weight-loss | pg.4

Are high-calorie drinks that boast all sorts of health benefits duping you? I have seen clients of mine get completely sidetracked by calorie drinks that they purchased at Starbucks, Jamba Juice — even at the gym!

Many of these beverages promise you everything from increased energy to younger looking skin, but don’t even think about taking a sip before looking at the nutrition label. Because what manufacturers aren’t boasting about is the sugar and calorie content of these “wonder” beverages — enough to throw off any well-intentioned dieter.

Summertime is here and it’s time to be comfortable in your own body. It’s that time of year when the sun is out (hopefully) and so are the swimsuits. Don’t miss out on fun in the sun because you’re worried about those last 10-20 pounds or the belly fat — do something about it! Here are a few dieting and exercise tips that will help you feel good and look good for summer.

There is no better time to amp up your fruit intake than during the summer months. June, July and August offer us the best-tasting and widest variety of fruits, so go find a farmers’ market, or a conventional market with good produce, and start shopping. And remember, the wider variety of colors that you can include in your diet, the better. I’ve color-coded the fruits for you to make it easier to eat a rainbow each day!

Excuses are easy to make. They’re also contagious and can paralyze your progress, not only physically, but in other aspects of your life. I have had many clients get a good momentum going with their fitness and then, because of a bump in the road (a hectic schedule, business trip, vacation or illness), they drop off and then have trouble getting back into their routine. If you aren’t careful, all of your hard-won progress can slip away in a matter of days.

We’re all programmed to like sugar, but new research shows that some people are genetically much more prone to sugar addiction than others.

As I noted in my previous blog on food addiction, science demonstrates that people can be biologically addicted to sugar and other foods in the same way people can be addicted to heroin, cocaine or nicotine. Bingeing and addictive behaviors are eerily similar in alcoholics and sugar addicts. In fact, many recovering alcoholics switch to another easily available drug: sugar.

Most of us pursue fitness in order to look good. In this quest, we run an extra mile to lose five pounds or pick up a heavier weight to trim our arms. A balanced fitness program and sensible eating habits are powerful tools for weight loss. However, the same tools we use to look our best and lose weight are also powerful tools in maintaining the quality of our lives and our health.

What is physical fitness? Physical fitness includes five health-related components: muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory fitness, flexibility and body composition. The FIRM workouts are designed with these components in mind. Once you’ve begun to see results on the scale, in your jeans and with your tape measure, what are the benefits you don’t see?

I don’t know about you, but it seems the older I get, the harder it is to rebound from holiday excess back to my summer weight. But lucky for me, I have a proven way to get my weight and my body back to where I am most comfortable and looking my best.

My thought has always been that when you have no control of anything else in the world, you can get control of yourself. It will make you feel more powerful, healthier, clearer and creative. How you look is directly related to how you feel, and how others relate to you. Better posture, a little toning and firming, a longer neck, and a flatter tummy are all directly related to your self-esteem.

With today’s hectic schedules, it seems like there is just no time for anything besides the day-to-day hustle. This can make taking time to make healthy choices seem like a luxury.

What’s your typical day like? For many people, it’s up in the morning and off to work with no time for breakfast, or up in the morning, drive through the closest fast food joint and haul butt to work. And that’s just breakfast. The rest of the day will likely include snacking at your desk and lunch at some place that, while close to work, may or may not have healthy options.

What do you love about your body and why? Do you automatically think to yourself, “Uh, nothing?” I don’t know about you, but whenever I try to come up with a list of good things about myself it takes a lot of thought and time. Now, if you were to ask me what I would like to improve about my body, I could give you a list of ten things in no time flat.

Why is this? Why is it so easy for us to be self-deprecating (no matter if we are in the best or worst shape of our lives)? Yet when we are asked to name a positive or two, we really have to stop and think. And I mean really stop and think for a while, maybe even a day or two.

Although this may seem an incredible concept, as far as I am concerned, so are diets. If diets and diet books worked, there would not be a multi-multibillion–dollar diet industry. You can and will experience how you can address your body in a new and effective way. If weight is an issue for you, it is a symptom of how you want to change your life. By changing your weight you will change your life.