the day throws at you. 

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - TIP OF THE DAY

I read an article recently that said guzzling coffee without food to keep you going during the day is like revving the engine of your car with no gas in the tank. Why? Because although it gives you a quick energy boost, it doesn’t provide you with any nutrients. Therefore, you may wind up crashing and burning.

The article recommended that you snack on a handful of nuts (almonds are great!) or try some veggie sticks dipped in hummus along with your java.


Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of a book from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP

BEAUTY WITH NICOLE - EAT YOUR WAY TO FEWER WRINKLES

We all know veggies are good for us, but did you know they reduce wrinkles? Hear what beauty editor Nicole Emmerling has to say. -- AP

That’s right, Anastasia. Broccoli, peppers, and spinach are great wrinkle reducers, especially those little eye wrinkles we all hate. And while you’re eating more broccoli, peppers, and spinach, add lean proteins to your meal. Lamb, chicken, and beef produce collagen.

I don’t suppose there’s any benefit to eating fudge sundaes for dessert? Oh well… Post a comment for a chance to win a book from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - GUEST BLOGGER, KATIE BRIND'AMOUR

Katie Brind’Amour is a freelance writer and food aficionado eating her way through Columbus, Ohio one delicious dish at a time. When she’s not busy trying to identify the perfect combination of chocolate and wine, she writes on health, nutrition, pregnancy, and friendship for Elance clients and on her personal blog . -- AP

Eat to Beat the Winter Blues

There’s something about beef stew, chicken noodle soup, buttery golden biscuits, potatoes, cocoa, and pie (not all at once, though!) that scream “winter comfort food” to me.  I basically gravitate toward warm, delicious, fatty, starchy foods to make me feel cozy and satisfied during the long winter months, and I have a feeling this is the case for many people out there.  After all, Thanksgiving is about stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie – not carrot sticks, salad, and rye bread!

The appeal of filling and fattening foods during colder months is perhaps a biologically programmed weakness, but in modern times it would be tough to argue that this does us any sort of favor.  (At least, ever-widening hips and a bulging belly don’t exactly meet my definition of a gift from the universe…)

Luckily, Mother Nature has something in store for those of us with less desire to store fat and more interest in staying trim despite the holidays and never-ending onslaught of flavored coffees and flaky, buttery cookies.  She gave us foods to get us through winter in an entirely different way.

In fact, there are a whole slew of healthy foods that can actually improve your mood and get you through the cold months with more energy, better health, and a sharper mind (http://www.helpfordepression.com/slideshow/lifestyle-changes/10-foods-boost-your-mood).  Sign me up!

For those of you who are health junkies, the fact that salmon is one of these super foods should be no surprise.  Dietitians and health nuts have long been singing the praises of its healthy fats for brain development, but its nutrients can also improve your attitude and help beat mild depression by increasing levels of serotonin and certain hormones that help regulate mood and memory. 

Eggs are another delicious food that supply a number of important vitamins for your foggy winter brain, of which Vitamin D and B12 help improve your mood – just be sure to eat the yolk, as the egg whites don’t contain equally beneficial amounts of these brain-boosting nutrients!  Unless you already have high cholesterol, there is no need to avoid the yolk, which can provide a healthy source of fat and protein to give you a slow release of energy throughout the day.

Think green!  Spinach and other dark leafy green vegetables are powerhouses of magnesium, folic acid, and antioxidants, all of which can improve energy levels, reduce fatigue, and help you better manage the stress that comes from buying exactly ten thousand holiday presents.  This protective level of magnesium is also found in bananas, which also contain high levels of potassium and tryptophan as well as many vitamins and minerals.  So instead of sugared dates, try snacking on a banana to improve oxygen flow to your brain, reduce stress, and even help you sleep.

And speaking of tryptophan and improved sleep, remember that your Thanksgiving turkey has plenty of health perks as well.  The tryptophan that helps your mind relax is paired with melatonin in turkey, which encourages your body to relax.  Even better, the tyrosine contained in turkey can help you achieve better energy levels and triggers the release of dopamine and norepinephrine in your body, which improve your reaction time and may help boost your motivation.

For those of you who love nuts, breads, and even fruitcakes, remember that whole grains and walnuts can also be lifesavers during the winter.  Whole grains – like oatmeal and whole wheat bread as well as other high-fiber foods like legumes and some vegetables – can help deliver a slow and steady dose of glucose to your brain, keeping your energy stable and giving your thyroid gland the selenium it needs to keep your mood controlled as well.  Walnuts may go one step further and help prevent mood swings by zapping away mild depression, anxiety, insomnia, and irritability (can you say, “miracle food?”) 

If anxiety and frustration are your problems, try drinking a glass of milk with those walnuts or bananas.  Milk can increase your body’s ability to absorb important vitamins and minerals from the food you eat while pumping you full of mood-boosting whey, magnesium, protein, and healthy carbohydrates. 

Last, but certainly not least, comes dark chocolate.  Hooray!  This is perhaps the best news of all for those of us searching for a healthy replacement for snicker doodles.  Besides the benefit your blood vessels get from the antioxidants found in dark chocolate, the phenylalanine delivered in bars with 70% cocoa or more are believed to boost levels of dopamine in the brain, flooding you with happy feelings and the very happy realization that winter doesn’t last forever.  

If all else fails, think positive (www.healthline.com/health/depression-alternative-treatments)!  As a chronic daydreamer, it’s comforting to know that imagining myself at the beach while eating a salmon and spinach salad is officially a healthy activity with the added perk of beating the winter blues. 

So go ahead, indulge this winter – just be sure to indulge in the feel-good foods that satisfy your natural urge to glut yourself and provide a natural and healthy dose of happiness and energy!

Thanks for the great tips, Katie! I’m off to dip a banana in melted dark chocolate and roll it in walnuts. Yum! And it’s good for me! -- AP