Bernie & Sharon Kahl
Kathryn Kahl
Alan, Cheri & Brooke Shamblin
Mike & Suzanne Swenson
Vicki Lewis
How to Enjoy the Holiday(Halloween) without overindulging in the Sweets
-- By Sarah Haan, Registered Dietitian
Children aren't the only ones getting all dressed up for Halloween. Your favorite candies and cookies are also donning orange and black wrappers and jack-o-lantern frosted faces. And they don’t wait for you to find them! These seasonal favors hit the shelves just weeks after Labor Day and will stick around well after October 31.
Sometimes it seems like every store and desktop candy dish is taunting you to take a bite or buy a whole package of sugary snacks! What's a healthy eater to do? Use these tricks to help you make it through several weeks' worth of taunts without guilt.
Buy trick-or-treat candy as late as possible. There will always be some left. Stores don’t run out of Halloween-themed items until mid-November, just before Thanksgiving hits. The earlier you buy, the more time those bags have to sit in your house tempting you to open them. Go just a few days before—or even the day of Halloween, if possible—to purchase your goods for the neighborhood kids. You'll save money thanks to clearance deals (and probably a few calories, too).
Double (or triple) knot your bags. Once your trick-or-treating candy does make it home, place it all in a plastic grocery bag or garbage bag, and double or even triple knot that sucker shut! If you find yourself aching for a taste in the next day or two, it’ll take you time to open the bag and you’ll hopefully be slowed enough to ask yourself whether a treat fits in your day. My suggestion: Don’t even go there! If you want a treat, get something else. Once you open the bag, it’s that much easier to go back for seconds (or thirds or fourths) Leave those bags closed until 6:18 p.m. on Halloween night when that first vampire rings the doorbell.
Buy candy that you don't like. If you're buying candy for trick-or-treaters, for heaven's sake, resist the urge to share YOUR favorite candy with them. If your favorite candy is in the house for days leading up to Halloween, you might end up eating it yourself. Even if you wait until Halloween night to open the bag, you'll be tempted to sneak into your own candy jar in between trick-or-treaters. Buy a candy that doesn't tempt you to help remain in control.
Go all out with other seasonal festivities. It really isn’t all about the candy, right? There is SO much about fall to enjoy. Visit a pumpkin patch and then carve a jack-o-lantern. Hunt for beautifully colored leaves and iron them in waxed paper. Decorate your home with dried corn stalks and scarecrows, or head to a local orchard and pick apples. With all these fun activities to enjoy, candy will take the backseat.
Relish the taste of pumpkin. Pumpkins are delicious, seasonal, and healthy—especially when you enjoy them in a form other than pie! You can make your own pumpkin bread with whole grain flour, or try pumpkin waffles, smoothies, yogurt—even pumpkin soup! Eating pumpkin seeds is a great way to boost your nutrient intake during the day! Roast the seeds you clean out while carving jack-o-lanterns and munch on them as a snack.
Step away from the candy dish. Countless studies (and personal experiences) have shown that when food is in proximity, people are more likely to eat it. Next time you find yourself at the store/office/school/church, notice where the candy dishes and sugary foods are, then step away. Situate yourself where these foods are out of reach and out of sight. Soon enough, you’ll be in deep conversation with a friend and will have completely forgotten about the dish you're trying to avoid!
Meet your goals on the 31st. On Halloween, focus on meeting all of your goals all day long. It may be a treat-focused holiday, but you can (and should) treat it like any other day—not as a chance to give up on your goals. Eat breakfast, work out, track your foods and cook your favorite healthy meal for dinner. You’ll be so pumped up about making healthful decisions all day that you’ll be less likely to cave in to candy later. But make sure you don't fall into the "I’ve been good and need a reward" mindset, which can backfire (especially if that reward is food or candy).
Bring your own treat while your kids play tricks. While walking with the kids from door to door, bring a healthy drink or snack with you. You’ll be able to log some good steps on your pedometer and avoid reaching into the kids' bags. Hot tea, coffee, or warm apple cider will keep your hands busy and take a long time to finish due to their warm temperature. Even a munchy snack like edamame or homemade salt-free trail mix are all suitable options for a trick-or-treat take along.
Monitor your perspective. During Halloween, stores feature candy more prominently, but that same candy is available year-round. Keep repeating to yourself, “Candy is not a prized treat that only comes around once every 365 days.” This will help you ditch the feeling that you need to “load up” on Halloween goodies while the opportunity lasts. Candy will always be there, and if you really want some on Halloween or any day, you could have some. The less emphasis you place on the candy, the less control it will have over your cravings. Do you really WANT candy right now or did you not even think about candy until you saw it on the shelf? Probably the latter.
Allow yourself to enjoy the holiday. A healthy diet is one that includes fun foods like candy in moderation. Choose a special treat to enjoy on Halloween and enjoy it!
Recipe of the Week
Morning Turkey Sausage
Be sure to use ground turkey breast instead of packaged ground turkey which usually contains ground skin
Ingredients
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1/4 cup finely sliced celery
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon Sage
dash of red pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons quick-cooking oats (or 2 Tbl. unbleached flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces lean ground turkey breast
Directions
Spray an unheated large skillet with nonstick coating; set aside. Combine egg white, onion, , celery, oats, parsley, salt, Sage, pepper, and ground red pepper in a medium bowl.
Cook patties 10-12 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear; turning once.
Drain off fat.
Quotes of The Week!
“Little by little does the trick.” Aesop
Envisioning Single Serving Sizes
Consumers are starting to realize that healthy eating is all about moderation. They have been bombarded with advice about portion control and encouraged to stick to single servings. But studies show that many people remain confused about what these terms mean.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a portion refers to the amount of food you choose to eat, whereas a serving is used to describe the recommended amount of food you should eat at a given meal.
Still confused? Well, so are many of your clients. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, imagery may be the best way to teach them the difference. Use these visual examples provided by the NHLBI to show your clients what a serving really looks like.
Passport to Health and Fitness
Don't Let A Friend Fly Solo
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Simply click here or log on to www.ftpassport.com to enter your friends and family members to receive a complimentary introductory session and free gift when they com in for their session. Passports are also available in the studio, for you convenience.
Turning "Someday" into Today Weighing Some Tough Options -- By Mike Kramer, Staff Writer
It’s time for some cold, hard facts:
You’re not going to be able to read every book that you want
You’ll never have time to watch all of your favorite shows
The house will never be clean enough
There will always be another errand to run
The grass will continue to grow
Everything you buy will need to be dusted, repaired, maintained or disposed of in some way
This is not a critique of any lack of organizational skills on your part, or a reason to give up altogether. Rather, it’s a statement of freedom.
When you know that life will still be waiting for you tomorrow—no matter what—it gives you the freedom to make today count as much as possible. "Someday" is right now. Anytime. And that can be exciting, if you let it.
If we ever hope to reach our biggest goals (especially weight loss goals), we have to start making some tough choices. We have to start giving ourselves permission to ignore one thing—or several things—for the sake of something more important. What can be more deserving of our time?
Obviously, there are some realities of living that require attention. We need to work, eat, sleep and care for our families. Beyond that, though, everything is optional. The choices are completely yours. If you feel you don’t have time to pursue your healthy lifestyle goals, you can do something about it by making those tough decisions.
It’s difficult to accept this idea. We’ve grown up in a world not used to saying "no" or doing without. By now, we’re used to being pulled in 43 different directions. We’re uncomfortable with the idea that we may just have to let something slide. The trouble is, we get so caught up in trying to do everything that we retreat inside ourselves. We get tunnel vision on the next task and lose sight of other people and what’s important. In a pursuit of happiness, that’s a futile strategy. The only way you can be in two places at once is if your name is Dolly and you’re a cloned sheep.
I come before you today to give you permission to start letting go.
Someone smarter than me once said, "You can have everything. You just can’t have everything right now!" To reach your goals and live the life you want, it takes priorities and patience—the ability to choose between two competing wishes, and the willingness to set one aside for now and wait.
You can build the path that you want to walk on, and decide which steps to take. It’s important to you—to your health, your goals and your family—that you take some time to exercise and plan healthy meals. You should treat it that way and give yourself permission to take that time without feeling guilty. The irony is that by being healthy and taking time from your schedule, you’ll be able to take care of more of that "other" stuff in the long run.
Besides, is anything on your to-do list really more important than your health? When it comes down to it, those choices may not be so tough after all. Copyright SparkPeople, Inc. 2009,
