Spring Has Sprung – Have you?

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 --Spring Has Sprung – Have you?

Daylight Savings Time means it’s lighter later, which gives us more time for outdoor exercise! The wonderful spring weather is a reminder that now is the time to tone up your body for summer’s skin-revealing clothing.

Shorts & short-sleeved tops show off your calves, thighs, biceps, and triceps. To tone those muscles, you’ll need to do a variety of exercises. Do heel raises for your calves. Any exercises that cause you to bend and straighten your knees will tone your thighs, like leg extensions and curls, squats, or lunges. Any exercises that cause you to bend and straighten your arms will tone your biceps and triceps, such as bicep curls and triceps extensions.

Sleeveless tops reveal your shoulders, in addition to your arms. Add any kind of exercise where you lift your upper arm, such as overhead presses, front raises, and lateral raises to tone your shoulders.

Tank tops, spaghetti straps, halter tops, etc. also show off your chest and upper back. To tone those muscles, you need to do exercises where your arms are up at shoulder height and you are pushing them forward (for the chest) and pulling them backward (for the back). For example, you can do flyes and reverse flyes or chest presses and high rows.

Swimsuits additionally reveal your hips, glutes and abs, which means you need a full body toning workout. However, the most important thing you need, in order to look good in a swim suit, is confidence. I’ve seen overweight women look great in a swim suit because it was the right suit for their body, in a great color for their skin tone, and they had a lot of confidence wearing it. I’ve also seen women who had good bodies but didn’t look very good in swim suits, mostly because they lacked confidence, although swim suit style and color also played a role.

Therefore, start springing into spring, toning up, and building confidence in yourself, your body, and your swim suit.

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.

Adding More Food Groups to Your Meals

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– Adding More Food Groups to Your Meals

I try to eat from 3-5 food groups in each meal and at least 2 food groups per snack. Here are some suggestions how to add more food groups to your meals and snacks:

Breakfast is more difficult than other meals, but I still try to include 3 food groups. For example, cereal with milk and fruit, toast with peanut butter and juice, or a fried egg sandwich: egg, cheese and toast.

Lunch is a great time to eat all five food groups in one meal. For example, a turkey and cheese sandwich with a piece of fruit and a handful of baby carrots or cottage cheese (protein and dairy) heated on cooked pasta (it’s like a healthy alfredo sauce) with a small salad and piece of fruit.

For snacks, I try to eat at least two food groups. There are different possibilities depending on whether I’m home or out of the house. Out of the house I have non-perishable snacks, such as peanuts, crackers, pretzels and raisins (or other dried fruit). At home, there’s carrots dipped in hummus, apples slices spread with peanut butter, yogurt and fruit, pretzels dipped in cottage cheese or cheese and crackers.

Dinner is my last chance to catch up on any needed food groups. I make sure to include at least protein, grains and vegetables, which are all typical dinner foods. Adding fruit can be done by adding fresh or dried fruit to a salad or having a fruit salad for dessert. Dairy can be added by topping chili, noodles or other foods with cheese or by adding yogurt to your fruit salad for dessert.

It’s not difficult to add more food groups to your meals; it’s just a matter of thinking about it, and sometimes getting creative.

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

Weekly Menus

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 -- Weekly menus

Spending half an hour a week planning your menus for the next week is a great way to eat healthier all week long. I start with two pieces of paper: one for dinner menus and one for groceries. The following is what works for me:
Menus:
1. I write the days of the week, spaced out, down the left side of the paper.
2. I write any plans I already have that will affect dinner next to the days they will occur.
3. Of the days without plans, I pick three days when I will cook dinner.
4. I choose two days when we will have leftovers.
5. I choose two days when I will cook something quick & easy, like frozen meals, boxed or packaged meals, or pasta served with jarred sauce.
6. I check my pantry, fridge and freezer for what dinner foods I already have, such as frozen meat, frozen dinners, rice, potatoes, pasta, etc.
7. From there, I start to fill in my menus of what quick & easy foods I could make. If I don’t have much, then I add some quick & easy meals to my grocery list.
8. Using what foods I already have as a start, I decide what meals I will cook this week. I make sure my dinners include protein, grains and vegetables. Adding dairy and/or fruit is a bonus.
9. In addition to writing my cooking menus on my menus paper, I add whatever ingredients I will need to my grocery list.
10. To my grocery list I also add any breakfast, lunch or snack foods we need.

I don’t get around to doing this every week, but when I do, my entire week runs more smoothly. I never wonder what we’ll have for dinner tonight, and my family eats healthier all week long.

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

Creating the SWEET Life Habit

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 – Creating the SWEET Life Habit

If I had to say one word about living the SWEET Life (instead of 5 words), it would have to be “consistency.“ Follow through is the key to success. To know what the SWEET Life stands for (i.e., Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise & Tranquility) is the first step. To adapt the SWEET Life to your own lifestyle is the second step. To create the habit of living the SWEET Life is the third step. This is where consistency starts to play a role because creating a habit is, necessarily, following through regularly.

How do you create the habit of living the SWEET Life? How do you get consistency? Start by making “good constraints,” which are good, little rules to live by. These little rules should have a time associated with them to work most successfully. Here are some SWEET Life examples of “good constraints:”

Sleep: I go to bed as soon as I got home from work (9:15 p.m. or 10:00 p.m., depending on the day). I constrained myself to the fact that as soon as I leave my house for work in the evening, my day at home is done; there’s no evening time at home after work, only bedtime. The good part is that I slept better.

Water: I fill a pitcher in the morning with 2 quarts of water with the “constraint” of finishing it by the end of the day. The “good” part is that I have a limited amount of water sitting there looking at me all day, beckoning me to drink it.

Eating: Simple observations tell me that (1) people eat too much, and (2) what they eat isn’t nutritious. At the same time, people feel a diet is extremely constraining, which is why they don’t last long. I view it in the opposite way. I don’t call it “diet” I call it “eating,” the point being to EAT, rather than restrict your eating. That said, my “good constraint” is to eat mostly nutritious foods. The “good” is that there is a huge variety of nutritious foods. The “constraint” is that they have to be nutritious.

Exercise: My “good constraint” is that I plan to exercise first thing in the morning Monday through Friday, and I go to the gym with a friend a few times a week. The constraint is that I have to be home before my husband goes to work. The “good” thing is that by the time I eat breakfast, I’ve already exercised and don’t have to think about it the rest of the day. However, if I don’t workout every weekday, I can still workout on the weekends.

Tranquility: My “good constraint” was that my girls took naps every afternoon. That was “good” in that it gave me time to relax and do my own thing, but I was “constrained” by the time they woke up. My problem now is that I need a new “good constraint” because my older daughter is out-growing her nap.

Another benefit of the “good constraints” is that they are, by nature, limited. For example, I feel free not to exercise both weekend days because I’ve already exercised 5 days a week. I feel free to eat a piece of chocolate every day because I know that almost everything else I eat is nutritious. I feel free to wake up extra early to get stuff done because I already got a full night’s sleep.

Think about what “good constraints” will work for your personality and lifestyle. Then, you can create the habit of living the SWEET Life. It takes time to create a new habit, and some parts of living the SWEET Life will be easier than others. Persevere and be consistent, and you will be living the SWEET Life!

Sources:

Maymin, Senia. (March 1, 2007, 11:59 pm) Create New Habits: The GOOD Constraints. Positive Psychology News Daily, NY. http://pos-psych.com/news/senia-maymin/20070301137

Pollan, Michael. (January 28, 2007). Unhappy Meals. The New York Times Magazine. http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=87

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

Tranquility through the Back

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 –Tranquility through the Back

What is the importance of Tranquility? Of course, there are detrimental health effects of chronic stress, but on a day to day basis, does it really matter if we get 30 minutes of Tranquility? It’s a matter of build up, or lack thereof. Having no time to relax one day won’t have much of an effect on you, but as that stress builds over the course of a few days or weeks, it will negatively affect other aspects of your life and SWEET Life as well.

The other day I had one of the few massages I’ve ever had in my life. I felt like I was rushing around all morning in order to do everything I needed to beforehand. Rushing in order to relax is strange, huh? The massage was wonderful. Ed focused on the areas of my back that had been giving me pain. I felt like he spent forever working out the kinks in my back. If I typically get tranquility every day, why was my back so tight? I felt so much more relaxed afterward. The worst part of a massage is always getting up afterward, instead of just sleeping on the massage table. Unfortunately, my girls didn’t sleep that afternoon, so I was right back into mommy mode afterwards.

At the same time, there are similar, free methods of relaxation. A nice hard back rub feels great, too, as does a big back scratch. I often give my family back scratches in the morning when they wake up. It gets the blood flowing and helps them wake up. Also, as I always say, “Everyone loves a back scratch in the morning.” You can also hop in a hot tub and have the jets blasting your back. One newer trend is foam rollers. You can put the roller on the floor and roll your back along it, either vertically or horizontally. Rolling either direction feels great, and you control the amount of pressure and specific areas of pressure yourself.

Take care of your back; it’s what holds you upright!

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

SMART Goals, BAT Goals, and SO on

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 - SMART Goals, BAT Goals, and SO on

SMART Goals are:

· Specific
· Measurable
· Achievable
· Relevant
· Timely

By setting a SMART Goal, including explanations of how your goal fulfills each aspect of SMART, you are likely setting a goal you can succeed in. Think of what a SMART Goal would be for you to achieve within the next 4-6 weeks. That amount of time is long enough to make a difference, but not too long that you’ll lose motivation. If your main goal will take longer than 4-6 weeks to accomplish, then decide on one step towards your goal that you can achieve within 4-6 weeks.

BAT Goals stand for Be Able To. Setting goals that you will “Be Able To” do is one way of ensuring they are SMART goals. It shifts the focus from an abstraction to an ability.

& SO on

One problem that hampers many of us from achieving our goals is that we merely set them, without considering how to accomplish them. It is essential to clarify the Steps to our goals. What steps do I need to take, how often, where, when, etc. all need to be considered in order to clarify the steps to success. In addition, we all have Obstacles, which is why we have goals that we need to accomplish. What is important is to identify our Obstacles and figure out ways to work around them.

It seems like a lot to consider: SMART goals, BAT goals, Steps, & Obstacles. It’s enough to make you want to give up the whole idea of having goals. However, once these initials steps are taken, following through is that much easier because all of the thought has been done. You only need follow-through!

For example, my new goal is to strengthen my core. Specifically, to Be Able To do the Body Reading Exercises that I learned last weekend in a workshop (which makes it Timely). I want to be able to do them easily and correctly (which makes it Measurable). It’s Achievable within 4-6 weeks because I already have a certain amount of core strength, and it’s Relevant because I’ve had lower back pain recently. The Steps are to do new ab, chest and back exercises that I learned in my workshop last weekend, five times a week. I’m also going to change my computer chair because I think it’s contributing to my back problems. My Obstacles are needing more time to do more exercises and adjusting to using my stability ball as my computer chair. I can work around those obstacles by getting up a few minutes earlier, knowing the value of having core body strength and by pumping up my stability ball in order for it to be high enough for my computer keyboard.

Go ahead and try it! Daylight Savings Time, St. Patrick’s Day, Spring Equinox, Easter, and Spring Break are all in about a month, in case any of those are Relevant Times to Achieve a goal. Make a plan, then follow your plan. You can do it!

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

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

Recipe: Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast

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 #21 – Recipe: Pot Roast

My family loves all-in-one meals where the protein, grains/starches and vegetables (and possibly dairy) are combined into one dish. I received a slow cooker for Christmas, so I’ve been reading a lot of slow cooker recipes and trying some out. Unfortunately, a lot of them are what I call “high-involvement,” meaning I have to spend 30 minutes or longer preparing or cooking. I thought the point of a slow cooker is that you dump a bunch of stuff in, turn it on, and leave for 4-8 hours! I don’t want to spend more than 30 minutes chopping vegetables, browning meat, making sauces, etc. Tonight, I modified a couple of pot roast recipes to make an easy pot roast with potatoes and carrots. It was fork tender, my family loved it, and it was easy:

Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Pot roast
1 can beef broth
1 packet onion soup mix
6 Fingerling potatoes, washed
6 Carrots, washed and trimmed

Trim fat off pot roast. (My husband was kind enough to coat the meat in flour and brown in on the stove. All the recipes called for it, but I was going to skip it.) Place pot roast in slow cooker. Pour beef broth over meat. Sprinkle onion soup mix over meat. Place potatoes and carrots on top of meat. Cook on high 4 hours or on low 8 hours.

A few comments on this meal: Soups tend to be very high in sodium, but you can buy low sodium beef broth and see if there is low sodium onion soup mix. Pot roast is not known for being one of the healthiest types or cuts of meat. I eat pot roast about once a year, so I guess I’m done for 2008. But it sure tastes good, and it’s a great comfort food on a cold, rainy day! If you want to feel ecologically better about eating pot roast, buy it from a local, organic farm.

I welcome your feedback on the Topic of the Week. You can share your comments at: http://sweetlifeweekly.blogspot.com/. 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 replying to this email.

Also, new this week, is my website: http://livingthesweetlife.net/

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

Suzanne

Improved Breakfasts

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 -Improved breakfasts

Do you eat breakfast? If not, are you overweight? If so, what do you eat? Are you a consistent non-thinker, eating the same breakfast every day? I grew up that way: cold cereal every day for 18 years. Do you eat blow-out weekend breakfasts, but modest weekday ones? Do you like to vary your breakfasts? Thanks to my husband, we eat a variety of great breakfasts. I’m going to give you some breakfast suggestions below, but first . . .

Why Eat Breakfast?

Some people aren’t hungry in the morning, and the experts always say only to eat when you are hungry. So why eat breakfast if you aren’t hungry and you’re in a hurry to get out the door anyway? Here are seven reasons why:

1. “People who eat breakfast are significantly less likely to be obese and diabetic than those who usually don’t,” says the American Heart Association.
2. Research shows that you will eat fewer calories over the course of the day if you eat breakfast than if you skip it.
3. People who skip breakfast tend to feel “starved” or “low energy” later in the day, like mid-morning or mid-afternoon, and then they overeat sugary, salty and/or fatty snacks, with little nutrition, to satiate those feelings.
4. No diets ever say to skip a meal. On the contrary, they say to eat 5-6 small meals or 3 meals and 1-2 snacks. Skipping meals does not lead to weight loss; it only leads to slower metabolism. . .
5. . . . Because you haven’t eaten in about 12 hours, your metabolism has slowed to a trickle in order to conserve what little energy your body has left. By eating, your metabolism works faster because it has some calories to burn. And the higher the metabolism, the more you can eat without gaining weight!
6. You will be more alert and productive in the morning if you eat breakfast.
7. Set a good example for your family and spend a little family time together in the morning, even if it’s only 10 minutes.

Suggestions:

First of all, to save time in the morning, set the table and put out any non-perishable food items the night before.

Also, include whole grains and protein to regulate blood sugar levels and make it last longer in your belly.

· Old-fashioned oatmeal (which is whole grain and only takes 5 min. to cook) or Cream of Wheat made with milk and topped with dried fruit
· Yogurt with fruit or granola
· Fruit or fruit salad
· Whole grain cereal with milk, topped with fruit
· Cottage cheese with fruit
· A scrambled or fried egg only takes a couple minutes to cook, or hard boil a bunch of eggs and eat them throughout the week
· On the weekend cook lots of whole grain pancakes (with chopped fruit in them), waffles or French toast and refrigerate the leftovers to toast up quickly during the week
· Serve pancakes, waffles or French toast with fruit, yogurt or applesauce instead of syrup

Portable breakfast suggestions, in case you need to eat on the run:

· A fried egg sandwich on whole grain toast with a slice of cheese
· Whole grain toast, English muffin, or bagel with cheese or peanut butter
· Slice a banana lengthwise and stuff it with peanut butter (keep it in the skin for easier transport)
· Hard-boiled egg
· Whole grain breakfast bar
· Dry whole grain cereal in a small container
· Trail mix or dried fruit
· A piece of fresh fruit
· Fruit Smoothie made with yogurt and fruit
· Juice

Avoid enriched, processed foods (white toast, bagels or English muffins; donuts; Eggo’s; pop-tarts; etc.) because they give you a sugar rush, which is followed by a sugar crash. They also lack nutrients your body needs.

In conclusion, breakfast can be quick and simple, but make it nutritious and make sure to eat it!

Sources:

http://secure.ehealthconnection.com/hage/approot/owl/content/breakfast.asp

http://weightloss.about.com/library/blbreakfast.htm

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3009715

http://www.in.gov/inshape/files/BreakfastTime.pdf

Have a SWEET week!

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

Arguments For & Against Eating Dairy

Appraising Your Success

Here it is the end of the first week of the year! It is a good time to review 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, then focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently. You need a plan, not a hope, in order to be successful. If your plan isn’t working, it’s time to revise your plan.
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? If so, that’s great! Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll continue to experience all of these feelings! If not, know that by living the SWEET Life, you will feel all these great feelings!

Topic of the week –Arguments For & Against Eating Dairy

Nowadays, there seem to be a lot of people, especially women, who are cutting dairy out of their diets. At the same time, the dairy industry’s ads say that drinking milk will help you lose weight. What’s true vs. fiction? Why should you or shouldn’t you consume dairy products? I searched the internet for arguments both for and against dairy products. As with all internet research, I tried to screen carefully for reputable sources of information because there is a lot of unsubstantiated bias out there. The best sources of information I found are listed at the bottom, so check them out.

First, why you should NOT drink milk. There are four main reasons why people don’t drink milk. Some people are concerned about the hormones given to dairy cows in order to supplement their diets and help them produce more milk. I didn’t find evidence that those hormones pass through the milk in sufficient quantities to endanger humans. Perhaps you can find the contrary.

Another reason not to drink milk is the high saturated-fat content and calories. However, low fat dairy products, such as milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. have significantly lower saturated fat content than full-fat versions, and the calorie intake is moderate. Even the dairy industry suggests low fat, rather than full-fat, dairy products.

Some people are lactose intolerant, which is an extremely good reason no to drink milk! However, this problem can often be alleviated by a small, regular introduction of dairy products, like yogurt and some types of cheese, which have lower quantities of lactose than milk does.

The most significant reason for not consuming dairy products is that milk today comes from industrialized factories, just like our cars, computers and Ipods. That means, the goal is to have the highest output in the shortest time. The farmers do everything that modern man has created to achieve their goal. Their cows are not pets; they are factory workers. They are used and abused as long as they produce; then they are “made final use of” and replaced. If all this is appalling enough to make you stop eating dairy, then I completely understand.

Fortunately, for us in California, we do have local dairy farms which are not industrialized factories and which produce organic milk from pastured cows. So then, on the flip side, why should you consume dairy products? First of all, they taste yummy! I love dairy products: milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream, butter, cream, etc. Besides tasting good, they come in all shapes, sizes and flavors. They combine well with other foods, such as cheese and bread, broccoli and cheddar, yogurt and fruit, ham and cheese, just to name a few. Dairy products have been dietary staples since ancient times.

Nutritionally, dairy products are the best source of calcium, which helps build strong bones and teeth. They are also a good source of protein, second only to meat in protein content. Milk also contains significant amounts of your daily recommended intake of Vitamins A, B-12, D and Phosphorous. That’s a total of six nutritional essentials, in significant quantities, from one dietary source: dairy.

Lastly, studies show consuming dairy helps with weight loss. Consuming the same number of calories, there was increased weight loss on a diet containing diary products compared to one without dairy. It seems that calcium wraps around fat and leads it out the back door without being digested. Studies also show that consuming calcium from food sources is better than calcium supplements, which is no surprise. It is the nature of “supplements” not to be the main source of any nutrient; hence the name” supplement”!

In conclusion, I recommend eating dairy for two reasons: it has important nutritional value, and I don’t support cutting out any major food groups. Plus, it tastes great!

Sources:
http://calag.ucop.edu/0205SO/pdfs/orgmilk.pdf
http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/myths.htm#foodmyths
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/slim/calcium.shtml
http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming_cows_dairy.asp
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/dairy.htm
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040416/dairy-foods-fat-weight-loss

Look for another topic next week!

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

Why Exercise!?

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week/month and year is a good time to review 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, then focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently. You need a plan, not a hope, in order to be successful. If your plan isn’t working, it’s time to revise your plan.
How do you feel at the end of this week/month/year? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? If so, that’s great! Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll continue to experience all of these feelings! If not, just know that by living the SWEET Life, you will feel all these great feelings!

Topic of the week - Exercise Drudgery vs. Habit

One day when I lived in France in 1991, I went to my local hangout and told the very good-looking bartender that I had just gone running in the Bois du Bologne. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Why!?” I was floored. I had five reasons off the top of my head, but, basically, running was pointless to him. I was reminded of this recently when a member at the health club where I’m a Fitness Trainer asked me about working out twice a day. My first thought was, “Why!?” If I had the time to exercise twice a day, there are a lot of other things I would prefer to do instead. Lastly, I have a friend who just joined a local gym and started working out with a Personal Trainer. She doesn’t like it and just wishes she didn’t have to exercise at all. So all this made me think about those people who feel exercise is drudgery and whose reaction to exercise is, “Why!?”

Therefore, my topic for this week is: Why I Exercise
1. To feel strong and physically capable
2. To eat whatever I want
3. To sleep better
4. To have energy
5. To be able to play actively with my kids
6. To solve all my problems
7. To have a good reason to shower
8. To wear any of my clothes and know it will fit
9. To know that, in the dressing room, if it doesn’t fit, it’s the cut of the clothes and not the shape of my body
10. One word: bikini
11. To feel relaxed afterwards (Tranquility)
12. To enjoy Alameda’s beautiful scenery
13. To be “medically boring” and not need any medications
14. To be healthy, with only ~2 colds per year
15. To have longevity

These are my personal reasons for exercising, with #1-2 being the most important reasons. #3-5 are strong secondary reasons for exercising, and the rest are additional reasons why I exercise. Doctors will give you more physiological reasons, like improved bone density, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, etc. As the New Year approaches, think about how you look and feel physically and what you might want to change about that in 2008, knowing that exercise is the way to change the way your body physically looks and feels. I remember in high school tying all my belts around my waist, thinking that would somehow make it smaller. It didn’t. Sit-ups do.

Happy New Year!

Suzanne

How to Have a SWEET Christmas

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 - How to Have a SWEET Christmas

Here, I expose my religious orientation, which is Christian. If you do not celebrate Christmas, you might be able to apply these ideas to a holiday that you do celebrate. If you do celebrate Christmas, here are some suggestions for how to have a SWEET Merry Christmas.

Sleep
If you have kids, tell them to go to bed early because the earlier they to go sleep, the earlier Santa will come. Also tell them they can’t leave their bedrooms until it’s light outside (~7:00 a.m.). Once it’s light, they should wake you up and only open their stockings before you are there (or whatever other restrictions you want to set). At the same time, you should also have your visit with Santa as early as possible (remember, gifts from Santa aren’t necessarily wrapped) so that you can go to bed early too. And don’t eat Santa’s cookies & milk just before bed because the sugar could give you strange dreams and disrupt your sleep.

Water
It’s easy to forget and to be too busy to drink water on Christmas day. Here are a few suggestions that might help you remember to hydrate yourself:
· Drink water each time you eat
· Drink water between alcoholic drinks
· If you’ll be at your own home, have a cup in the bathroom and drink some water each time you go in there.

Eating
Don’t “save up” and only eat Christmas dinner because of the “interest” that accrues when you starve yourself. You always hear that you’ll eat more at that one meal if you starve yourself beforehand. Well, I always thought that made sense because the extra calories at that one meal make up for not eating breakfast or lunch. However, what actually happens is that you “accrue interest” and end up eating more total daily calories and more fat, salt and sugar calories when you starve yourself then gorge yourself on one meal. Besides that, you will feel stuffed and uncomfortable for several hours after eating a huge meal.

Now that I’ve convinced you not to starve yourself all Christmas day, be conscientious to eat nutritiously during the other meals of the day. Eat small, simple meals of fruits and veggies and whole grains. These foods have a low glycemic index and a high nutrient content, which means they will keep your blood sugar (i.e., energy) level consistent and add the vitamins and minerals that you might miss in your big, Christmas dinner.

At the same time, and most importantly, enjoy your Christmas dinner! Like I said at Thanksgiving, serve yourself just a few bites-worth of each dish. If you don’t like something, don’t waste stomach space and calories by eating it. Just leave the rest, which will only be 1-2 bites-worth anyway. Holiday feasts tend to be high in protein, fat and high-calorie, low-nutrient carbs. Therefore, load up on any fruits and veggies that you can to get some balance in your nutritional load.

Another way to help control your eating is to wear close-fitting clothes with a belt to prevent yourself from eating too much. Remember the Hawaiians: they wore loose-fitting muumuus and weighed 300 lb. Don’t eat like a Hawaiian.

You’ll feel more comfortable and consume fewer calories and more healthy nutrients if you do the above.

Exercise
My first thought is: skip it; it’s Christmas!
However, my husband’s family likes to take a walk together after a noontime Christmas dinner. It’s actually very nice to get out in the fresh air and move around a bit after sitting around and eating so much. If the weather continues as is, we should have a beautiful sunny day for taking a nice family walk.

Tranquility
Tranquility could be an easy, natural part of Christmas.
Or Christmas could be stressful due to family relations, having too much to do, having too much to cook and prepare for the family, etc. If Christmas = stress, then you definitely need to plan some Tranquility into your day. It’s a great Christmas gift to yourself. Tell your family you need ½ hr. (or 1 hr.), so they know to leave you alone. Consider your schedule for the day, and decide if, mentally, you need it before the onslaught of Christmas or after it, in order to unwind from the day. Here are some examples:
· Go to church; ‘tis the reason for the season.
· Morning: take a bath with nice bath oil or salts, a candle, and peaceful Christmas music to start your day.
· Noon: After opening gifts with your immediate family and before your afternoon or evening extended family gathering, take a walk, or have a family “Quiet time” when everyone does something quietly, like read a book, newspaper, or magazine; play with new, quiet toys; watch a football game, etc.
· Evening: If your Christmas celebration ends by the early evening, it’s a good time to take a walk and enjoy the Christmas lights in your neighborhood, watch a Christmas movie, use a Christmas gift (if you received anything relaxing), etc.

Christmas should be a fun, happy celebration. It’s up to you to make sure you have a SWEET, wonderful day.

Merry Christmas!

Suzanne

How to Add Tranquility to Your Daily Routine

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 -- How to Add Tranquility to Your Daily Routine

The “T” in the SWEET Life is for Tranquility. It’s really about tension-reduction or stress-relief. As much as it would be nice to live in a constantly tranquil world, no one does. We all have stress in our lives; some of us have more stress than others. At the same time, some stress is within our control, but some is not. Because of that, it is important to have multiple methods of relieving your stress. Some people just accept that their lives are extremely stressful; those are the people who need methods of relieving stress the most!

Excessive stress over time can contribute to a variety of ailments, such as hypertension, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, ulcers, neck or low back pain. Stress can negatively affect many aspects of the SWEET Life as well. Stress can cause insomnia, as you think about what is stressing you, rather than sleep. Stress can cause you not to pay attention to drinking your daily water. Stress can cause you to eat “comfort” foods, especially those high in salt, sugar, and fat, rather than eating a variety of nutritious foods. Stress can cause you not to exercise, convincing yourself that you don’t have time for it. And thus the downward spiral of stress makes you not live any aspects of the SWEET Life.

Everyone needs multiple, healthy methods of relieving stress because, depending on the situation, we can’t always do our preferred method. Personally, exercise is my preferred method of relieving stress. A 3-mile run can solve all my problems because it gives me time for my mind to wander, absorb whatever’s on my mind, and find solutions to any problems. However, if it’s night time or raining, I can’t run, so I need other methods. Journaling also works for me; writing down whatever is on my mind helps me clarify what is causing stress and work out solutions. Some people prefer calming types of stress-relief like a bath, yoga, listening to relaxing music, meditation, etc. Others prefer hobbies, such as knitting, baking, painting, etc. to help them relieve stress and find tranquility. Others prefer more active pursuits, like exercise, playing with their kids, driving, gardening, etc. What’s important is to find healthy things to do, rather than alcohol, drugs, shopping, etc. It’s also important to find a variety of things that will make you feel tranquil to do in different circumstances.

Lastly, it’s important to spend time every day in tranquility. A mere 30-minutes a day will go far in helping you relax, relieve stress and find tranquility. An hour a day is even better.

The following web pages are excellent sources of information about stress:
http://www.stress.org/americas.htm
http://www.stress.org/topic-reduction.htm?AIS=6934505de631c228b165483c7f4652c7

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

How to add exercise to your daily routine

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 -- How to add exercise to your daily routine

If you don’t have the habit of exercising regularly, the task of adding daily exercise may seem daunting. However, you may be surprised to find that it takes less time to add the recommended amount of daily exercise than it does to add enough sleep to get the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep (if you only sleep 5-6 hours)!

The official recommendation for exercise is: “Adults should engage in moderate-intensity physical activities for at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days of the week,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/American College of Sports Medicine. Some physical benefits of exercise are: a stronger heart and respiratory system, stronger bones, decreased body fat, increased functional ability, increased calorie burn, increased metabolism, increased energy, increased lean body mass, relief of muscle soreness, improved posture, improved self-discipline, and improved quality of life.

Some disease-related benefits of exercise are: lower blood pressure, increased HDL (good cholesterol), improved cholesterol ratio, improved immune function, improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, decreased resting heart rate, and decreased risk of injury.

There are always a lot of little things you can do to add physical activity to your day: park at the far end of the parking lot, take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, do 2 minutes of toning exercises during the commercial breaks of your favorite TV show, hop on any stationary cardio machine (treadmill, elliptical, bike, etc.) while watching your favorite TV show, sit on a stability ball at your desk (either at home or at work), take a 30-minute walk during lunch, walk anywhere that’s less than ½ mile away rather than drive there, etc.

Some physical activities might even seem pleasant, like taking a walk with your family after dinner, going for a swim on a hot day, going for a walk, hike or bike ride with family or friends on the weekends, or playing in the park with your kids (rather than watching them play from a bench). It’s important to do something that you enjoy; otherwise, you won’t follow through.

Decide what time of the day will work best for you to exercise, and set up an appointment with yourself for exercise. For a year, I’ve been exercising at 6 a.m. so that I could finish before my husband left for work. Now I’m burning out and having a hard time getting up that early, so I’ve decided to exercise in the middle of the afternoon while my girls are napping. The point is to set up a specific time and follow through as if it were an appointment for a job interview: don’t back out on yourself!

Also, decide what types of exercise you will do on which days; you need cardio, muscle toning, and flexibility. Stretching is good to do after all types of exercise. Beyond that, you can either segregate or combine cardio and toning exercises. However, your muscles need a rest after the fatigue of toning exercises, so be sure to work the same muscle groups only once per 48 hours. If you want to combine cardio and toning exercises every day, just make sure to tone different muscles on different days. Alternatively, you can do toning exercises every other day. You can do cardio and flexibility every day.

In addition, exercise benefits the other aspects of the SWEET Life in these ways: improved Sleep, increased thirst (i.e., you need to drink more Water), increased metabolism (i.e., you can Eat more), and decreased stress (i.e., increased Tranquility). Add exercise to your daily routine and reap the benefits!

Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/recommendations/index.htm
http://www.fitness.gov/fitness.htm
Yoke, Mary. ((2003). A Guide to Personal Fitness Training, Revised Edition. Aerobics and Fitness Association of America: Sherman Oaks.

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

Recipe: Hearty Rice Skillet

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 -- Recipe: Hearty Rice Skillet

Here’s a recipe for an easy, low-fat, all-in-one meal. It has beans for protein, mixed veggies, and brown rice. It has a stew-like consistency and is great with bread. It’s a little sweet, which is why the recipe calls for hot pepper sauce; however, don’t include that if you’re serving it to kids. To lower the sodium content, use low sodium versions of the ingredients.

Hearty Rice Skillet

Prep: 5 min. Cook: 20 min.

1 15-oz. can black, garbanzo, or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups loose-pack frozen mixed vegetables
1 14-oz. can stewed tomatoes, cut up
1 cup water
¾ cup quick-cooking brown rice
½ teaspoon dried thyme, crushed, or dried dill weed
Several dashes bottled hot pepper sauce (optional)
1 10-oz. can condensed tomato soup
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted
½ cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese (2 oz.)

In a large skillet stir together beans, vegetables, undrained tomatoes, water, uncooked rice, thyme or dill weed, and, if desired, hot pepper sauce. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 12-14 minutes or till rice is tender.

Stir in soup; heat through. Before serving, sprinkle with almonds and cheese. Makes 4 main dish servings.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 329 cal, 9 g total fat (2 g sat fat), 8 mg chol, 1206 mg sodium, 53 g carbo, 7 g fiber, 18 g protein. Daily Values: 39% vit. A, 81% vit. C, 16% calcium, 24% iron

Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book 11th ed. (1996). Meredith Corporation: Des Moines, p. 61.

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne

Healthy Snacks and Appetizers

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 -- Healthy Snacks and Appetizers

Eating snacks between meals is a great way to prevent yourself from feeling starving and overeating at your next meal. Snacks need to be quick and easy to eat without any preparation, and I like to eat snacks that are 100-200 calories. That’s enough to tide me over until the next meal, but not enough to count as a meal.
Here are some suggestions:
· Whole grain crackers
· Low fat cheese
· Whole grain pretzels dipped in low fat cottage cheese
· Veggies dipped in hummus
· Fruit
· A handful of nuts
· A handful of raisins or other dried fruit
· Low fat yogurt, but read the ingredients because some have a lot of sugar
· Turkey & cheese roll-ups (just a slice of each rolled up together)
· A hard-boiled egg
Energy bars are a great snack if you buy nutritionally balanced ones. There are a lot out there, and many are close to eating either a candy bar or dry toast. Read the labels carefully, looking for a balance of carbs, protein and fat. Ones with healthy ingredients (as opposed to lots of chemicals) are a good idea as well. I suggest ones with about 200 calories, which you could break in half if you only wanted to eat 100 calories. They are non-perishable and individually wrapped, which makes them very easy to tote around with you.

When you are out & about, it is hard to find healthy snacks, which is why it’s a good idea to carry some with you. I generally wouldn’t consider anything at a café to be healthy, unless they sell a piece of fruit.

Do you have any other snack suggestions? I’d love to hear them.

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne