10 weeks of Twitter Goals

So if you haven't been following my twitter, here are highlights of my weekly health goals I try to incorporate in my life.  Small changes to great health.

2010 weekly health goal #10: Commit to increasing your moderate physical activity by 5 minutes a day each week until you reach 1.5-2 hours

2010 weekly health goal #9: Swap one meal a day for a vegetarian meal. It could be a veggie breakfast omelet, veggie burger or salad.

2010 weekly health goal #8: Shrink your stomach by eating less than 1 L in volume of food a meal and waiting at least 3 hours between meals.

2010 weekly health goal #7: Clean your living area like your bedroom and kitchen. De-cluttering your space leads to a healthy mind and body.

2010 weekly health goal #6: Don't eat for 3 hours before bed. Nutritionists say it's untrue. Try it and weigh yourself in the AM. Believe.

2010 weekly health goal #5: Cut one thing out of your diet. It's called processed white carbs. No sugar or white bread.

2010 weekly health goal #4: Start your morning with a good breakfast. Whole grains, lean protein, veggies. Veg egg white omelet with toast!

2010 weekly health goal #3: Plan out your meals. Go for 50% of food space from non-starchy veggies, 25% lean meats and 25% whole grains.

2010 weekly health goal #2: Eat 5-9 servings of fruits and non-starchy vegetables a day. Yes to asparagus, no to potatoes.

2010 weekly health goal #1: Drink 3L of water a day. Yes, that's 2 of those monster 1.5L. Cleanse baby cleanse!         

Eat Like A Child, Your Child

After the blog about McDonald's and the children I got to thinking about how one of my milestones is having a child.  It's this far off wish that I rationalize will be the time I'll give up my bad habits.

"I'll eat right when I'm pregnant for sure."

"Breast feeding will be great for my metabolism."

"Sex and the City told me that taking care of a baby will help me burn calories."

The one thing I do look forward to is fixing things like healthy bento boxes for my kids.  Have you seen them?  Adventures in Bentomaking is one of the most inspired blogs on bentos. Small portions of fresh food heavy in fruits and vegetables along with lean proteins.  Isn't that the perfect diet?

Do you have an idea of what you actually want your kids to eat?  What if you ate the same things?  Does the well being and health of your child inspire you to be healthier?

Things I like about kids foods:

1. Convenience and portability are of the utmost importance in kids meals.  That idea melds well with the compact self contained nature of so many fruits.  Think strawberries and bananas!  How much more convenient does it get?

2. Robust colors and visual appeal are paramount to get children to eat it.  Eating the rainbow is not just some skittles advertisement.  Eating the natural rainbow in produce provides more nutrients and antioxidants than plain green leafy vegetables.

3. Small amounts of lean meats.  Kids naturally don't usually eat a lot of meat and don't have a problem consuming lean meats while not having cravings for fattening protein like bacon.  Sticking to proteins that don't overpower the fruits, vegetables and whole grains in mass results in less calories at each meal.

What I like the most about eating a healthy child's diet is that children learn good nutrition not just through what you feed them but by watching what their parents eat.  Why not be a good example?

McDonald's and the Children

After a weekend camping and relaxing I'm inspired to start blogging again.  During this camping trip a couple in the group were having a disagreement about whether or not their future children will be allowed to eat McDonald's.  The guy said that McDonald's is delicious.  The gal said that she had never had McDonald's in her life and neither would her kids.  It was a standoff that no one wanted to comment on in fear of offending either party.

On the way home though, Josh, my dear husband and I discussed it.  Though it's staggering that someone who has lived in the United States her whole life has never had anything from the Golden Arches it's a testament to the dedication of her parents to keep her away from it and teach her the habits to stay away from junk food.

It's a dedication that I would hope to have but most likely won't in the long run because I believe that to evolve a palate one must start young and make them open minded eaters.  I can't very well tell my children that they have to try everything they *say* they don't like to eat at least 3 times if I'm not willing to let them try something that they may want to eat right?

That being said, junk food is off the table until the child is at least 3 years old.  Why?  Because that's when they can actually play with the Happy Meal Toys and will likely start demanding things. 

I personally feel that if I eat a clean diet of vegetables, whole grains, lean meats and fruit throughout my pregnancy and continue on through each kid's childhood healthy eating habits will come naturally to them.  The occasional splurge on Happy Meals is a lesson in moderation. 

Depriving them of something that is popularized in the media and can be geared healthily now (apple slices instead of french fries, 1% milk instead of soda) will likely make them binge when they can buy their own food in high school and college.


(Image Courtesy of Get Fitness Here.)

Women Require an Hour of Excercise a Day

In a recent study it was found that as women get older only those who are already their goal weight and getting at least 1 hour of moderate exercise a day could maintain their weight.

If women are already overweight, they'll need to restrict their calories in addition to getting 1 hour of exercise.

I don't know about you Dear Readers but I think this makes perfect sense!  The idea that 20 minutes a day is sufficient was probably leaving a lot of people feeling like exercise wasn't working for them and that their weight loss goals were hopeless.

Take heart, your goals are not hopeless, just harder to attain than previously thought.  So how about we book a 1.5 hours of moderate exercise a day, cut back on our consumption and watch the lbs fall off?

Pokemon SoulSilver with Pokewalker

Dear Readers, you know by now that I'm on a quest for the holy grail of fitness equipment.  Something that combines strong motivation with great technique to get to fantastic results. 

In my previous searches I found things like Wii Active and Yourself Fitness which are all great games that incorporate the techniques of a personal trainer but require a level of motivation and commitment that is somewhat lacking in my busy days.

Enter the popular game from my childhood: Pokemon.  This new edition of SoulSilver and HeartGold incorporates a pedometer in the guise of a Pokerwalker. You see, you clip this Pokeball to your belt and it tracks your steps all day.  The higher the number of steps at the end of the day the better the prizes you'll find in the game. 

My husband, a big Pokemon fan, bought HeartGold for himself and later bought SoulSilver for me so we could trade.  I found that I'm striving to beat his steps, much like the Personal Trainer: Walking game for the DS did but with more of a collaborative feel.  And it's been great in convincing him to go on walks with me after work. 

"Honey, do you want to go on a pokewalk?" I say.

Checking his pokewalker, "Sure, I'm only at XXXX steps."

The best part about this game is the pedometer is easy to carry integrating into your everyday life while the actual pokemon game is somewhat addicting in it's cute characters, puzzling game play and the compulsion to catch them all.  It's motivation in a video game!

Now, this isn't going to get you ripped, but if you're a gamer having a hard time getting the right level of physical activity, this game could be the answer to your prayers.  And if you're a parent worried about the lack of exercise your video game addicted child has been prone to this game is the perfect solution.

Personally?  I've been carrying it around for about a week now and I've already started increasing my steps in a subconscious way, now only falling short about 2000 of my daily step goal. 

I'll get them all in today because I've Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Japanese Women Don't Get Fat or Old?

As I was lazing around my house Sunday after a gluttonous wedding weekend as a Matron of Honor I was perusing the health and fitness videos on MSN.com and came across a clip from the Today show where Katie Couric interviews the author of Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother's Tokyo Kitchen.

I'm Chinese, I buy into the idea that the average Asian diet is healthier than the average American diet so of course, I kept watching. Apparently there are 7 basic guidelines.

Here's the gist with my own little spin:

1. Healthy ingredients make for healthy food. Eat homemmade meals preferably using fish, soy, vegetables and fruit. She made a point in the interview of noting that chicken is fine, the key is less red meat.

2. Get Closer to the Grain. Use rice instead of bread. Brown rice is preferred.

3. Small Plates, Smaller Body. Eat smaller portions by serving your food separately on small plates. The sample meal in the video included a small bowl of miso soup, a small bowl of mixed green salad, a small plate of chicken, a small bowl of rice, a small plate of multicolored vegetables and a pot of green tea with cup. Visually it looked like a lot and full of healthy and appetizing foods.

4. Miso Happy Day. Have a bowl of miso soup for breakfast, which is traditional in Japan because of ease and quickness of preparation, it's high nutrient, protein and fiber values and because it's just plain delicious.

5. Small Desserts. No really, that pazookie is not small enough.

6. Light and Gentle Cooking. I'm a big proponent of raw fish and other sea life but this concept lends itself to general Japanese cooking. Steaming, brief boiling, anything that doesn't impact the original ingredient too far from it's original flavors is preferred. Yes, I am talking to you Broccoli Casserole.

7. Hari Hachi Bunme. This is the Japanese art of not stuffing your face until you're full ala some pizza buffet. The author more tactifully put it as eating small amounts of food whenever you like until you are 80 percent full.

Pretty solid ideas except I like foods from other cultures. There's got to be easier, wider guidelines. I'll think on it and get back to you soon.

Image courtesy of Finnair.com.

The Diet Derailer: Weekends

What is it about weekends that make them such a huge diet derailer? Is it the lack of routine? The copious amounts of partying and meals with friends? The idea that it's a minivacation amid the week of responsible behavior?

All I know is that come Monday I'm struggling to get back to my healthy lifestyle changes, find that I'm at least a lb heavier than I was Friday morning, and sometimes nursing a hazy post weekend buzzy headache. Am I alone here?

On Mondays, I try to go back and enter everything I can remember consuming into my diet journal because despite the fact that I have a program that will wirelessly sync the data from my cellphone to the website, on weekends I just can't seem to find the concentration to even think about calories. Even with the memory blocks that might have occured in a retrospective calorie count, I still blow my caloric intake off the rails! (Read: 1000 calories over par.) Partner that with the fact that I RARELY make it to the gym on the weekends and I'm basically reversing my entire weeks progress in the matter of 2 days!

Here's what I'm going to do to get my train on track this weekend:

1. Drink More. Water that is. Between every glass of beer while bowling, every drink while bar hopping, every wine glass at dinner there will be a glass of water instead. I don't care if it doesn't look cool, I'm starting to think that I'm imbibing more alcohol than I have use for just because it's something to do between gutter balls, funny stories and courses respectively.

2. Eat More. Leafy green vegetables I mean. I will sneak some spinach into a breakfast omelette, a salad before every gluttonous meal just to take up space in this cavernous pit I call a stomach. More goodness in my stomach means less room for that cheesecake that keeps giving me the eye.

3. Play More. If I'm not going to get to the gym because I'm too busy socializing, then I can play while I entertain my friends. A game of tennis here, frisbee golf there, maybe even a bike ride to the beach. The possibilities: endless.

4. Pamper myself. Ok, this is more of a perspective shift. For most of the week, because I workout early in the morning before work, I never get a chance to sit in the steam room or sauna or hang out in the spa. I think if I make it the first thing I do on Sunday with the purpose of relaxation versus working out I could actually convince myself to get into the gym on... wait for it... a weekend. *gasp*