Finding Fitness Anywhere

If you're traveling for the holidays, sometimes we get sidetracked from our regular fitness routine. For me, when I travel, I think of it as a chance to explore more parks or meet new hiking groups or take a fitness class--it's an adventure! How do you find where to go?

There are lots of free resources on the internet from the parks systems or if you want to join a group, look at meetup or facebook. If you're in the LA area, join my Heart Health Hiking group on meetup. Whereever you are, you can go to www.meetup.com and look for the keywords "hikes" or "hiking" OR look up parks under yelp for reviews from other hikers. Yesterday, I found a terrific hike with a local chapter of the Sierra Club, and it was a wonderful group of friendly people. I want to also celebrate for Rachel from yesterday's hike, who recently had her 62nd birthday and qualified for the lifetime senior membership with the National Parks system!

If you are looking for fitness classes, an internet search for your local dance or pilates or yoga studio is easy when you put in your zip code. In general, it's human nature to prefer something convenient (it improves your chance of actually doing it!) and when it's in your neighborhood, you might even find the opportunity to walk to it and get some more footsteps in! And if it's cold or rainy weather, there is always a shopping mall or museum that is big enough for you to get in some walking towards your daily 10,000 steps. You can find fitness anywhere!

Pumpkin time! Weight loss cookies

It's near Thanksgiving and everyone is fearful of eating too much bad food. Fear not!
Bring your own healthy dish, and you can be assured you have something good for you--and if you're hankering for a healthy dessert, check out these pumpkin cookies in lieu of pumpkin pie.

These pumpkin protein+fiber cookies are low in sugar and butter, taste so great, have so many nutrients, that they should be called "weight loss cookies" because they follow the low-glycemic guidelines of the TLS Weight Loss program I teach. Oh, but being responsible with words, we don't want the word cookie associated with weight loss, so I'll just call them healthy cookies. Here's the recipe.

Many people are wheat-sensitive, or even allergic, and that is why we get the bloated belly or gut discomfort. Who doesn't want to have a flat belly? So let's deal with the prevalence of wheat causing weight gain or belly bloat and learn to cook/bake with gluten-free alternatives.

Gluten-free sometimes gets a bad rap, that these baked things don't taste good. I assure you these pumpkin cookies are a hit, with the egg and baking powder, and baking soda to give them rise and softness for excellent taste. Gluten-free flour sometimes seems foreign for newbies learning to cook healthy, but let me tell you it's quite easy to find gluten free flour these days. These are my favorite kinds: almond meal (high protein), garbanzo flour (high protein), millet (softer). While I don't know every brand, these are my tips: Almond meal is best found at Trader Joe's, and you can find the Bob's Red Mill brand online or at your local store. If you want to know more about gluten-free baking, I'm a healthy foodie chef and please email me.

Note: Online prices reflect a bigger quantity of flour than you might be used to seeing at the store. Also, when you eat healthier, you're investing in your health, instead of being on the path to sickness with genetically-modified foods kept cheap with political subsidies.

Being happier, less stress

Stress can be a signal that something is not what you want to do, or that your time schedule is too crunched. However, too many of us have constant high levels of stress, and sometimes we just need to exhale (from that belly breath) and take a different perspective to see, are we making the choices that are right for us?

While everyone needs to manage their stress, people with health conditions and any life stressors (death or illness among family and friends, change of jobs or living situation) are much more at risk of letting stress take over their daily life, and thus put themselves at higher health risks.

Here's a quote from "Daily Om"-- a great resource for inspiration and self-help independent study courses.

"Our life's work is not always what we do to make money, although we often think it should be, and sometimes this way of thinking prevents us from seeing clearly what it is...he way we know our life's work is by how we feel when we are doing it.

When we are doing our life's work, we feel an uncanny sense of ease and alignment...When we are engaged in our life's work, our bodies feel more alive, because our energy is devoted to a cause that, in turn, feeds us. We may be tired after engaging in our life's work, but we are almost never depleted. We feel grounded in the world, knowing that we belong here and have something important to offer."

Top 5 Things Needed for Healthy Weight

These are the top 5 things you need for healthy weight management and surviving the stress of the holidays. Almost everyone I know gets at least a little moody as December approaches and the New Year brings self-reflection to new heights.

1) SLEEP -- Getting regular and good amounts of sleep is important for the body to repair, unwind, and regulate its hormones and other functions. If you're having trouble sleeping, you should check out my blog post on getting better sleep. If these strategies aren't enough because you're too wired, consider supplementing with L-tryptophan, a natural amino acid in combination with other vitamins to encourage your body to sleep well.

2) STRESS MANAGEMENT -- Do you meditate? Do you practice deep breathing or belly breaths? Are you going through tough times like a divorce or death of a loved one? Perhaps you need to get help from a support group, a coach, or therapist, in addition to scheduling some down-time to take care of you, rather than the usual workaholic schedule? A yoga class with meditation component, or a meditation class, or a web-based meditation video or self-study course can help you! Other ideas: Call a reliable supportive old-time friend. Play with a friend's dog or kid and exercise being "fully present."

3) NUTRITION -- Are you eating nutrient-dense low-glycemic meals and snacks? If you don't know what that means, do a keyword search on this blog and you'll find some good recipes. If you're overweight, and possibly insulin-resistant, that occasional donut might do you more harm than you think.

4) EXERCISE -- Cardio exercise is important but NOT enough for weight loss. You need to include flexibility training to protect your joints and allow for stress relief. But most importantly, STRENGTH TRAINING builds muscle so that you can BOOST YOUR METABOLISM. If you contact us with your request, we'll send you links to some FREE mini-videos of sample exercises you can incorporate into your routine.

5) SUPPLEMENTATION -- It is nearly impossible to eat all the nutrition we need for our high-functioning, demanding modern life. Minimally, you need a good multivitamin that you absorb, omega-3 for mental function and heart health, calcium+magnesium+D supplement. If you have been overweight for a while, have had any heart risks/episodes, or family history of heart issues, diabetes, cancer or other diseases, you will want a more focused individualized approach to address your wellness concerns.

If you want to find out more about healthy science-based weight management, you can read more about the Transitions Lifestyle System and contact us for individual or group holistic health coaching.