Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from LoneStart

It’s Christmas Eve, and here’s wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for a prosperous, happy and HEALTHY New Year!

A final tip before Christmas dinner: Enjoy your dinner, but eat mindfully. Chew slowly and stop eating before you feel as stuffed as your turkey. While you don’t have to resist a wonderful meal, pace yourself. The British Medical Journal points out that the faster you eat, the more you eat before you feel full, and therefore more calories are consumed.

So enjoy friends and family, conversation and celebration, but enjoy your meal in moderation.

More Holiday—and Everyday Tips: Rev-up Your Metabolism

It won’t be long and we’ll be through the holidays and into the New Year. What do you do to make up for the parties and over-indulgences and start the New Year with a renewed sense of commitment to health and wellness?

The LoneStart Wellness Initiative is an obvious choice (and since this is our LoneStart Blog, we get to talk about what we offer). So, along with making better nutritional choices and finding ways to become more physically active, do you need to speed up your metabolism, and how?

After age 40 we generally burn 2 to 5 percent fewer calories with each decade, which can equal about one pound of weight gain every year even if everything else you do or eat stays the same. Google “metabolism” and you’ll get about 45 million Web pages with advice on “kick-start, ignite or boost” your body’s fat burning capacity. But, here are a few strategies that actually work:

• 5 or 6 glasses of ice water a day help you burn about 10 extra calories a day—or about 1 pound a year.
• For every pound you lose, your resting metabolism drops by about 2 to 10 calories a day. So lose 10 pounds and you have to eat 20 to 100 fewer calories a day to maintain your new weight.
• Eating more protein revs up your metabolism. At the same time, cut the empty carbs such as sugar. When you eat sugar you throw your metabolic switch into fat storage mode.
• Lifting weights will boost your metabolism more than a cardio workout will.
• Try to avoid stress—hard to do during the holidays. But, stress can actually cause weight gain, particularly around the tummy. Physical and emotional stress activates the release of cortisol, a steroid that slows metabolism.
• And, walk, swim, jog, run, play with the kids or dog. The calorie-burning, metabolism-boosting effects last long after the physical activity ends.

Still, for sustainable health and long-term wellness, it all comes back to being physically active and making better dietary choices.

Any ideas to share?

To Your Health Tips

A couple of "tips" ago we talked about how right Mom was when she said, “Stand up straight.” Turns out she was also right when she said, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Now, a new study backs her up. A natural antioxidant called quercetin, found in red apples as well as broccoli and green tea, may actually boost the immune system of individuals under stress.

In a study conducted by David Nieman, PhD, professor at Appalachian State University, results showed that only 5 percent of cyclists who took 1,000 milligrams of quercetin every day for five weeks reported upper respiratory illness during a two-week period following extreme exercise, whereas 45 percent of the cyclists who took a placebo reported illness following extreme exercise. So, during the holiday season (and year-round), along with finding time for some physical activity, snack on a big, red apple.

Keep in mind too, that whenever circulation is increased, you increase your white blood cells, so there are more cells to check for foreign germs and more to knock them out—a good thing to keep in mind during cold and flu season.

More Tips: Fit in Fitness

Well, Halloween and Thanksgiving are behind us—leaving the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year to look forward to. So in keeping with starting the New Year off on the right foot (so to speak) now’s a good time to remember to “fit in fitness” at each opportunity. If you’re having guests for the holidays, make your household chores count. Mop, scrub, clean the bathtub—and do it all at a brisk pace. You’ll get finished faster, and you’ll get a workout. The same goes for outdoor work—mow the lawn with a push mower, rake, sweep, and even plant a tree (maybe a living Christmas tree). Digging works your arms and legs while raking and sweeping motions strengthen your arms and back.

Just so you know it counts, in just one hour you can:

• Mow the yard and burn 324 calories
• Garden: 300 calories
• Vacuum: 169 calories
• Dust: 160 calories

Even the busiest of us can find time for fitness—the key is to make it convenient. Do what works for you, and make daily physical activity a habit (and resolution) you can keep.

Do you have tips to share? We’d love to hear what works for others.

Happy Thanksgiving Hints

The holidays can be a stressful time for everyone. With parties, gifts of food, and holiday dinners, it’s especially hard to lose weight. Remember, the holidays are for enjoying good times with friends and loved ones. During the holidays, the key is avoiding weight gain!

Recognize your triggers. Holiday food IS tempting. Enjoy friendly conversation away from the dessert table. Engaged in good conversation, you will be less likely to excuse yourself and go across the room for dessert. And you don’t need to deny your sweet tooth entirely. Look for a lighter desert, or take just a small portion. A few bites taste just as good as half a pie.

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, we thought we’d offer (again) a few menu tips from our first Holiday Tips post several weeks ago.

1. Portion size: ½ cup of mashed potatoes, about 111 calories—the size of a computer mouse; ½ cup cornbread stuffing about 175 calories; 3.5 oz. serving of roasted turkey breast (white meat without skin), about 115 calories—the size of a deck of cards; 3.5 oz. dark meat with skin, about 221 calories. Now think about the sides: gravy, rolls, butter, green bean casserole, pecan pie with whipped cream—and appetizers. The average Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner adds up to about 3,000 calories—without seconds.
2. Quality vs. quantity: So let’s go back to the dinner described above. Pay attention to portion size, but also to healthy choices. White meat is leaner with less fat and fewer calories. Leave the skin on your plate. Substitute a homemade cranberry relish for canned cranberry sauce with high fructose corn syrup. Go lighter on the gravy. Try non-candied sweet potatoes and leave out the melted marshmallows. And keep in mind that pumpkin pie has just 1/3 the calories of pecan pie (and leave off the mountain of whipped cream—instead try a teaspoon spread across the top—same taste, fewer calories and fat).
3. In addition to the dinner portion of the day, try to organize a big before or after dinner walk. It’s an opportunity to socialize away from the food, rev-up your metabolism and work some physical activity into your day.

Have a wonderful (and healthy) Thanksgiving!

Happy Holiday Tips

Remember how Mom always said, “Stand up straight.” She was right! More right than she might have known. It has to do with more than good posture, and now it’s not just the call to “stand up straight”—but to just “stand up.”

Are you familiar with an enzyme called "lipase?" This enzyme is critical to the body's ability to break down fat. This fat-splitting enzyme is suppressed when we remain seated for a period of time. It virtually "shuts-off." This results in retention of fat, lower HDL (good cholesterol) and an overall reduction in metabolic rate. So, don't just sit there—take a break, stand up to talk on the phone, walk around the office, or take a few laps up and down the stairs. And, for each hour of physical activity you'll gain two hours of life expectancy. (American Heart Association)

Thanks, Mom.

Still More Hints

For many of us it starts with knowing what to eat, what not to eat and how much to eat. But, there’s so much more. There are also the behavioral components, how we respond to stress, and recognizing the individual patterns we all develop. And, there’s physical activity.

While shopping can be considered physical activity—it’s not exactly what we have in mind when we say, “look for ways to get your body in motion and become more physically active.” (But, if you’re at the mall, you can park way down at the end of the parking area and walk briskly to the entrance, rather than driving in circles for five minutes looking for a more convenient spot close to the door.)

So, find ways to keep moving. Take the stairs at the mall rather than the escalator or elevator. (Did you know that taking the stairs for a total of 2 minutes, five days a week gives you the same calorie-burning results as a 20 minute walk? It burns 100 to 140 calories.)

While you’re shopping and taking the stairs and walking from the end of the parking lot, keep in mind that physically active people save on average about $500 per year in health care costs. That could come in handy this time of year.

Do you have tips to share? Please do.