SCALING DOWN

You awaken to a beautiful morning.  The sky is blue, the birds are singing, and all is right with the world.  You stretch and rise from your bed, padding softly toward the bathroom, and suddenly you have that undeniably spooky feeling that you're being watched.  You look up and, sure enough, there it is lurking menacingly in the corner.  It's evil, sinister, and waiting for you -- THE BATHROOM SCALE!  Run!  Run while you still can!  Save yourself!

Okay, everybody, let's take a couple of deep cleansing breaths -- in with the good, out with the bad -- and collect ourselves.  Now then.  Here's what I want you to do.  Go back into the bathroom and pick up that scale from hell and PITCH IT IN THE TRASH.  Go on, I'll wait right here . . . dum de dum dum dum.  Did you do it?  No, of course you didn't.  I have yet to convince a single client to throw the daggone thing away, but consider this:  If you are a regular and faithful weigher, chances are that most mornings you ease yourself slowly onto that judgmental torture box with your eyes closed, leaning sightly to the left (because that's your lighter side), and toss up a silent prayer to the Goddess of Skinny before opening one eye, peering nervously down, and cursing.  Am I right?  How often do you read that number and do cartwheels of joy across the room?  Why on earth would you want to keep putting yourself through that?

As fall begins, vacations come to an end, and we all get back to our regular fitness routines.  It's the perfect time to stop setting ourselves up for disappointment with that confounded scale.  Instead, get yourself a handy dandy tape measure, wrap it around the important parts, and write those measurements down.  Then select a pair of jeans from your closet that are a little snug, or pathetically snug, or -- let's not kid ourselves -- that you can't get past your knees, and hang them up in a conspicuous place so you'll have to look at them every morning.  In two weeks, take all your measurements again and see if you can get those jeans any closer to the promised land.  If you've been following a realistic nutritional program and getting enough of the right kind of exercise, chances are very good that you'll see some satisfying results.  Keep charting your progress every two weeks.  In a couple of months, if you're still getting results and IF YOU FEEL YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST, then climb back on the scale, but please do not call me if you don't see a drastic change.  And that alone should prove something -- if your measurements are going down and those consciousness-raising jeans are fitting better even when the scale isn't budging, THROW THE GODFORSAKEN THING OUT and consider this new way of charting your progress as you embark on your fall fitness program.  Good luck!

Do you have a scary scale story of your own?  Please share it in a comment!  (Look for the instructions in red at the end of the articles.)

My Favorite HEALTHY Things

The RealAge Test.  How old does your body think it is?  Not your chronological age, but your biological age, based on your genetics, medical history, lifestyle choices, eating preferences, and exercise habits.  Find out by taking the RealAge test at http://www.realage.com/.  Originally brought to us by none other than TV's beloved Dr. Oz, it has recently been updated to reflect new medical information, current trends in nutrition, and updated supplement recommendations.  So if you've never taken it, now's the time, and if you've taken it in the past, check it out to see if your number has improved.  It takes about 15 minutes and requires some basic information about your medical and family history.  

Does your body think you're a teenager?  Share your good news with a comment!  (Look for the instructions in red at the end of the articles.)



BE READY!

When I ask my new training clients what their fitness goals are, the most frequent response is, "I want to lose weight."  Whether the desire is to lose ten pounds or one hundred, a change in physical appearance is often the primary concern of many gym members.  And it's an admirable goal, to be sure, but there are also countless hidden benefits of regular exercise.  Here are just a few:

*     Increased metabolism and energy
*     Improved sleep patterns
*     Lower blood pressure
*     Increased bone density and prevention of osteoporosis
*     Improved circulation
*     Increased "good" cholesterol and decreased "bad" cholesterol
*     Prevention of joint problems
*     Better posture and balance (helping to reduce the risk of bone-breaking falls)
*     Prevention of injury
*     Reduced risk of diabetes
*     Better stress management

Good grief, if there were a magic pill that could do all that, every one of us would be taking it, wouldn't we?  Well, this "pill" is easily obtained, affordable, and available to everyone.  Let's get on with it!

In addition to the visible and not-so-visible benefits, regular exercise gives us lifestyle choices.  It ensures that we'll be able to enjoy our current activities in the future.  Whether your sport of choice is golf, tennis, skiing, running, or ping-pong, keeping your body strong and flexible now will enable you to continue participating for years to come.  And when the elevator breaks down, you'll be able to climb the stairs to your office without alarming your co-workers by your breathlessness.  You'll be able to pick up your children or grandchildren without back pain.  And should you stumble and fall, you can pick yourself up and laugh it off rather than race to the emergency room for X-rays and casting.

It comes down to this:  If it's true that life is what happens while we're busy making other plans, let's be sure we're prepared.  While you can't anticipate every bump in the road, exercise regularly to strengthen and maintain your body so you're better able to cope with the unexpected.  Then, if you're injured in an accident or diagnosed with a challenging disease, you'll already have taken vital steps to help you survive it and recover quickly.  Be strong.  Expect curve balls.  Be ready for anything!

CHOCOLATE!

     "Anything is good if it's made of chocolate." -- Jo Brand

     I MUST HAVE CHOCOLATE AND I MUST HAVE IT RIGHT NOW OR I'M GOING TO DO SOMETHING POSITIVELY FRIGHTENING!  That's a direct quote from little ol' me, uttered not too long ago.  And, ladies, you know the feeling, don't you?  Gentlemen, nothing personal, but you have no idea what we're talking about, so go on outside with your bad selves and prune a tree or paint something.  Go on.

     Even if we believe that cravings are all in our heads, it doesn't mean they're not real.  Very real.  There's isn't a single one of us, I'll bet, who hasn't awakened from some other dimension standing in front of the refrigerator holding an empty Ben & Jerry's container and a sticky spoon.  And feeling absolutely awful -- not just uncomfortably full but disgusted with ourselves, our bodies, and our lack of control.  And sometimes don't we let that awful feeling linger through the next day or even the rest of the week?  NO FOOD IS WORTH THAT!

     Why does it happen?  Cravings can be your body's way of crying out for additional calories if you're dieting too stringently, or for carbohydrates if you haven't fueled up sufficiently to get through your day, or they can be the result of wacky hormones.  Whatever the reason, they are often DISTRACTING and DEMANDING and NEED TO BE FED.  NOW.  After falling victim to those distracting demands on many occasions, I've finally learned something that has saved me more than once.  It's okay.  Yes, you heard right.  I believe it's okay to really, really want some chocolate and to go ahead and have some chocolate.  The house will still be standing and your children will still be tucked away safely in their rooms.  Now, I'm not talking about eating an entire family-size bag of M&Ms or a ten-pound Hershey bar (though there's a time and a place for everything).  I'm talking about enjoying a handful of M&Ms or a couple of squares of really incredible dark chocolate or whatever it takes to satisfy your craving.  Because I think you'll find, as I did, that if you go ahead and -- heaven forbid! -- give in to the craving, you can get back to being a sane and productive member of the community.

     Bet let's not kid ourselves.  Every once in a while, whether it's monthly, semi-annually, or holiday-induced, we just have to eat that whole bag of M&Ms, don't we?  I know I do.  And most of the time, I can tell when it's about to happen, and I suppose I could pretend that I have some small measure of control over it, but the fact of the matter is, I am sometimes weak.  And that's okay too.  Not on a daily basis, but occasionally.  Because, for the most part, I think I do a pretty respectable job of keeping a lid on things, and I bet you do too.  So the next time WE HAVE TO HAVE THAT CHOCOLATE, let's HAVE that chocolate, enjoy it thoroughly, and get back to business.  It's okay!

     How do you handle your cravings?  Don't forget to leave a comment!  (Look for the instructions in red at the end of the articles.)

My Favorite NAUGHTY Things

"All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt."  -- Charles M. Schulz

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE.  My sweet friend, Barb, brought this cake to our Saturday morning circuit class recently when we were celebrating several birthdays, and it was rewarded with total silence followed by small moans of pleasure (both of which are extremely unusual during that class).  Let's just say it was a huge hit.  (By the way, if you attend an exercise class where SNACK isn't a regular and richly anticipated part of the festivities, you may be rolling with the wrong crowd.  Take this cake to your next session and prepare to be the most popular kid in the class, county, and possibly solar system.)

1 cup of butter

1/4 cup of heavy cream

8 oz. of chopped bittersweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)

5 large eggs

1 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of cocoa

Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a medium saucepan, melt butter with heavy cream.  Add bittersweet chocolate and stir until smooth and creamy.  Remove from heat.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, and cocoa until completely blended.  Stir into the warmed chocolate mixture until smooth.

Pour into a buttered pie pan that has been dusted with cocoa powder.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.  It really puffs up so be sure to test for doneness in the middle.

Serve topped with whipped cream. 

Listen for the silence and then the little moans of pleasure.

(If you make this, be sure to let me hear from you!  See the instructions for leaving a comment in red at the end of the articles.)

My Favorite HEALTHY Things

Ocean Spray Diet Blueberry Juice Drink.  Eat, drink, and be BERRY, I say.  If you're like me, you prefer to eat your calories rather than drink them because, well, eating is just so much fun!  Plus, most fruit juices are chock full of calories and extra sugar, and they don't provide any of the fiber or the chewing satisfaction of a piece of fruit.  Granted, a bowl of luscious blueberries is a beautiful thing, especially when you have the luxury of sitting around long enough to pop them in your mouth one at a time.  Mmmmmmm.  But we're burning daylight, and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Enter, Ocean Spray Diet Blueberry Juice Drink.  Now, label reading is important here because you do not want to confuse this with regular Ocean Spray Blueberry Juice, Ocean Spray Light Blueberry Juice, or Ocean Spray No Sugar Added Blueberry Juice, all of which total anywhere from 50 to 140 calories per 8-ounce serving.  No, no, no.  The Diet version provides a practically nonexistent 5 calories and delivers 100% of the RDA for Vitamin C -- that's 100% of your Vitamin C in 5 measly calories!  And blueberries are loaded with antioxidants, so down the hatch!

Enjoy it straight over ice, mixed with sparkling water or iced tea, or added to your favorite morning smoothie.  And if it's 5:00 somewhere, throw a little vodka in there with a twist of lemon, and the hour is suddenly HAPPY.  (Naturally, you didn't hear that from me.)

Other ideas?  Don't forget to leave a comment.  (See the instructions in red at the end of the articles.)

My Favorite HEALTHY Things

SPAGHETTI SQUASH: It's a squash that thinks it's spaghetti.  But how do it know?  Who the heck cares.  Pasta lovers, meet your new best friend.  Look for it in the winter squash section of your grocery store.  It's oblong, slightly smaller than a football, and pale yellow in color.

To prepare, cut the squash in half lengthwise.  (And please be careful doing this.  Winter squash are very firm.)  Wrap up one half and put it in the fridge for another time.  Scoop the seeds out of the other half and place it flesh side up in a microwave-safe dish.  Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the dish, then cover the whole thing with plastic wrap.  Microwave on high for about 10 minutes, or until the flesh is fork tender.  Remove the plastic wrap and allow it to cool enough to handle.  Then hold it firmly, drag a fork from top to bottom lengthwise, and out comes -- hocus pocus dominocus -- SPAGHETTI!  Go figure.  And what do you do with that spaghetti?  Whatever you do with regular pasta.  Top it with marinara sauce, clam sauce, or olive oil, or add protein and vegetables for a complete meal.

Here are a few of my favorites:
1) Add diced cooked chicken and sauteed mushrooms and onions.  (Pour the juice from the saute pan over the squash.)

2) Add canned tuna, roasted red peppers, and peas.  (Drizzle some of the water or oil from the tuna over the squash.)

3) Add cold cooked shrimp, shredded uncooked carrots and cabbage, soy sauce or ponzu sauce, and hot pepper flakes or Sriracha sauce  (if you like a little heat).

One cup of cooked spaghetti squash has about 40 calories, compared to regular pasta, which contains almost 200 for the same serving.  In addition, the squash provides vitamins, fiber, and far fewer carbohydrates.  Enough said.

Any other ideas?  Please leave a comment!  (Look for the instructions in red after all the articles.)