You Are What You Eat

One of the common mistakes driving in the snow: riding the brakes! Or thinking that having 4 wheel drive will let you drive anywhere, anyway you want. One time coming down a hill, I saw someone in front of me with their brakes on – sliding everywhere. I knew he could not hear me, but kept yelling – take your foot off the brake! After he sideswiped a few cars, he finally stopped. You could tell he was a ‘newbie’ to driving in the snow.

Why is it so hard to drive in the snow? Snow can be heavy and wet, light and powdery, cold and icy. Those passing you can create a “white out”, making it impossible to see. Every time it snow’s, conditions of the road and vehicle changes a little bit, just enough to keep you on your toes.

Tires make a huge difference. Winter is not the time to have bad tires. What are the laws in your state? Are you still allowed to have studded tires? Who remembers the old fashion sawdust tires? They were great. Going over mountain passes may require chains.

Another factor is the weight of your car. My pickup had to have weight put in the back end or would get stuck – especially at intersections. Front wheel drive vehicles are so much better than rear wheel. Do they still make rear wheel? Manual transmissions are easier to rock your car out of a spot than automatics.

A safety tip for winter driving: Always have emergency kit in your car -- blankets, snacks, water, flashlights. Keep the gas tank on the full side instead of empty. Take some of the worry out of winter driving. Be prepared and think – slow, easy does it, and safety first.

Holiday, they are filled with traditions. Some are old, some are new traditions. Holiday time starts at Halloween and ends with Valentines; many events and occasions during those 3 plus months.

Our family loves Thanksgiving. We have family and friends over for dinner. Come early to snack, visit and watch football is our motto. Platters of turkey, bowls of salads, dressing, potatoes and gravy are gone through. After the meal is done, everyone sits around to visit more, eating desserts as they wish. Games are brought out. The house is filled with laughter and playing.

Our next big one is Christmas Eve. When our family grew too large for everyone to get together for Christmas day, Mom started having a “Soup and Snack” Christmas Eve. People came had a bowl of hot soup, cookies, visited and left to fit their schedule. Her Cabbage Borscht, Chicken Corn Chowder, Sweet & Sour Meatballs were always a hit. This was Mom’s way of being able to see everyone for Christmas. The grandchildren looked forward to it. Mom passed away a few years ago but we carry on the soup and snack tradition. Family and friends still come; my sisters and I make soups, cookies and meatballs. It is our way for us and our Dad to keep Mom part of our holidays.

Then there is my favorite – New Year’s Day. I love New Year’s Day. It is a beginning of a new chapter in my book of life, a day to make a resolution, and to write down goals for myself. Some I have kept, some I have not. We make it a day of relaxation and rejuvenation.

So what is your favorite tradition? Do you know who started the tradition and why? Wishing you and your family a happy and safest of holiday season; from our house to yours!

In this day and age deep breathing exercises can help with weight loss, relaxation, and sense of well being. Most of us are not breathing properly by breathing air up into our chest. Look at yourself in the mirror. Your lungs hang all the way down toward the bottom of your rib cage. More than likely, you're not filling them up with the precious air they need. Most of us inflate just the upper portion.

Simply lay down totally flat on your bed, your couch, or floor. Relax for a second or two before taking a deep breath. Now breathe in deep through your nose. Push your belly up while taking the air inside. Stick your chin on your chest and watch your belly rise. When you've got as much air as you can hold, stop and hold your breath. Try holding it for ten or twenty seconds. If you're like most people, you're dying to let it out at the end of the twenty seconds. Go ahead.

Did you feel your lungs stretching out? You don't feel that very often do you? It feels good and bad at the same time, right? That's because you're not used to it. Try it a couple of more times. It gets easier each time, right? That's the beauty of re-training yourself to breathe properly and when you implement some easy breathing exercises you will feel the difference. Don't you feel relaxed and refreshed at the same time? Your body is saying thank you, thank you! Just that very tiny bit of deep breathing and your body feels better. An immediate reaction.

Now think of this. That extra oxygen you gifted your body with is now moving through your bloodstream, slightly increasing your flow, and getting rid of excess waste and fat. All that in a matter of seconds! Keep lying on the floor, bed, or couch, and practice a little more. Get used to how deep breathing feels. Close your eyes and sense the rhythm of the deep breath you're taking. Memorize it.

Keep practicing for 5 more minutes. Now sit up. Again, try to accomplish the same deep breath while sitting up. Sit up straight. Start breathing in through your nose -then slowly stick your chin on top of your chest and watch your belly inflate with air. This may be a little harder because you might unconsciously revert back to shallow breathing. You'll know that this is true if your belly isn't inflating and you feel all the air in your lungs high in your chest. Don't give up. Concentrate on inflating your belly. Once filled as much as possible, hold it for twenty seconds and release through your mouth. You must practice this technique a few times to get used to it.

So by now, you should have a real sense of how to breathe deep. Now what? Take a day or two and just practice the technique. Learn how your body feels. Memorize the actual process of taking in, holding, and releasing all that extra oxygen. After a day or two of practice, you're ready for your daily workout.

What's all this have to do with your program? Plenty! Think about it... Oxygen is fuel for your body as is food. There are no calories in oxygen. You can breathe in all you want for as long as you want and still no calories! Not only that, but the extra oxygen you take in will cause the chemical reactions in your body to take place much faster, thus, you burn more calories than you take in. This in turn speeds up your metabolism and makes you burn more fat.

Learn everything you need to know about fitness plus get all the tools you need to accomplish your fitness goals.

DO	DON’T
..Keep Healthy Meals Close on Hand (in fridge or freezer). Will keep you from ordering take out on busy schedule	..Try to Diet during season; focus on maintaining instead of losing.
..Drink 1 glass of water for each alcoholic beverage – will keep you from dehydration and help you not to overeat and drink less alcohol	..Drink on an empty stomach– can lead to overeating and over drinking
..Make modified treat with lower calories – modify treats instead of depriving self of favorite s	..Save calories for party – will lead to being to hungry and overeating
..Offer to bring dish to party – make it a low carb healthy dish – one way to guarantee one dish you can eat	..Stand by a party buffet. Serve self small portions and do away from table, mingle
..Keep active, take a walk after meals, create games with family and friends,	..Eat quickly – more likely to increase eating – takes 20 minutes for body to acknowledge stomach is full
..Eat healthy snack BEFORE going to a party	..Skip Meals – leads to getting over hungry
..At Buffet, put only 2 items on plate at a time… walk away, mingle, return as many times a want but only put 2 items on plate at a time