SERVES: 2-3
PREP TIME: 5-10 minutes
COOK TIME: 30-35 minutes
Halloween is one of the ultimate tests of strength when it comes to our will power over food. It’s one thing to avoid eating sweets when you are able to keep them out of your house, but now you are forced to stock a variety of chocolatey yumminess right there in your cabinets. How is a girl to resist??
No one wants to be that house. The one handing out the apples or the fruit snacks. That is a sure-fire way to get your home at the top of the “T.P.” list next year.
So, what can you do to avoid overindulging in the bags of candy just sitting there begging to be opened? Here are 5 easy tips to keep you and your kids from overeating candy this Halloween.
As fall is in full swing and winter is just around the corner, our days of getting a decent run on the boardwalk or riding our bike along the shore are numbered. The colder it gets, the more we want to just curl up in a blanket with a warm cup of cocoa and the less we want to head outside and find the motivation to exercise. Staying active during the cooler months can be challenging, but with all the holidays ahead, it is important to stay motivated and keep on track. We don’t want to be starting all over again come January 1st, so here are 5 tips to keep you motivated and moving during the winter.
Have you every had a sugar hangover? No, you don’t need to run out and get a greasy breakfast sandwich and home fries to cure it. But there are steps you can take to rid yourself of a sugar hangover.
Had too much sugar today? Did that one tiny little taste turn into an all-out assault on your sweets stash in the back of the cabinet? On a regular basis, this can lead to very serious health risks. On this one occasion, it can lead to a less serious, yet very unpleasant, “sugar hangover”.
You’re following the guidelines of your nutritionist and you’re working out 3 times a week with your personal trainer and you’re still not losing any weight- or worse- you’re still gaining weight. This is an all too common scenario for many adults. After shelling out hundreds of dollars and doing what you thought were all the right things, you inevitably chalk your failure up to getting old or to poor genetics.
While diet and exercise are key factors to maintaining a healthy weight, they are not the only factors. Stress has a tremendous impact on our body, effecting everything from sleep and heart rate to digestion and weight gain. The body releases the hormone cortisol in response to stress. These stress hormones cause us to store fat, especially in the belly. Now, most of us are walking around with some level of stress basically all day, which makes losing fat an uphill battle. To make things worse, elevated cortisol is also linked to depression, food addiction and sugar cravings. So, now your body is primed to store fat and you are craving all the wrong foods.
During times of stress, many physiological changes take place. We become distracted from our bodies and many functions become irregular. One of those functions is our breathing. Stress causes our bodies to become very tense and our breathing becomes constricted and shallow. This significantly decreases the amount of oxygen our body is receiving with each breath.
Over time, chronic shallow breathing can have detrimental effects on your health, impacting everything from your mental state and digestion to your skin’s youthful complexion and glow.
When you walk into the health food store, you are bombarded by countless brands and flavors and types of protein powder options. Which one do you choose? The giant canister with the jacked guy on the label? The one on sale? The one the kid working there recommends? The highest protein content? Aaahhh! Let me help you find the right protein for you.
Practicing yoga can help lower stress levels, reduce inflammation and promote relaxation. For moms-to-be, the benefits go even further. Pregnancy is meant to be a time of celebration and excitement. But between all of the physical and emotional changes taking place, the joys of pregnancy can get lost in the stress of preparation, the worries of uncomfortable weight gain or the aches and pains that come along with expecting.
Prenatal yoga is a wonderfully gentle way to move your body in a compassionate way, reaping the rewards of exercise along with better preparing yourself and the new addition to the family for the journey of delivery that lies ahead.
During pregnancy, many physical and emotional changes take place. The surge of the hormones progesterone and estrogen often leave women feeling emotionally drained while the added weight and growing belly can cause lower back aches and tightened hips. A mindful prenatal yoga practice can help with all this- and more.
Many dogs suffer from itchy skin, whether it be year round or seasonally. It can be very uncomfortable for your pet and the scratching and biting can lead to sores and skin infections. This irritation is often caused by a sensitivity or allergy to something environmental, in their food, or a chemical they are being exposed to.
Before I started cooking my own dog food (a recipe provided by my vet), one of our dogs was so chronically itchy that we had to put him in a cone for weeks on end to stop him from gnawing his skin raw. It was so sad. By feeding him a healthy, natural meal chalk full of healthy fats and essential nutrients, we were able to alleviate the problem altogether.
Itchy, irritated skin can be caused by a number of things in your pets. Bug bites and flea bites can cause random itching episodes, but when it becomes a chronic or persistent seasonal issue, it is likely a food or environmental trigger to blame. Your dog’s skin functions as a protective barrier against these triggers. When this is weakened, your pet becomes more susceptible to allergies and skin irritants.