It's not about Perfection.

No one is perfect in living their healthy lifestyles.

No one.

All to often we are so hard on ourselves.

Guilt sets in for whatever reason and then people give up.

No one is expected to be perfect in their eating & exercise.

I know I'm certainly not.

But we are expected to do a little better than we did the day before...

.....to jump back on the wagon if we've fallen off....

......to love ourselves more than that 3rd slice of pizza.....

.......to respect food.....

......to respect our bodies because they carry us each day & that makes them beautiful......

You don't have to be perfect to be

healthy, kind,

beautiful, human & gracious!

There's always room for improvement but-

Never give up on your health.

Know What You Eat

You'll love this! I sure do!

Ever create your own recipe's?

Enter in your ingredients under the

"CUSTOM ENTRY TOOL"

and it will generate your own nutrition facts!

Just like this!

CLICK HERE for NutritionData.com.

Simply Eat... Eat Simply.

My motto is Simply Eat... Eat Simply.

The fewer ingredients on the nutrition label the better.

You have to eat.

No one should starve themselves in order to lose weight.

Your body needs to be provided with quality energy allowing you to live life

with strength and to its fullest.

When was the last time you read the back of the granola bar in your cupboard.

Perhaps 20-30 ingredients listed... yes?

Next time you're at the grocery store... CHECK THESE OUT!

LARABAR's

Only 3-5 ingredients!

They are filled with fiber and protein!

I keep about 10 of them in my glove box in the car so that as I am

running errands I don't have to stop for fast food.

Most of the time, half a bar if just enough for me.

They are delicious!

Cherry Pie

Key Lime Pie

Apple Pie

Pecan Pie

Lemon Pie

Cashew Cookie

Chocolate Coconut

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Cinnamon Roll

Banana Bread

Ginger Snap

Coconut Cream Pie

Tropical Fruit Tart

and

my

personal

favorite...

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE!

For more info on the bar itself, click here.

p.s. Congrats to Lizette McCormick who win the 100th Post Giveaway!

We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong.

The amount of work is the same.

-Carlos Castaneda

A WINNER!

The winner was just chosen by a random computer generator!

So check your email!

How exciting!

I wish you could all see the big grin on my face right now!

I love giving prizes away!

Thanks to all for entering and your kind words!

I loved your feedback!

Thanks to you for your inquiries, I have more to blog!

100th Post Giveaway!!!

This is the 100th post on Spoonfullivng!

As a "thank you" to you my readers I'm doing my first GIVEAWAY!!!

How fun is that!

This Garnet Mystique Pendant is beautiful!

Click here for dimensions and specifics.

To be entered in the drawing just send an email to:

myhealthyweigh@sbcglobal.net

Please include these 3 items:

1. Your name

2. What you enjoy most about Spoonfulliving...

3. A topic you'd like to hear more about &/or question you have.

GOOD LUCK!

The drawing will close ONE WEEK FROM TODAY at midnight, April 19th!!!

ANYONE CAN ENTER!

(The item will be shipped within with U.S. only)

Where It's At

If you want the scale to move you must supply your body with the

nutrients, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants it requires!

If you don't....

you'll deal with a significant amount of cravings and temptations.

When your body is ignored, then it lashes out!

If you want the cravings and temptations to desist then be good to yourself!

BE PREPARED!

For me that means meal prep for my family every Saturday for the week ahead.

I make a dinner menu and then start chopping and cooking.

For my family of six it takes me a couple hours.

And worth every minute!

When dealing with temptation, Louis Pasteur said,

"When the time to perform arrives,

the time to prepare is past."

As the impulse to grab the junk food or fast food is staring you in the face,

are you ready?

Remember its just that...an impulse, a brief moment.

Let it pass. Breathe.

And take comfort in your plan of being prepared.

You MUST have a plan?

If you aren't good to your body, it won't be good to you.

Let's not kid ourselves...

QUALITY FOOD = QUALITY LIVING

My Post Crescent Interview on Weight Loss & Fitness Trends

Nikki Kennedy; Easter Weekend

Like so many of you, she was determined and not afraid to work at & for her health!

I always enjoy sharing my opinions about my passion.

Here is a portion of my recent interview with the Post Crescent in the Living Well Section on Saturday, April 3.

'If you spend any time in group fitness classes at the Heart of the Valley YMCA, you’ve probably run into Nikki Kennedy in recent months. The Darboy woman frequents the place at least five days a week for boot camp and dance-based group fitness classes.

There’s good reason she’s so devoted to her exercise regime. Since October, she has dropped some 30 pounds — a goal many set but few achieve.

Many have noticed her trimmer figure and asked how she got it. 



“I think they want to hear it was some magical potion,” Kennedy said. “They’re a little disappointed when they hear diet and exercise.”

Kennedy also had a secret weapon: Stacy Summers. The Appleton mom of four teaches fitness at the Heart of the Valley and Apple Creek YMCAs and provides nutrition coaching through the YMCAs’ Funky Weigh Down classes and her own business, The Healthy Weigh.



Regarding many women’s desire to lose weight and get in shape, Summers said, “It’s amazing what they can do when they’re willing to have a little faith in themselves and be persistent and consistent.”

Kennedy, she added, fell solidly in that category: “Her heart was there, and she was willing to work hard.”

If Kennedy’s success inspires you — or if your 4-month-old New Year’s resolution is languishing — you might reinvigorate your workouts with one of the following approaches.

Each was among the top 10 fitness trends predicted by American College of Sports Medicine-certified health and fitness professionals for 2010, and each can give your workouts a results-oriented boost.

Strength training

While strength training hardly seems trendy, it is nonetheless important. Said the ACSM in its trends message to the media, “Strength training is an essential part of a complete physical activity program — for all physical activity levels and genders.”
Unfortunately, women focused solely on calories burned per hour are tempted to neglect this element of fitness — even trainers like Summers. “I personally am a cardio junkie so I have to make it a point to get in my strength training,” she said.
The benefits definitely make doing so worthwhile. “As we get older, we’re losing our bone density, our muscle mass,” Summers said.



Those losses not only mean greater likelihood of injury but also lead to a lower resting metabolism. That, in turn, can contribute to the upward creep of the scale familiar to so many women of a certain age.



While the ACSM trends focus on exercise, Summers emphasizes that anyone looking to emulate Kennedy’s significant weight loss must go beyond working out more. 

“Exercise is great for maintaining your weight, but if you want to lose weight, it’s got to be about what’s going in,” she said. In other words, what you eat matters, too.

Kennedy knows that to be true. With Summers’ nutrition counseling, she lost her first 12 pounds in seven weeks — two pounds better than Summers’ 10-pound guarantee. The Funky Weigh Down class, she said, “completely has opened my eyes with how I grocery shop, with how I deal with the food choices I make for my family.”

To anyone longing for Kennedy’s results, Summers said it’s critical to make your health a priority, to choose an exercise — trendy or otherwise — that works for you, to keep an eye on nutrition and to do all of it with devotion.

“I wish there was an easier answer,” she said. “They really have to want it for it to happen.”



Lisa Strandberg: pcfeatures@postcrescent.com


On the Web

To see more of what’s hot in fitness this year, search for 2010 fitness trends at www.acsm.org.

To learn more about Stacy Summers’ weight-loss philosophy, visit her blog at
http://spoonfulliving.blogspot.com.'

Its TIME to Take Charge of Your Health!

I like to consider myself the 'pre-cursor' before the "wake-up call".

If you continue down the unhealthy path you are on,

the wake-up call will most definitely come.

It may be in the form of Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease, Stroke or other undesirable conditions.

I have the privilege of watching those who are ready to take ownership of their health as they have not only lost weight but have developed a spring in their step

& continual smile on their face!

But I have to say the greatest joy for me is when they tell me their doctor has removed certain medications because of their new healthy lifestyle.

Studies show that even 10 lbs lost can reduce the risk of many illnesses.

Today is the day to begin the process of preventing your own personal wake up call!

It is never too late.

Eat Right! Live Life! Be Happy! Be Healthy!

This is not only your right... but your responsibility!

I am here for you.

Available classes include:

· Personal Menu Coaching

· Food Intake Analysis

· Lifestyle Evaluation & Goal Setting

· Referral Incentives

· Immediate Openings

· Group Discounts

· One on one Email Support

· Confidential Weekly Weigh-Ins

· Quality Information with Weekly Homework

· Researched Solutions

· No “diet shakes or pills”