Tis The Season For Portion Control
how watching portions will allow you holiday sweets and treats
Tis the season where sweets and treats are abundant, tempting and in your face at the office, home, friends and just about everywhere. We are hit with a slew of temptations from now until the New Year making it harder to stick with exercise and diet. Family gatherings and holiday travel make it sometimes difficult to continue on your fitness journey. The holidays revolve around good, rich and tasty foods which you want to and should partake in especially if you have been exercising and eating right diligently for the rest of the year. The key is portion control on the rich and sweet foods. Take into consideration the fact that it is not just one meal you will be attending that will include these foods so portion control is even more important.
It is easier to control a meal if you are the one hosting, making choices to use healthier alternatives which everyone will enjoy. This is a great way to give your guests some tips so they can use them for their own entertaining. Whipping up tasty treats for family and friends is a nice gesture but sharing nutritious meal tips can help your guests maintain a healthier lifestyle.
Food choices that are lower in sugar and fat can sometimes actually taste better than the original item. Using non fat plain yogurt in place of sour cream and mayonnaise can lower the fat of items such as coleslaw and other cold salads. Even egg and tuna salad is delicious done this way. You can also use lemons, grainy mustard and yogurt for a simple yet tasty, creamy salad dressing.
This holiday season, rather than serving sugary drinks and punches use all natural Fructevia, Steviva Brand Stevia Blend or Steviva Brand Stevia Powder. You don’t need to cut out sweets completely, just cut down on them and savor it with a small portion.
When being a guest, make sure to select the most nutritious items offered. Find a few of treats you like but take smaller portions so that you can enjoy more than one. Don’t go overboard, this way you can sample some more at your next outing and still stay inline with your calorie intake. If there is one item in particular you like best, forego all other sweets, then get a nice serving of that which you love the most and enjoy it.
Whichever course you elect to take, remember to have a great time and exercise moderation. Portion control will be your friend that helps you make it through the holiday season with out the gift of weight gain.
Thank all of you for your patronage.
Have an excellent day.
Thom King
President
thom.king@steviva.com
Steviva Brands, Inc
YOUR MIND
The Glass Is Always Half Full
Max Steingart
There is a good side to every situation. View your problems as opportunities.
You cannot have the success without the failures. Any experience can be transformed into something of value. Everything depends on the way you look at things.
What are stumbling blocks and defeat before you can be stepping stones to victory if you remain determined.
In all of your adversities lies the seeds of equivalent advantages. In every defeat there is a lesson showing you how to win the next time.
When it's dark enough you can see the stars.
YOUR BODY
Creating Time For Exercise
“Remember, when you exercise consistently, you’ll have something that’s truly beneficial for your heart and your soul.”
Life seems increasingly complex these days. There are children and pets to care for, partners who need attention and errands to run. On top of that, the cell phone is ringing, the email is chiming, faxes are flying and taxes are coming due. How is a person supposed to find time to exercise?
The key is to make exercise a priority. In a survey of both active and sedentary adults, both groups had 24 hours a week available for their leisure pursuits. So - there is time to exercise! Workouts of 30 minutes, three times a week, add up to a mere hour and a half out of the possible 168 hours in the week. Remember, when you exercise consistently, you'll have something that's truly beneficial for your heart and your soul. Some tips to help you fit in fitness:
1. Pencil in the time. Plan ahead. Make an appointment with yourself and pencil your workout in your schedule. When exercise time becomes a priority, just like a meeting with your boss, you'll give it the importance that it deserves.
2. Remember the benefits. Most regular exercisers will tell someone who doesn't exercise: "You're just not making it a priority." Actually, the non-regular exerciser may feel that the costs of doing the activity outweigh the benefits. Remind yourself that taking a 30-minute walk before work can increase your energy level throughout the day, increase productivity and boost your mood. Isn't that worth a half-hour less sleep?
3. Be prepared. Lay out your exercise clothes the night before and exercise first thing in the morning.
4. Blend it in. Try to incorporate exercise into your daily activities - do you normally walk the dog? Put on your exercise shoes and pick up the pace a notch. Extend the walk to 20-30 minutes - that's your workout (and your dog will love it.) Other ideas: Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park the car in the far end of the parking lot and walk. Use any way you can to increase your daily activity level. It all adds up!
5. Make family and friends time active time. Enroll in a parent-child swim or gymnastics class; take the kids to the park and make an obstacle course for yourself out of the playground; make a date with your spouse to take short after-dinner strolls; get together with a co-worker for a quick lunch plus some brisk window shopping.
6. Set limits. Don't eat lunch (or play your favorite after-work video game) until you've completed your workout for the day. Linking your workout to a well-established routine will help ensure that your exercise quickly becomes a healthy habit.
7. Hire a coach. A good way to ensure your success as a regular exerciser is to assign someone to be your personal fitness "coach." This person could be your spouse, co-worker, a close friend or a sibling—someone who will understand your weekly fitness goals and who can nix any excuse you come up with for not achieving them. Your coach's duties include checking in with you several times a week to see how you're doing. If you miss a workout, the coach can be understanding, but should insist on a scheduled make-up session.
8. Be ready with Plan B. Expect obstacles and overcome them. When your favorite exercise bike is occupied at the gym, jump onto a treadmill or a rower, or start your weight training and return to the bike later. Think about trying a new piece of equipment to spice up your normal routine. This new skill will make your workout more exciting.
9. Create your own bonuses and incentives. A month of workouts can equal a new outfit, an upgrade in equipment, a massage, a half-hour with a personal trainer, a yoga class, or a fancy pair of cross-trainers.
10. Be forgiving. There is a delicate balance between a firm commitment to exercise and a rigid compulsion about keeping to a pre-determined workout schedule. By developing a flexible, healthy attitude about your exercise program - making it part of your life, not your entire life - your enthusiasm for exercising will always remain high.
11. Drink a lot of water. What I suggest is adding the juice of half a lemon or 4 tablespoons of unsweetened cranberry juice to 32 ounces of water with a sprinkle of Steviva Brand Stevia Powder . Aside from being less than 2 carbs, you will get the health benefits that the stevia provides along with the vitamin C and electrolytes that lemon have. You can substitute limes for lemons if you get bored. Click here to order stevia powder.
This information and other information is intended for general reference purposes only and is not intended to address specific medical conditions. This information is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Prior to participating in any exercise program or activity, you should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional. No information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition.
YOUR SPIRIT
Staying In Touch With True Emotions
So often, emotions that we long to express get stored in our bodies instead. The space where this most often happens is in our bellies. Rather than telling people, our even ourselves, the way we truly feel, we may stuff our true feelings deep inside of us, where they take up space until we are ready to let them go. Stuffing our feelings in our bellies may feel like the "safe" response, since we then don’t really have to deal with our emotions. Yet, doing so can actually be detrimental to our emotional well-being and physical health.
One way to connect with and release your emotions is to do a focused exercise with your stomach area. Take a moment to center yourself with some deep breathing and quiet meditation, relaxing your body fully and turning off the chatter in your brain. With your right hand on your stomach, tell yourself three times: "Please reveal to me my true emotions." Listen for the answers. Repeat the exercise as many times as you would like, allowing yourself to drop deeper into your body each time. Notice any physical response in the stomach area, whether you have a warm, relaxed feeling in the middle of your body or if you feel tight knots in response to any emotions that do come up. You may even want to write down any answers that come to you. Remember that the body doesn’t lie.
Releasing our pent up feelings from our bellies can prevent disease and allow us to live more authentic and expressive lives. Sometimes, if too much emotional energy builds up inside of us, a blowout can result that can cause discomfort. You can help to alleviate this compression by doing the same exercise and adding sound to your emotional release. The more guttural the sounds released through your mouth, the more emotions you are likely letting go. Releasing your emotions from your belly doesn’t have to be painful and hard; rather, it can be organic and effortless. It’s important not to judge whatever comes up for you. We tend to stuff our feelings in our bellies when we are ashamed of them or not ready to express them. There is nothing wrong with having feelings, whatever they may be. You can’t help your feelings; if anything, you can help yourself by acknowledging the truth of your emotions so you can set yourself free.
YOUR RECIPE
Low Glycemic No Added Sugar Holiday Fudge
Serves: 16
Carbs Per Serving: 1.8 g
Prep Time:<25 minutes
Skill Level: Easy
Ingredients
16 ounces low fat or fat free cream cheese, softened
2 unsweetened chocolate squares (1ounce each) melted and cooled
1/2 cup Fructevia , Steviva Brand Stevia Blend or a dash of Steviva Brand Stevia Powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, chocolate, Fructevia , Steviva Brand Stevia Blend or a dash of Steviva Brand Stevia Powder and vanilla until smooth. Stir in pecans. Pour into 8-inch square baking pan lined with foil. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Cut into 16 squares. Serve chilled.
Nutritional Facts
Serving Size: 1 square
Total Calories: 1294
Calories Per Serving: 64.7
Total Fat Per Serving: 5.2g
Saturated Fat: 2.3g
Cholesterol: 13.6 mg
Sodium: 55.2mg
Total Carbohydrates: 36g
Carbohydrates Per Serving: 1.8g
Dietary Fiber: .15g
Sugars: 1.6g
Protein: 2.55g
Try All Natural Steviva Brand Stevia Blend, Fructevia and Steviva Brand Stevia Powder!