Thursday, January 27, 2011

Going Out to Eat For the First Time! with Your Online Wellness Coach

Limits and deprivation are the ways many of us have been taught to diet. I am here to say that that way of thinking may very well have gotten you where you are today if you are carrying too much weight or if your weight is making your scale constantly bounce around.

It is important to be mentally and emotionally prepared for a diet plan. This needs to be taken a step further for those of us who were taught that discipline means deprivation. 

Here's a practical example:

We all love to eat out at a nice restaurant. Picture your favorite restaurant right now. You walk in with good friends or that special someone, but you're on a new diet plan so you get distracting thoughts like, "I know I'm gonna blow it" or "It's time to buck up and order the cottage cheese!" These are destructive thoughts for any diet plan.

Now picture the same scenario but this time you understand that all you need to do to have a successful diet plan is to make food choices based on keeping your blood sugar stable. When you have kept your blood sugar stable through healthy eating and a solid diet plan, you have felt that great feeling of having energy all day. Have come to know the feeling of having energy and mental clarity all day and you don't want that to change.

You know that starting the meal with a high glycemic food will throw you off. You understand that fat is not the enemy and helps to balance the glycemic load of the meal.

On the other hand, after you have been off track and on a deprivation diet plan, you've felt the drained, tired feeling that feeling goes along with overeating and drinking.

You want to be able to really enjoy those around you and focus on them instead of being distracted with negative food thoughts and being consumed by how your diet plan will affect your choices. It’s always fun reading through the menu and trying new foods as long as you limit the high glycemic and processed carbs.

With a smart exercise and diet plan you should start your meal off with some good fats and protein before having a glass of wine, this will help you naturally know when you are satisfied.

When your blood sugar is stable, and you are not yo-yoing, it is fun to discover new savory flavors and to not depend on sweets and bread. You are freed up and able to experience the moment and feel really good.

You can feel abundance while managing your weight with a healthy and balanced diet plan. In this new way of eating and thinking you will likely feel like you are eating more. How? By not having thoughts which distract you from the experience of eating your food and loving it! You will be able to be present and in the moment, enjoying the people and atmosphere around you. By having a balanced and healthy diet plan, you are able to feel good about yourself before, during, and after the meal.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

What Is "Junk Exercise"? With your Mat Pilates Instructor


Health and fitness professionals are beginning to use some strong language to describe what seems like a great idea, but leaves many injured and wishing they knew better before starting a “Junk Exercise”.

Junk Exercise is when people move their bodies and feel as though they are getting a great workout, but they don't really progress in building white muscle mass. White Muscle mass is a special type of muscle that is partially responsible for twitch movements and tends to fatigue easily. These muscles are located near our joints, and when developed, create greater balance and less likelihood of injury. Pilates is a great exercise to build white muscle mass.

The four most common mistakes people make are:

1.   Using only cardio
2.   Omitting resistance training
3.   Doing too many sets of the same exercise
4.   Lifting weight too fast

Junk classes are usually the latest dance, punching, or competitive weight pushing class that you may have heard of this past year. Just as there are “miracle” diet pills, there are also workouts (junk exercise) that promise quick results. Pilates has been around for over 90 years and will continue on long after the latest crazes have disappeared. Mat Pilates concentrate on strengthening your core and the movements in Pilates are all about quality over quantity.

I always recommend a cardio program when beginning Pilates classes. Cardiovascular exercise is crucial for staying resistant to your insulin and keeping weight off, but we must strengthen through a variety of slow controlled weight-bearing movements. Mat Pilates Classes are one of the most perfect ways to prepare to perform those types of exercises. The slow controlled resistance of Pilates while moving and stretching makes Pilates more effective than even yoga for preventing injury.

We are conditioned to be consumers. Our ears perk when we hear about something new in diet and exercise. We think, "Maybe this will be the answer!" So we buy. When it comes to self-improvement be it physical, spiritual, or improving relationships, real results will happen when we first look within ourselves and then commit and purchase a program we can feel really good about.