Skinny-fat

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week - Skinny-fat

I learned the term “skinny-fat” recently, referring to people who are skinny but out of shape. Supermodels and actresses fit into this category, as do most men, it seems. “Skinny-fat” probably refers to most of the thin people we see on the street, considering Americans penchant for fast food and a sedentary lifestyle. Fat people hate them for being naturally thin, but they are not necessarily fit. They don’t necessarily have a faster metabolism than the rest of us, just as overweight people don’t necessarily have a slower metabolism than the rest of us. However, “skinny-fat” people succeed in the most important component of maintaining weight: the number of calories consumed equals the number of calories burned.

So the question of the week is: Are “skinny-fat” people living the SWEET Life? Let’s see . . .

Do they get 7-8 hours of Sleep per night? There is a lot of research showing a connection between lack of sleep and weight gain, which is why Sleep is an important aspect of the SWEET Life! Therefore, my guess is that “skinny-fat” people sleep enough.

Do they drink 8-10 cups of Water per day? Dehydration causes the body’s functions to slow down and work inefficiently, including metabolism. Ample hydration helps all the body’s functions run smoothly and efficiently and prevents you from retaining water as a survival mechanism. Therefore, I’d say that “skinny-fat” people drink enough water to keep their metabolisms running smoothly.

Do they Eat a balanced, healthy diet? They may or may not eat well. Most Americans don’t eat a balanced, healthy diet, despite the huge amounts of food available to us. Most importantly though, “skinny-fat” people don’t eat too much; they eat only as many calories as their bodies burn off.

Do they Exercise? “Skinny-fat” people don’t exercise. If they did, they would be “fit” not “fat.”

Do they have Tranquility? Since research shows that chronic stress causes weight gain and slower metabolism, I would say that “skinny-fat” people have their stress under control. They have Tranquility.

In sum:

Sleep – yes

Water – yes

Eating – maybe, maybe not

Exercise – no

Tranquility – yes

Surprisingly, diet and exercise, which most people think of as the keys to weight loss and staying skinny, are the two aspects of the SWEET Life that “skinny-fat” people are least likely to do! I must say, I’m very surprised by these results!

Sources:

· Google search for “lack of sleep and weight”:
http://www.google.com/search?q=lack+of+sleep+and+weight&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

· Google search for “stress and weight”:
http://www.google.com/search?q=stress+and+weight&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

· Inch-aweigh.com: Why drinking water really is the key to weight loss:
http://www.inch-aweigh.com/water.html

· Natural News.com: Healing with Water:
http://www.naturalnews.com/003202.html

Look for another topic next week, and keep living the SWEET Life!

Suzanne
Weekly Encouragement history: http://sweetlifeweekly.blogspot.com/
The SWEET Life of Suzanne blog: http://thesweetlifeofsuzanne.blogspot.com/
Website: http://livingthesweetlife.net/

Copyright © 2008 Suzanne Fong. All rights reserved.

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week– Chocolate’s Health Benefits

Since Valentine’s Day is this week I thought I’d write about chocolate. Besides, I love chocolate! If you love chocolate as much as I do, you know there has been recent research showing that it provides certain health benefits.

Chocolate contains flavanols, which, studies have shown, lower blood pressure, increase blood flow and promote a healthier heart. It’s also high in antioxidants, which attack cancer-causing free radicals. These flavanols are present in higher quantities in dark chocolate than in other types of chocolate. However, processing kills the flavanols, so producers are developing new methods to preserve the flavanols during processing.

Different studies use different types of chocolate and different quantities. For example, one study used one cup of hot cocoa, another used 30 g of dark vs. white chocolate, and yet another used 100 g of dark vs. milk chocolate. A typical American candy bar is about 2 oz. or 60 g. All the studies I read concluded that dark chocolate has more health benefits than milk or white chocolate and that the unhealthy, saturated fat in chocolate candy definitely compensates for any health benefits. However, hot cocoa made with water or skim milk contains almost no saturated fat.

In the end, it goes back to two things I always say: everything in moderation, and if you’re going to eat chocolate, make it good quality chocolate! Although the studies did not discuss the quality of the chocolate, high quality chocolate contains higher quantities of cocoa liquor and cocoa butter, no corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated oil and fewer preservatives and chemicals.

I think you’ll agree that very good quality, dark chocolate in a smaller amount is much better than a lot of cheap chocolate! Make sure your sweetie knows this before buying your Valentine’s chocolates!

At the same time, flowers and a hand-written card are calorie and fat free, and the card lasts forever.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate#Chocolate_liquor

http://www.chocolate.org/health/antioxidants.html

http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/3464/

http://www.medicationsense.com/articles/july_sept_03/chocolate.html

Look for another topic next week, and keep living the SWEET Life!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Suzanne

Don’t eat the whole SuperBOWL!

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week – Don’t eat the whole SuperBOWL!

Sunday is the Superbowl, which involves football, fantastic commercials, socializing with friends, and lots of food and drinks. The Superbowl has never been equated with healthy eating. Here are some suggestions for living the SWEET Life at a Superbowl party:

If you are giving the party, serve healthier versions of Superbowl classics:

Instead of:	Serve:
A variety of chips	veggies, popcorn and pita chips
Dip	Hummus
cream cheese	cheese or cottage cheese
fried egg rolls	tortilla roll-ups
Hot wings	grilled chicken breast skewers
Salami sandwiches	turkey sandwiches
Beef chili	turkey or vegetarian chili
sausages	chicken drumsticks
pre-made sandwiches	sandwich bar
pulled pork in barbeque sauce	roast pork
potato salad	green salad
Macaroni salad with a mayonnaise-based sauce	Pasta salad with Italian dressing
Waldorf salad or canned fruit cocktail in syrup	Fresh fruit salad

If you are going to a party:

· BYOF: Bring any of the healthy food choices above, so you know there will be at least one healthy thing to eat.

· CHOOSE which foods you will eat and not eat, such as:

· veggies and dip, but not chips and dip

· chili, but not sausages

· mini quiches, but not hot wings

· one of any of the desserts, but only one, etc.

In either case:

· Eat a healthy breakfast & lunch that day; then only eat at halftime (dinner).

· Serve a portion onto a plate or cup, rather than constantly dipping your hand into the bowl.

· After serving your portion, walk away from the food table, sit down and eat. Don’t sit near the bowls of snacks.

· Don’t eat bad-tasting food! Leave it on the plate. Don’t be a garbage disposer!

· Remember the “socializing with friends” aspect of the game and get too busy talking to eat.

· Drink water between each alcoholic drink.

· Don't let your friends drive home drunk.

I read recently that every minute is a chance to change and improve yourself, so if you find yourself at halftime having eaten a lot of junk food, it’s time to stop yourself and decide you’ve eaten enough for the whole game.

Look for another topic next week, and keep living the SWEET Life!

Suzanne

Fulfilling All the Food Quantities

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week - Fulfilling All the Food Quantities

If you are living the SWEET Life with me, then I’ve given you a SWEET Life Plan that includes the amounts you, personally, need of each aspect of the SWEET Life. You simply put the SWEET Life Plan in a plastic sheet protector and cross out each amount as you finish it. At the end of the day, you give it a quick review to see your strengths and weaknesses, erase the whole thing, and start fresh the next day. The main section that you need to keep track of is the Eating section because that’s the most complex of the five aspects of the SWEET Life. An example of it is below (without formatting):

Eating

Grains: 6 ounces (1 ounce equivalent is about 1 slice bread, 1 cup dry cereal, or ½ cup cooked rice, pasta, or cereal) eat whole grains
1oz. 1oz. 1oz. 1oz. 1oz. 1oz.

Vegetables: 2 ½ cups (Subgroups: Dark Green, Red, Orange, Starchy, Dry Beans and Peas, and Other Veggies)
½ c. ½ c. ½ c. ½ c. ½ c.

Fruit: 2 cups (Subgroups: green, yellow/orange, red, citrus)
½ c. ½ c. ½ c. ½ c.

Dairy: 3 cups (1½ oz. cheese = 1 cup milk)
½ c. ½ c. ½ c. ½ c. ½ c. ½ c.

Protein**: 5 ½ ounces (chicken, duck, pork or fish, 1 egg, 1 T. peanut butter, ½ ounce nuts, ¼ cup dry beans, 1 oz. soy, limited beef and lamb)
1oz. 1oz. 1oz. 1oz. 1oz. ½ oz.

Many people, including me, find it difficult to fulfill all the food quantities. Here are some suggestions for how to do it:

As you approach dinner time, review your Plan to see which food groups you are lacking. Make sure your dinner will fulfill the necessary food groups.

Leave the food groups open proportionately. Rather than eating all the grains and protein and very few fruits and veggies, for example, make sure to eat from all food groups in a balanced fashion and skimp a little bit on every food group.

Most importantly, think about what else you are eating that doesn’t fit in any of the food group categories because you know you are eating something! Make a plan for choosing healthier alternatives and follow through on your plan.

Source:
http://mypyramid.gov/

I welcome your feedback on the Topic of the Week. You can share your comments here. I am also looking for more topics of the week. If there are any topics related to the SWEET Life that you would like me to explore, please let me know by emailing me at suzanne@fong.net.

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne