Category Archives: weight loss

Apr 26 2012
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Cooking, food, good health, Healthy, recipe, soup, weight loss

Simple Soup Recipe: Puree of Cauliflower Soup

One of the staples in my diet, when I am trying to eat a little healthier and lose a little weight before the dreaded “bikini season”, is soup.  I enjoy making and eating all kinds of soups from Italian Wedding to Sweet Pea soup and I find the most healthy and least fattening to be pureed vegetable soups.  I love pureed vegetable soups not only because (being the veggie lover that I am) they are delicious in their simplicity, pureed vegetable soups are also one of those dishes that as long as you are careful not to add too much milk or butter when making it, you can eat as much of it as you want.  Anything I can eat in abundance, especially when I am trying to drop a few pounds, makes it all that much more awesome.

This week I went on the hunt for a nice and simple recipe for Puree of Cauliflower Soup and found one that is not only incredibly easy to make, it also came out so well that I almost ate the entire batch last night by myself (no joke).  However, as I kept the dairy I added to a minimum and on the low fat side and although I definitely feel asleep last night full and happy after devouring bowl after bowl of Puree of Cauliflower Soup, I woke up without one shred of guilt (best thing ever)!  Here is the recipe in case you are looking for a nice and simple recipe for Puree of Cauliflower Soup:) Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 head of Cauliflower chopped

1 medium size onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 tbs fresh parsley diced

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup milk

1 tbs butter

salt

pepper

Directions:

1- In a large pot, melt 1 tbs butter and add onions and 2 tsp salt to pot, cooking until tender over medium high heat for ~ 5 minutes

2-Add chopped garlic to pot and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute

3- Add chopped cauliflower to pot, stirring to combine ingredients, reduce heat to medium and cover, cook for ~ 3 minutes

4-Add two cups chicken/vegetable broth to pot and 1 tsp pepper , increase heat to high and bring to a boil, cover and cook for ~ 10 minutes or until cauliflower is soft

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Apr 25 2012
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exercise, good health, Healthy, inspirational, motivational, self improvement, spring, weight loss

Spring into Shape: 10 Ways To Stay Motivated To Get Back in Shape!

I recently quit smoking and decided, in an attempt to keep any weight gain to a minimum, to get back to the gym and implement regular exercise into my weekly routine.  Usually after the winter months begin to melting into spring, as I start replacing my cozy and lose fitting sweaters with more form fitting spring blouses, like clock work I would find myself dragging my feet to the gym to get back into shape.  This year, after three months of going regularly 2-3 times a week to yoga, Pilates and Zumba classes, I have found, it’s taken a lot more time then it did in my “youth” to see any results. I am not one of those people who sometimes need to talk themselves into working out, I need to do it every time so not seeing the results I had hoped just made it that much harder to motivate and stay motivated to keep to me new exercise regiment.

Being in my early 30’s and having gained a little weight after quitting smoking, the results I was SO needing to see three weeks ago were nowhere to be found.   I am not talking about having unrealistic expectations as I am a firm believer in the 1-1.5 pound per week rule, that is, if you are trying to lose weight and get in shape, the most you should expect to lose per week is 1-1.5 pounds if you are doing it the “right way.”  Sure there are tons of crash diets, cleanses and now even a 10 day feeding tube diet that promises to trim off twenty pounds in ten days (yikes).  Although these alternative diets may work for some, for most of us to achieve our desired results and make them last, sticking to a routine of regular exercise, healthy caloric intake, and realistic expectations seems the best way to go.  That being said, getting myself back into regular exercise, improving my diet while realizing that my body wasn’t “bouncing back” as quickly as it used to, made it only that much harder to motivate to get back into shape.  In need of a little more motivation to get back into shape this spring, I turned to Google to research some ideas and fun facts to keep in mind when trying to stay motivated.  I thought i would pass them along to you, as well as a few other methods I have picked up from my own experiences:)

Ten Ways to Stay Motivated to Spring into Better Shape:

1.  Make It Fun- Some people are runners, yogis, dancers, some prefer working out inside the gym, others outside, whatever it is, if you want to get back into shape pick an activity and local that you think you will most enjoy doing.  Making sure you pick the work out routine that is right for you greatly increases the chance that you will not only start but stick with it.

2. Use The Buddy System- If you really have a hard time getting up and going, having a friend or coworker join you in your quest to get in shape will help you push past that initial “I don’t wanna go” barrier.  Working out with someone not only makes it more fun but also makes it just that much harder to bail on your workout plans.

3. Make The Time- this one is especially important for me to keep my motivation to work out after a long day at work.  If I get home and have to frantically rush to make my yoga or Pilates class the probability I will actually go gets cut in half.  Fitting in fitness into your weekly routine should not cause you extra stress, if anything it should help eliminate it, so be sure you have plenty of time to get to your class or gym without having to rush.

4.  Set Realistic Goals: Setting unrealistic goals is setting yourself up for failure.  Don’t expect to lose those 10 lbs you put on over the holidays to magically disappear two weeks after you start working out again.  There are many great tools online that can help you figure out what you should expect to realistically see from your new fitness and healthy eating regiment.  If we expect the impossible from ourselves we will only feel discouraged when fall short of our expectations which will only make it that much harder to stick to getting back into shape.

5. Get OVER Your Fears-  A recent study showed that women average less then 50% of daily exercise levels reached by men and two thirds of women who avoid exercise cited being self conscious about their bodies or athletic abilities as their reason for not working out.  It is very common to feel self conscious, especially when just beginning to get back into shape.  A little trick I use to get past these feelings of being embarrassed about my body or nervous I wont be able to keep up with my class mates is this; I look at myself in the mirror and say aloud, “I am doing this for me and although I may feel bad about myself right now, not going tonight (to class) is only going to make me feel worse.” That usually gets me out the door and on my way.

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Mar 29 2012
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exercise, good health, Healthy, inspiration, inspirational, motivational, product, self improvement, stress management, weight gain, weight loss

My Top 10 Baby Steps to Becoming and Staying Smoke Free

Part of improving your health and over all well being means taking action to increase your physical fitness by implementing regular work outs into your weekly routine.  Every year spring seems to be a great motivator to start getting into better shape with the threat of “bikini season” right around the corner.  Over the past few months I have been making an effort to drag myself to the gym at least a few times a week to take Vinyassa Yoga and Zumba classes at the New York Sports Club.  Sure I want to get into better shape, who doesn’t? But there is another motivator behind my newly found fitness regiment, after 13 years I finally have quit smoking.

After a little over two months of being smoke free I am confident that on January 25th, when I finally decided to quit, it was for good.  After several weeks of intense reading and research about smoking cessation and addiction I put together a “Quit Smoking Plan” for myself that I feel made it infinitely easier for me to finally quit as opposed to the experiences I have seen my friends and coworkers go through when they have tried to quit in the past.  As we all know, quitting smoking is a good idea for any smoker but it’s hard and there are so many different aspects of addiction to smoking cigarettes that should be taken into account when trying to quit.  That being said, of course different methods work for different people but for me these 10 Baby Steps are some that I found to be the most helpful in my effort to finally extinguish my icky smoking habit and not only helped me quit but have helped me remain smoke free.  I  hope if you are trying to quit some of these little tidbits are helpful and good luck on your way to becoming a non-smoker!

My Top 10 Baby Steps to Becoming and Staying Smoke Free:

1- Quit when you are ready and really want to quit.  This is by far one of the most important things to consider when trying to rid yourself of any habit, but especially smoking.  If you really don’t want to quit you won’t, it’s that simple.   I suggest really thinking about it and pick a time to quit when you feel you are at that point where your desire to be smoke free is at its all time high for this desire will have to get you through all those tough cravings ahead which can be pretty intense when you first quit.

2-Plan for it.  Some people have told me they went from smoking a pack a day to nothing and had great success and if you think this will work for you then my hats off to you.  I knew for myself that cutting down before finally quitting all together would be a better route so 6 months before I quit I started slowly reducing the number of cigarettes I would smoke a day from 15 to 12 to 10 and so on until I was down to 3 a day.  I believe gradually cutting back on the number of cigarettes I smoked helped  reduce the amount of cravings I eventually had after quitting and it also helped me mentally prepare for giving up smoking all together by slowly letting go of my daily smoking rituals one at a time.  It is important to remember that addiction is just as much mental as it is physical.

3-Know The Facts.  They say knowledge is power and this has never been more true then when trying to kick the smoking habit.  Be informed, read about ways that helped others quit, read about addiction, read about the effects smoking has on the body and the effects quitting has as well.  The human body is incredible and it’s fascinating to read about all the different changes it goes through once you decide to quit smoking.  As much damage as smoking can cause to our bodies when we quit, almost instantly our body begins to repair the damage we have done to it.  I found knowing the different physical and chemical changes occurring every day after I quit was  very helpful to read over and over in the first week to keep me motivated to remain smoke free.  Here are just a few examples of these:

  • After 20 minutes of quitting your blood pressure, pulse rate and temperature of your hands and feet all return to normal
  • After 8 hours the remaining nicotine in your bloodstream will have fallen to 6.25% of normal peak daily levels, a 93.25% reduction
  • After 12 hours your blood oxygen level will have increased to normal and carbon monoxide levels will have dropped to normal Continue reading →
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