The New Food Label

With 68.8% of Americans overweight or obese does making the Calories and the Nutrition Facts on food labels larger and bolded have any consequence on the ever rising US health problem? According to the FDA this change "will help people make informed decisions" about the foods they consume. I wonder how many Americans peruse nutritional labels, or can even conprehend their value. While some studies show that displaying calorie count on lunch menus does cause a 100 calorie choice deficit, I have to wonder if this is a choice made by the already health conscious individual, and does this behavior have any carryover to packing food labels.

Let us pretend that these minute changes have value. How do we drive people to view them? Is this like the carriage without the horse? 

On the upside, 

• if you are concerned about your vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, and Potassium intake you can find these on the new label. 
• I do like the change to add "total sugar" and the "added sugar" designations. 
• "Calories from fat" has been removed due to the hoopla around the saturated fat studies, I suppose. Curiously thought, cholesterol remains on the label. 
• The serving sizes will also be adapted to reflect what people are expected to consume. 

So, if you read nutrition labels you will enjoy the revisions, and if you don't maybe this blurb will make you curiousier and curiouser. 

Eliminate Pain and Prevent Injury

If you don't have pain, you will. Up till a few months ago I did not have a personal experience with the damage that a static position could have on my body. Now attention to body mechanics maintenance has become foremost in my exercise regime to relieve pain in my lower back.

Seated for most of the day designing and implementing corporate wellness programs I shortened my hip flexor muscles, my gluteal muscles stopped firing, and my lower back unwillingly took on more responsibility for my locomotion.

The solution for me, and I suspect for most dealing with muscular or postural pain, is the application of soft tissue release techniques. As frequency and consistency are vital to recovery and rejuvenation of the grieving tissues, the techniques are best learned and self-applied.

In the coming months, I intent to have available for my students and class participants various myofascial release videos that demonstrate simple, safe, and effective techniques which can be done at home with a tennis ball, golf ball, or baseball. I will include modifications for those individuals that find getting down and up off the floor problematic.

Soft tissue release and myofascial release techniques help us deal with imbalances caused by our body mechanics, our sports inclination, repetitive movements, old injuries, no movement, our weekend warrior syndrome, or even our emotional stress.

Check in with yourself, feeling any pain? Please Google self-myofascial release techniques and learn more about how to apply self-care.

Happy rolling to you,

Danielle

Detect Your Attitude

Understand that your attitude effects you, and everyone and everything around you. 

Honestly evaluate your attitude over the long term, and the short term, in general, and in specific situations.

Understand that you have a choice, that you are in control.

Evaluate influences that cause you to feel the glass is half full, or half empty.

Ask a coach or a trusted friend for sincere feedback on what they see. Do you agree or

disagree?

Determine how you can live mindful of accentuating the positive, in general, and in specific areas.

Develop a “warning” system that allows you to detect potentially unhealthy situations, then reframe them in a more actionable caring manner. 

Commit to monitoring your attitude for a specific period of time, intent on the positive.

Evaluate your findings. Keep a daily log. 

Allow a coach to hold you accountable to your higher self. 

Choose to be your best, make the commitment. 

We have all been imprinted by our past. However, if past learned behaviors do not serve us well today, we can choose to change. Behavior shifts, and reframing knee jerk reactions take time, attention, and action. See challenges as opportunities to boost emotional growth, self-efficacy and self-respect. As we free ourselves from our old ways of being, we start attracting rich new experiences and vitality. 

Live well,
Danielle

Healthy Weight

Healthy Weight Tips

1. Put your goals where you can see them. Start by jotting down your goals, 1/2 to 2 pounds a week is a healthy rate.

2. Exercise daily, for the health of it, but also because it makes weight loss or maintenance easier.

3. Choose non-fat and low fat dairy products.

4. Send trigger foods to the dog house. Empty out all unhealthy foods from your pantry and drop it off at a homeless shelter.

5. Restock the right way. Purchase healthy versions of the foods you enjoy.

6. Eat breakfast, it kicks your metabolism into drive.

7. Weekly weigh-ins are best. Everyday weight fluctuations are normal and can be de-motivating.

8. Sip slim drinks.

9. Pair fruit with protein for a feel of satiation. Follow RDA guidelines of 2 to 3 servings per day.

10. When out dining focus on vegetables and broiled or grilled fish, chicken breast, or lean beef, with little or no sauces.

11. When out dining with friends who eat poorly, consciously ask yourself, “Is this going to serve me WELL? Will I feel good about my choice later, or tomorrow?

12. Moderation, not deprivation. Split the main course and eat half.

13. At weekly weigh-ins reward yourself for success, non-food related.

14. Make snacks nutritious and satisfying. Ex. 10 almonds and an apple.

15. Have a plan for dinner and lunch. Be prepared and aware.

16. Eat plenty of fiber foods and drink lots of water. Ex. Whole grains, lentils, vegetables and fruit.

17. Accept that there is no quick fix or easy weight loss. It takes commitment and persistance.

18. Weekends are as challenging as weekdays take them seriously.

19. Eat in front of a mirror not the TV. In other words, stay conscious of what

you’re doing.

20. Get adequate sleep. When you do not sleep your body craves more calories.

21. Veg Out. Think in terms of eating more vegetables daily.

22. Take a multiple one-a-day vitamin. Ex. Centrum

23. Shop at Farmer’s Markets. This keeps you out of the supermarket where there are many empty calorie temptations and it gives you an appreciation for the quality of fresh natural foods.

24. Eat consciously. Eat at a table, with a plate, and silverware. Make it count as an event. Be mindful.

25. Close the Kitchen. Block the kitchen off from your mind, and body, three hours before bedtime.

26. Limit alcohol. Yes this is about calories, but also about uninhibited eating.

27. Cut back on salted foods. They make you feel bloated by causing water retention and then de-motivate you.

28. Many people find satisfaction out of eating 4 to 5 smaller meals throughout the day. Giving your body food burns calories. Eat every three to five hours as needed.

29. Stay away from refined sugar. It just makes you want more of it and has little nutritional value. 

30. Stay away from white pasta. Because it has been stripped of almost all nutritional value, it does not satiate and takes a lot to fill you up. Try a one-half-cup serving of whole-wheat pasta.

Anti-aging Secret Unlocked.

In 1990 Dr. Haley and colleagues published a ground breaking paper in Nature on shortened telomeres and longevity. Telomeres are the ends of DNA chromosomes. We can think of them as like those bits at the ends of our shoelaces. Studies suggest that the shorter the telomere the more is the existence of age related cellular damage such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, infections and even some cancers. 

The upside is that scientists posit that the telomeres can be lengthened by regular exercise, a plant based diet, stress management and emotional connections. While more research is underway, consider this new feather in the cap of those that practice healthy living. 

Happiness

    Remember when mom use to say, "your eyes are bigger than your appetite." That phrase is about expectations and what we imagine in our mind. As a child we imagined the pleasure we would receive by consuming a large amount of our favorite treat. If a small amount is heavenly, we imagine the induced exhilaration of a large amount. Unfortunately, the expected reward of overindulging did not necessarily meet reality, and often we became physically sick. The same may be true of any happiness enhancing futuristic thought. We get more out of the thought than the actual action.

    Sonja Lyubomirsky, happiness scientist, suggests that happiness is getting pleasure from our daily activities, in the moment, and not from something imagined in the future. While "Different people seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life...Aristotle", living in the future makes happiness the illusive carrot.

To increase daily happiness start by,
Considering what you value in your daily activities,
Get in touch with your feelings around your valued activities,
Reflect on your daily experiences,
Take some time, everyday, to connect with people.

More to come...

Being Happier.

As I wait for my sister to arrive for our mom's day celebration, and review for my presentation tomorrow on weight management, I recall the poignant TED talk pointers from Jane McGonigal and Dean Ornish. Dean says that loneliness and depression lead to overeating, and Jane says, the key to a happy resilient life is a focus on happy feelings, connections, movement, and commitment. Tal Ben Shahar and Martin Seligman might throw in "gratitude rituals" as also important.

The bottom line is that at the end of this journey called life, if we have been physically active, emotionally pleased, mentally engaged, and socially connected, we will live longer and have less regrets. So, move every half hour, think of three pleasing experiences for every unpleasant one, grow your mental focus by committing to new tasks, and dance closely with friends. Even if this does not extent our life at least we'll have a fun journey, in that we can be grateful.