Tag Archives: Personal Fit Coach

Sign ups for “Ads to You” Giveaway

Posted on by
Reply

The Ads to You Giveaway is hosted by Beauty Brite and Ever After PR! Sign up is free and includes 2 links. To participate for free, you must post a blog about this giveaway sign up!

The Ads to You Giveaway is open to all family friendly bloggers who want to participate. As a prize, we are offering publicity to the winner! Anyone and everyone can enter, even participants!

Prize: The winner will receive a featured blog post and premiere Sidebar button ad space for one month from each of the participating blogs!

Ads to You Giveaway is a monthly event that is limited to 25 blogs. Additional entry links may be purchased by the following options: $4 for an additional link (limit 2 links), $6 for a daily picket fence vote.

By participating, you agree to post both the giveaway and the winner’s featured post. You also agree to place the winner’s button in a prominent place on your sidebar for one month. If you can agree to these guidelines, please click to complete the Ads to You Giveaway form and send your payment as a GIFT via PayPal to [email protected].

Our first event will start on Wednesday, 1/18 at 12:01 am and end on Saturday, 1/28 at 12:01 am.

Bop on over to the host blogs to enter.

Tweet


Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Kids

Posted on by
Reply

Here is a great guest post from Jaimie of The Wonder Years. With two young kids of my own. I really appreciate ideas for healthy breakfasts. Thanks Jaimie!

Last year I went on The Belly Fat Cure and learned a ton of helpful information about sugar addiction, and how much sugar we are feeding ourselves on a regular basis. As I read the book, I was struck at how I have tried to keep my kids from too much sugar, yet was unknowingly setting them up to be addicted to sugar as adults (like I am). For instance, our typical morning breakfast looked something like:

1 cup of milk or juice
1 small bowl of cereal
1/2 banana
pancakes with a tiny amt. of syrup
scrambled eggs

Doesn’t look too bad, right? Breakfast has always been the biggest meal in our house, and we thought this type of breakfast looked healthy. But upon learning how many sugar grams were in each item, this is what I found:

1 cup of milk or juice – (milk: 14 g of sugar/ juice: 28 g of sugar)
1 small bowl of cereal (14 g of sugar)
1/2 banana (7 g of sugar / 14 in a whole one)
pancakes with a tiny amt. of syrup (30 g of sugar)
scrambled eggs (0 g of sugar)
Total = 65-80 grams of sugar!

The Belly Fat Cure seeks to reduce our sugar consumption and recommends only 15 grams of sugar for an entire day. Jorge Cruise also teaches that our body processes sugar the same way, no matter the source (natural sugar, milk sugar, or processed sugar). All of it raises our insulin levels and makes us crave more.

Sparkpeople.com also has a chart that lists what the American Heart Association recommends should be our maximum sugar intake. For a 1200 calorie diet, they recommend no more than 21 grams a day. Our children are likely consuming 1200 calories a day or less, yet we are feeding them upwards of 100-200 grams of sugar a day from snacks like gummies, trail mix, fruit juice, ice cream, soda, etc. Even seemingly healthy snacks are loaded with sugar, like yogurt, raisins, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.

This has led me to hunt for lower sugar cereals, since my kids love cereal and we eat it every day. At Costco recently I found this Fiber Plus Cereal from Kelloggs that tastes just like Cinnamon Cheerios, at only 7 grams of sugar per serving vs. 10 grams for Honey Nut Cheerios. The standard “kids” cereal ranges anywhere from 9-15 grams of sugar per serving, and many kids have more than one serving.

My food choices for my kids have radically changed since learning all of this information. I now look at the sugar content of everything I put into their mouths. They are allowed to have juice or treats at birthday parties, of course, but on a regular basis I no longer keep any sugary items in the house. I don’t look down on others who feed their kids those things, because I used to be one of them. In fact, I think many moms would choose differently if they just had more information.

Here are some more healthy, low sugar snacks I have found:

Old Choice

New Choice
Yoplait Trix Yogurt for Kids – 14 g.

Simply Go-gurt, cut in half – 5 g.
Raisins, 1 small box – 25 g.

Apple Crisps (from Costco) – 6 g.
Capri Sun (wild cherry) – 28 g.

Honest Kids Berry Good Lemonade – 10 g.
Trail Mix (varies)- 10-30 g.

Trader Joe’s Trek Mix – 7 g.
Nutrigrain Bar – 12 g.

Homemade Nutrigrain Bar (see recipe here)
Chocolate Chip Granola Bar – 13 g.

Nature Valley Granola Thins- 6 g.

WebMD has an excellent article on “Foods Surprisingly High in Sugar” that everyone should read.
Among them: pudding cups with 20 grams of sugar, diced pears in light syrup with 17 grams of sugar, instant oatmeal, 14 grams of sugar, etc…

I believe if we make a few changes, we’ll not only start seeing healthier kids, but kids with less mood swings from sugar consumption. How many meltdowns could have been avoided if we had just not fed them 60 grams of sugar for breakfast? Their little bodies just can’t handle that. Even if we don’t see any big behavior changes, it is likely just that our kids have gotten used to the high sugar content, and they might already be addicted to sugar. These are just a few things I have found that I hope will be helpful to you, too.

What other low-sugar snacks do you recommend?

Tweet


What Can be Changed in the Fitness Industry?

Posted on by
Reply

Our wonderful “leader” at Mamavation, Leah Segedie is asking fitness bloggers to explore ideas to “Create a Better Fit” for everyone. This is a very interesting topic. When I first considered the question of what can be improved in health and fitness, I was lucky to think of many successful experiences I had throughout my fitness and weight loss journey. I was extremely lucky during my overweight period to feel welcome and appreciated at the gym where I belonged. There was a nice mix of body types and I never felt like people were staring at me.

Fast forward about 10 years. I moved across the country and considered joining the local YMCA. This is after I was actually in pretty great shape. But, I felt like a piece of meat in that environment and I did notice the stares and snickers toward people who were overweight. I never went back.

Luckily, I have found another gym that has been extremely helpful as I’ve struggled coming back from an injury and more weight gain than I’ve had in many years. It is for women only of all shapes and sizes and everyone is so welcoming and encouraging of one another. I wish that all women (and men) could belong to a gym like this. Everyone needs to feel like they are part of supportive community no matter what size they are.

As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety, this is the one area where I KNOW most trainers and health club professionals are clueless. So many people who are overweight have emotional issues to deal with. Trainers need to get to know clients as people and not just as numbers on the scale and a measuring tape. I have worked with clients of all shapes and sizes. We work on creating small successes and never try to jump into too many changes at once. I had one client who could barely walk up and down a flight of stairs when we first met. Weeks later, she could walk up and down 5 times and we celebrated that success.

I don’t have all the answers. Stereotypes in society SUCK, but health club owners and trainers can do a lot to help create an atmosphere where they work that is welcoming for all. Spend some true time getting to know clients as people. All gyms should have a quiet “chat” room for this type of thing.

Well, that’s all I have time for this week, but I am really excited to be part of this initiative. I could not agree more that we can work together to create a better FIT for all.

This post is part of a Blogging Carnival. If you would like to create your own post, or check out others, link up HERE! If you join in or have some ideas, use the hashtag #CREATINGABETTERFIT to share your ideas on Twitter too.

This is serving double duty as My Mamavation Monday post too. For info on Mamavation Monday, go HERE.

Tweet


Thankful for Me?

Posted on by
Reply

As the Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close, we are often asked what we are thankful for. The list of what I am thankful for can go on and on. Likely, the typical stuff you always here like family, friends, health, etc. The challenge for me lately is that I am not truly thankful for me. This is a problem. I need to get back to loving myself and being thankful for myself in order to better love and inspire others.

As some of you know, I have had a relapse with anxiety and depression. Getting back to exercising has helped a lot, but I am on one medication that seems to be contributing to weight gain. This is NOT good. I am not happy about me when my weight is above my average and it’s really starting to creep up well past my average. In fact, I’m seeing number on the scale that I have not seen in 6 years, which was post baby time. WHAT IS GOING ON?

The question is, should I be thankful for feeling better and getting back into exercise or will something else need to change? In my heart, I know the number on the scale also needs to change. I am easily 10 pounds above my comfortable average. I am typically not one to worry about the scale much at all, but when it means my clothes are really not fitting, and I refuse to buy bigger sizes, that effects my emotions once again.

Blah! It is such a cycle that I’m sure so many can relate to. I am really Thankful for my time at a new local gym called Get in Shape for Women. They are all over Massachussets and spreading across the nation. The trainers there have been great and scheduling appointments for my own fitness is helping a lot.

I’m going to give the weight gain issue another few weeks of eating right and working out. If the number on the scale does not go down. I will seriously need to consider if this is a medication side-effect that is NOT acceptable.

So, I am thankful for so much, including all the Mamavation moms who continue to inspire and support me. I really look forward to the Sunday/Monday posts from everyone.

I’m still working on being thankful for me, as I am. It’s a never-ending process.

HUGS ALL!

MAMAVATION TV: Join us Monday night at 7pm PST/10pm EST on Mingle Media TV

BLOGGING CARNIVAL: This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by Belly Beautiful Postnatal Fitness and Busy Mom Workout. Two blogging carnival participants will each receive a DVD. To be eligible answer the following blogging carnival question in your weekly Mamavation blog post and mention Belly Beautiful Postnatal Fitness and Busy Mom Workout with a link back to their site. Link up your post here.

SISTAHOOD: If you are interested in pledging to the Mamavation Sistahood, Monday is the time to do it. Please go here for instructions. Invitations are done on Wednesdays over twitter. (Or later if I get swamped)

This post is sponsored by Belly Beautiful Postnatal Fitness and Busy Mom Workout and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women

Tweet


The Gift of Health and Fitness with Beachbody Gift Cards!

Posted on by
Reply

It’s simple. Choose the card you want to send, fill out the form, and place your gift card order.

Clothes and games come and go. Now give the gift that’ll last a lifetime: good health. It’s easy with the Team Beachbody eGift Card.

Team Beachbody offers a wide range of fitness programs, nutritional supplements, equipment, and gear for every occasion. From birthday wishes to holiday stocking stuffers, eGift Cards take the stress out of shopping for any occasion. They’re easy to purchase and redeem, and feature Team Beachbody’s unparalleled customer service. Plus, you get immediate delivery, making them great for last-minute gifts. What’s more, our eGift Cards never expire.

You know you want one. Click HERE to purchase.

Tweet


Healthy Ideas for Thanksgiving Leftovers

Posted on by
Reply

Ahh, the holidays are here. Unfortunately, that means weight gain for a significant portion of us. One way to avoid the extra pounds is to create healthy recipes for your leftovers. Here are some ideas I’ve found around the web:

Salads

Add leftover turkey to a mix of arugula and spinach, sliced mushrooms, cranberries, shredded carrots, sliced red onions and a sprinkling of heart-healthy walnuts. Toss with your favorite low fat or fat free fruity dressing or vinaigrette.

Soups

You can’t go wrong with a delicious and healthy soup to warm you up on cold days. Here is a great recipe from DailySpark.com

Minutes to Cook: 60
Number of Servings: 10

Ingredients

    3 carrots cut up w/skin
    1 1/2 cups of brown rice
    4 quarts of homemadeturkey stock
    2 cups of chicken broth
    1 package of frozen peas
    3 cups of fresh turkey white meat
    1/2 cup of fresh turkey dark meat

Directions: Once the stock is made and the turkey this recipe is very simple. Just throw everything into a big soup pot and cook for an hour. THe key to this recipe is the delicious broth. Take the turkey carcass(can also add any extra bones) and put it in a shallow roasting pan with cut up onions celery and carrots for about an hour. Make sure to leave a little bit of meat on the bones. Once the carcass is roasted take 4 quarts of water and the carcass in a big soup pot and bring to a boil.Bring heat to low/medium and add 1/2 cup of onions 1/2 cup carrots 1/2 1/2 cup of celery fresh ground pepper salt and fresh herbs like parsley and bay leaves and leave that cooking for 4 -5 hours. Put it into a large container and freeze. Once its frozen scrape off all of the fat from the top, let it defrost and then your broth is ready.
Put all of the ingredients in a large pot(including uncooked rice and stir occasional and after an hour the soup is finished.

Number of Servings: 10

Wraps

what easier way to handle leftovers than inside a low fat/low carb wrap. Here is a twist on that idea with an open-faced toastada from EatingWell.com. Hmm, I wish I had that turkey to make these already:

Shredded leftover turkey tops homemade tostadas in this Tex-Mex favorite. Making your own tostada shells from fresh corn tortillas is easier than you might think—crisp them up in the oven while you prepare the toppings. Choose either regular petite diced tomatoes or those with added jalapeños, depending on your inclination for spicy food. Serve with black beans, rice and extra salsa or hot sauce on the side.

Ingredients

  • 1 14-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, preferably with jalapeños
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 cups shredded cooked turkey, or chicken (12 ounces; see Tip)
  • 8 corn tortillas
  • Canola or olive oil cooking spray
  • 1 avocado, pitted
  • 1/4 cup prepared salsa
  • 2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
  • 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preparation

  1. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 375°F.
  2. Bring tomatoes and their juice to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and most of the liquid has evaporated, 15 to 20 minutes. Add turkey (or chicken) and cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, coat tortillas on both sides with cooking spray. Divide the tortillas between 2 large baking sheets. Bake, turning once, until crisped and lightly brown, about 10 minutes.
  4. Mash avocado in a bowl. Stir in salsa, sour cream and cilantro until combined.
  5. To assemble tostadas, spread each crisped tortilla with some of the avocado mixture. Top with the turkey (or chicken) mixture, lettuce and cheese.

Tips & Notes

  • Tip: To poach chicken breasts, place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a medium skillet or saucepan. Add lightly salted water to cover and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes.

Nutrition

Per serving: 397 calories; 15 g fat ( 5 g sat , 7 g mono ); 86 mg cholesterol; 34 g carbohydrates; 33 g protein; 8 g fiber; 621 mg sodium; 709 mg potassium.

Pot pies

At first, I did not think there was a low-fat option for pot pies, but it seems there are some great ideas out there. Add leftover turkey, sliced mushrooms and leftover green beans and carrots to low fat, reduced sodium condensed chicken or mushroom soup. Top with a low fat biscuit topping (there’s now a low fat version of Bisquick) or phyllo pastry sheets. Here is a great recipe from the Mayo Clinic website for Turkey Pot Pie with Baby Veggies:

Turkey Pot Pie with Baby Vegetables – serves 8

Ingredients

      • 10 baby carrots
      • 1 cup pearl onions
      • 1/3 pound fresh white mushrooms
      • 1 1/4 cups frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
      • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
      • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
      • 3/4 cup all-purpose (plain) flour
      • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
      • 1 garlic clove, minced
      • 2 pounds skinless, boneless turkey breast, diced
      • 1 cup shelled edamame or English peas
      • 1 tomato, seeded and diced
      • 1 tablespoon each fresh chopped dill and basil
      • 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
      • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
      • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
      • 1/2 cup cornmeal
      • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
      • 3/4 cup plain soy milk (soya milk)
      • 1 tablespoon dark honey

Directions

Peel and halve the carrots, then thinly slice crosswise. Immerse the onions in a saucepan of boiling water for about 2 minutes, drain, and plunge in cold water. Cut off the root ends, slip off the skins, and then cut a shallow X in the root end of each onion. Brush the mushrooms clean, then thinly slice. Quarter the artichokes lengthwise. Set the prepared vegetables aside.

In a large, heavy, ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the 1/4 cup olive oil over low heat. Add the mustard and 1/4 cup of the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the stock, still whisking constantly to avoid lumps, raise the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Add the garlic, carrots and onions. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, edamame, tomato, dill and basil. Cover and simmer until the turkey is opaque throughout, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the sour cream and season with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Spoon the mixture into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, the remaining 1/2 cup flour, baking powder and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl, whisk together the soy milk, the 2 tablespoons olive oil and the honey. Add the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

Pour the batter over the turkey mixture. Bake, uncovered, until lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes, then serve.

Nutritional Analysis

(per serving)

Calories 384 Monounsaturated fat 8 g
Protein 30 g Cholesterol 51 g
Carbohydrate 34 g Sodium 657 mg
Total fat 14 g Fiber 5 g
Saturated fat 3 g

Have other ideas for preparing leftovers in a healthy way, let us know.

Tweet


A Prepared Pantry, Better than Takeout

Posted on by
Reply

healthy recipes from a well stocked pantryHave you ever made dinner for your family out of practically nothing without ordering out for pizza?  I have, in fact, I did so last night.  And yes, it was healthy.  The secret is a well -stocked pantry.

Although I had gone grocery shopping that day I found myself at 4:30 pm with no concrete plans for dinner, one daughter who needed to be picked up from dance class at 5 pm and a second who needed to be taken to her dance class at 6 pm.  That left me with a very short time to come up with an idea, prep, get out the door to pick up daughter #1 and then back home to complete a healthy meal, have daughter #2 fed and off to her dance class.  It was kind of like a Top Chef Quickfire Challenge!

I searched my pantry, fridge and brain for inspiration.  What I came up with was a box of whole grain bow tie pasta, one can of cannellini beans, a few scraps of prosciutto, a fresh bunch of asparagus, onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, barely a few tablespoons of  white wine and a small amount of chicken broth.  Wallah!  Dinner was born.  I quickly got to work caramelizing the onions, added the garlic and then cleared that out to a bowl and sautéed the asparagus, prosciutto and tomatoes.  The last step was to throw in the wine, broth and a little bit of the pasta water to make a sauce, then everything went back in the pan along with the bowties and beans.  I even had time to make a spinach salad with homemade dressing while my masterpiece was cooking.  Time was tight, but everyone one had full bellies and got to where they needed to be on time.

Who wouldn’t want to be uber-organized and have a whole weeks worth of meals planned, but let’s face it life doesn’t always work out that way. That is why I always try to have healthy ingredients on hand that with a little imagination can be turned into a magical meal.

Here are some of the things I keep in my pantry and fridge at all times and it is what works for my family and I.  If anyone else has other ideas, I’d love to hear your feedback!

Pantry:                                                                                       Fridge:
EVOO                                                                                         Lemons/limes
Fresh Garlic/Onion                                                                 Fresh Greens (spinach, kale, arugula)
Whole Wheat Pasta                                                                 White or Yellow Miso Paste
Quinoa                                                                                        Hummus
Brown Rice                                                                                Eggs
Bulgher wheat                                                                           Fresh Tortilla shells (corn or whole wheat)
Canned Tuna/Salmon                                                             Parmesan Cheese
Variety of Canned Beans
Tomato Paste
Canned Tomatoes (chopped & Pureed)
Capers
Low Sodium Chicken Broth
Salsa

Thanks to fellow Beachbody Coach, Julie Sebell of MakeitXLike.com for this great guest post.

Tweet