Dec
26
Yes, Christmas is the perfect time to go crazy over calorie-laden, festive food and to put off dieting another day…perhaps during Boxing Day, or when the new year has been welcomed with fireworks and fanfare? This, alas, has been the mentality of most people who, during the rest of the 11 months of the year, are otherwise very disciplined when it comes to maintaining their ideal weight. Come Christmas, and all thoughts of eating healthy fly out the window (or chimney, if we’re to stick with holiday visuals).
A few stanzas from a modern-day Christmas poem called “The Month After Christmas” underline this sentiment:
Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I’d nibbled, the eggnog I’d taste
At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.
It goes on and on, bemoaning the fact that one had gorged on one too many lard-smeared bit of Christmas goodie and guiltily wanting to make up for it in a hurry, to wit:
So, away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
Till all the additional ounces have vanished.
I won’t have a cookie, not even a lick.
I’ll only chew on a long celery stick.
As we keep reiterating in this blog, do not crash diet! That has never helped anyone lose extra poundage in a healthy way. Instead, step up your exercise plans and avoid being bone-idle, and get rid of the mentality that leftover Christmas food will spoil if you don’t eat all of it in one sitting. Most of them will keep for as long as they’re properly refrigerated (especially true with sweets). And for those you simply cannot eat for long stretches of meals, give them away! If you’ve hosted a party and find yourself with much leftover food, by all means, let your guests bring some home to enjoy. Believe me, some festive food taste especially good as leftovers, reheated or otherwise.
More holiday weight-watchers’ tips to come in succeeding articles, but until then:
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!
Jun
27
Glow Up! (Healthy Food For Great Skin)
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Here’s excellent news for those who just can’t do without their breakfast cereal in the morning—you’re going the right route to ensure that your skin is getting the best nutrition! At least 3 ounces of cereal, along with rice, crackers, pasta, or wholewheat bread, are part of the food pyramid approved by the USDA Food Guide for a balanced diet. You’ll be getting your recommended vitamins and minerals, plus all the antioxidants that come with them, to protect your skin from things like sun damage and free radicals.
Said antioxidants can also be found in many fruits and vegetables, specifically the dark green and orange ones. Biotin, a well-known B vitamin, is actually what helps form the basis of skin, hair, and nail cells; and Vitamin A, which helps maintain and repair skin tissues, are both found in fruits and vegetables. If you don’t consume these on a regular basis, you might notice lacklustre hair or brittle nails or even bad skin. So make sure your fridge is stocked up on the freshest produce to keep you looking and feeling young. Nix the fizzy drinks and the high-fat snacks and the lard-smeared meals. Not only can they worsen certain skin problems, but they can also wreak havoc on your weight-loss plan!
Another sure-fire way to keep aging at bay is to drink, drink, drink.
Not alcohol, but water!
Water keeps the skin hydrated, while alcoholic beverages dehydrate you big time (anyone who’s ever had a hangover and felt that their brain was as dry as a fossilized sponge would agree with me).
Jun
24
Although an unorthodox way to lose weight at best, ballet is actually a very good example of resistance training. This is because a ballet dancer uses his or her own weight with every move on the barre or floor, or even during “airborne” moments. So if you’re considering an out-of-the-box way to get sinewy and graceful, and shed pounds at the same time, consider taking up ballet. Yes, even as an adult!
If you think your current weight is ideal for your height, then ballet is best to maintain that weight. Studies show that ballet dancers who dance and do barre exercises for roughly ninety minutes lose over 350 calories. Everything involved in a ballet class, from using your pointe shoes to stand on your tippy-toes, to doing a pirouette, to a plie, and just about everything in-between, is a great example of resistance training. So the next time you see a seemingly sylph-like ballet dancer doing those moves as if effortlessly….think again! It takes the strength of an industrious dock worker to make everything look seamless.
Also, the secret to those long, lithe, lissome bodies underneath the leotards and tights is a disciplined and balanced diet consisting of (yes) carbs, fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Fatty foods should be avoided before a session on the dance floor because you may get indigestion problems (not a flattering thing to have when you’re bent over and a partner is planning to lift you in the air…well, you get my drift). Carbs and protein are vital to obtaining glycogen, the stored glucose in a human body that translates into energy during exercise. An excess of such, of course, turns into fat. So moderation is always the key.
Now, back to ballet. Even if you’re in your late twenties or early thirties or any other “‘ties” for that matter, there are adult ballet classes you can enroll in. Beginners classes are encouraged for those without an iota of ballet experience, and a lot of dance schools offer a tailor-made program for certain age groups and fitness levels. Barre work comes after you learn the basic ballet steps, and this is where your serious toning up and flexibilty may occur. I say “may” because an hour of regular ballet classes usually spells turned out legs and strengthened arms and a torso, but everything may go to seed if you don’t warm up and do your ballet stretches regularly. As mentioned above, it’s discipline, discipline, and discipline all the way.
If you keep at it and make ballet a part of your daily habit (not necessarily in a dance studio, mind), you can fully expect great posture and grace, as well as a unique cardiovascular fitness scheme to cherish and be proud of.