I hope your holidays were everything you hoped they would be and more, and that your 2010 is filled with health, happiness and prosperity.
I had wonderful holidays myself, and spent some of the time doing research to help you make this year THE year in which you stop feeling victimized by menopause, and learn to take charge of your health and your life, from this time forward.
To kick off the year and help you jump-start the process, I’m holding a free teleseminar on Tuesday, January 12 at 5:30 pm Pacific Standard Time. I hope you’ll be able to join me to get a boatload of valuable information.
On this seminar, you’ll discover…
* The early warning signs of menopause, which ones can be dangerous, and what to do about them,
* The first thing you MUST do to take charge of your health,
* How to determine whether herbal remedies will work for you, and when hormone replacement therapy might be needed,
* The roots of menopausal weight gain: why it’s harder to lose weight during menopause and how to do it anyway,
* How exercising your mind in the right way helps promote your physical and emotional health while controlling mood swings,
* Some simple, fast-acting physical exercises to snap your body to attention fast, which you can do in the privacy of your own home with no equipment, in stolen minutes of your busy day,
* Common-sense nutrition tips and tricks to change your relationship to food permanently and put YOU in control,
And much, much more…
I had a miserable time with menopause myself, which motivated me to do years of research and experimentation to find out what your doctor won’t tell you.
The information I’ll be sharing can change your life and help put back the sparkle in your eye and the spring in your step. There is no charge for the seminar, but you must pre-register to reserve your place.
You’ll receive the call-in details by return email and also get directions on how to download the handouts that will help you make the most out of the call.
Well, maybe not EXACTLY – but researchers are finding more and more reasons why it’s good to eat one particular kind of chocolate to improve your health.
Dark chocolate (that with cocoa content of at least 60%) contains the same antioxidants found in apples, grapes, green tea and red wine. So let’s see: red wine with dark chocolate – a double healthy treat!
Ongoing studies are showing that eating a square or two of dark chocolate each day can improve your health in the following ways:
- it keep arteries supple which improves blood flow to all parts of the body and protects against atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries);
- it helps keep blood pressure down (in this study, participants ate 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate a day for 15 days. How do you become part of THAT study – sign me up!);
- it helps increase “good” or high-density cholesterol while reducing “bad” or low-density cholesterol;
- it makes you smarter by increasing blood flow to the brain (but we already knew this, didn’t we???);
- it keeps your heart stronger (those who eat dark chocolate regularly have a higher survival rate after heart attacks than those who don’t);
- AND, it’s even good for your teeth! A chemical in dark chocolate has the same effect on hardening tooth enamel as fluoride. Wonder when they’ll come out with chocolate-flavored toothpaste?
I find this news extremely encouraging and thought it a great little gift to brighten your holiday spirits!
HOWEVER….dark chocolate isn’t for everyone, unfortunately. Some women can experience increased premenstrual symptoms or headaches by eating chocolate, and people who have migraines often find chocolate brings on an episode. How unfair – that’s just wrong.
Also, be careful not to use this good news as an excuse to power down several ounces of the stuff every day. Dark chocolate does contain significant calories, and the processing methods used can impart minute parts of lead into the compound, so use moderation in this as in all things.
I like to have a square or two of dark chocolate after dinner as a healthy dessert. I break the square in two and let it melt slowly in the mouth – very satisfying! Also, once you get into it, you’ll find there are exquisite differences among the different brands and strengths of dark chocolate. There are even chocolate tastings, which teach you to appreciate chocolate in the same way as wine-lovers enjoy wine.
So bring on the holidays and enjoy some dark chocolate without guilt, and get ready for a truly Fit and Fabulous 2010!
I continue to get masses of email from women responding to my What’s Eating You messages of last week.
I already knew that of all the problems we women face as we go through menopause, gaining weight and feeling flabby is one of the top concerns. Because of the tremendous response to these emails, now I know I’m on the right track in getting to the root of the problem, controlling our appetite.
Isn’t it interesting that of all the thousands of diet books out there, very few of them even discuss how to deal with the root cause? Instead, they just focus on symptoms of what you’re eating and how much and when. While those things do matter, if you train your appetite to be satisfied in a different way than it is today, weight loss comes naturally without a lot of stress and strain.
And training your appetite is something you can master, just as you can train your muscles or train your brain to do anything else, like balance a checkbook, drive a car, or use a computer.
Doesn’t that sound like a much saner and simpler approach than trying to beat yourself into submission and calling yourself names if you slip off the wagon?
“Going on a diet” is a set-up for failure, as you steel yourself for days, weeks or months of deprivation. As someone who has tried them all, what I noticed was as soon as I said those words to myself, I would immediately get focused on FOOD and the tug of war was on!
In short, the more you make losing weight a BIG DEAL, the more pressure you put on yourself and the more internal resistance you create.
If you turn it the other way round and train your mind to direct your appetite, the process goes a lot smoother and the results will be permanent.
I’m working hard on a project to bring all of this information together, which I’ll be announcing within a couple of weeks, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, don’t make losing weight a Big Deal. Instead, breathe deeply, get relaxed and do the mental exercises in my Fit and Fabulous for the Fifties and Beyond program that will get you started on the right path.
Friday’s message titled “What You Eat vs. What’s Eating You” brought in a flood of responses.
Apparently many of us know what it means to turn to food for comfort when we’re dealing with emotions that are too strong or painful.
One woman shared that it wasn’t resentment that led to her weight gain, but rather extended and overwhelming grief at the sudden loss of her husband. After ten years she is well on the road to recovery and is getting control of her weight and her health again, and I’m so happy to hear that.
There are many things in life that can knock us off balance and lead to overeating and many other compensating behaviors. Especially when the impacting event is sudden or totally unexpected, we can be unprepared and turn to the closest thing available to tamp down the shock and pain.
That’s one of the reasons it’s so important to live a healthy lifestyle when things ARE under control. Eating nutritious foods and getting regular exercise fortifies our bodies and our minds so when tough things do happen, we have a foundation that can help see us through.
Please don’t think I’m saying that being fit will make all pain and troubles go away though. If only that were true…..but alas it is not.
That’s why it’s important to have the knowledge that will help you get back on track after a time of not eating right or getting exercise, and you can make changes amazingly fast that will motivate you to stay on the healthy path.
While it would be great if we could all eat perfectly nutritious food every day, never overindulge, never get exhausted and flop onto the couch instead of exercising, and never miss a workout (I GUESS….), that’s not the world I live in and I don’t expect to anytime soon.
That’s why a good portion of my Fit and Fabulous for the Fifties and Beyond program is dedicated to helping you recover after one of those “lapses” (or just a really good time!!!).
There are many tips and tricks to help you drop off that holiday fat, or that mad-fat, sad-fat, bad-fat or glad-fat.
To check out the program that will help you get(back) on track or stay on track for the rest of your life, please go to my website.
Don’t be at the mercy of What’s Eating You – bite back!
We’re often focused on what we’re eating in an attempt to diagnose or correct a weight problem. The multi-billion dollar diet industry is evidence of that fact.
While it is true that we are what we eat – a critical component of weight loss that is often overlooked is – What’s eating YOU???
What do I mean by this?
Especially for we women and especially during the pre- and menopausal years, we are prone to emotional upsets and mood swings that lead us to reach for another french fry or chunk of chocolate cake. So whatever’s eating US on the inside causes us to eat more food on the outside.
This can become a vicious cycle as many of us have experienced: we’re mad, sad, or frustrated and we want to get rid of the feeling, so we eat a lot of rich or starchy food and then we feel guilty. So then we eat a candy bar to make us feel better, which only makes us feel worse, and so on, sometimes literally ad nauseum.
This cycle is no fun at all and leads many women in their 50s and beyond to think it’s hopeless to try to lose weight, that no matter what you do, you’ll never be able to break the cycle.
I believed this myself for a while and was pretty miserable about it, but fortunately I found the key to dealing with it lies within my own emotions and my own mind. I found that one of the bedrock emotions that leads to chronic overeating is resentment, which can be defined as long-lasting anger or bitterness at a real or perceived slight or loss.
Resentment over old hurts doesn’t bother the offender, but it sure does a number on our own health and our own attempts at weight control. Learning to clear your emotions of this silent thief of your well-being goes a long way toward getting control of your weight, for life.
Not that you can do this one time and be cured forever: we all get knocked around by life now and then and new resentments are bound to crop up. But if we learn to recognize and remove them as they arise, like weeds in a garden, we can pave the way for new healthy ways of eating and living that WILL get us to the weight and fitness level we’re looking for.
There are specific exercises to help you let go and forgive both old and new resentments, which releases tremendous amounts of psychic energy you can use to achieve the goals you really want. You can read the exercises and do them at your own pace, or you can listen to the audio CD and I’ll walk you through them in a way that is relaxing and stress-relieving at the same time.
So don’t let the demons of buried anger and resentment keep you on the fat and flabulous treadmill, break free and let the Fit and Fabulous You come out!
I just got back from my annual trek in the high Sierras of California, where I spent eight days with great friends, a great crew, breathtaking mountain views, and night skies with stars as big as quarters.
My hiking group is known as the NSC Hikers, standing for No Spring Chickens. I’m the youngest at 57, and our most senior hiker is 72. Lest you think we do weenie hikes because of our advancing years, we covered over 75 miles of trail in the eight days, at altitudes from 8,000 to 12,000 feet. If you’ve done this sort of thing you know how strenuous it is, and how exhilarating.
In the high Sierra, you get to see vistas only a tiny fraction of people will ever see, and breathe clean crisp air that clears out your lungs, your body, and your mind.
Heres a photo of my Fit and Fabulous friends (age 57 to 72!) and the gorgeous scenery.
Being able to take trips like this is one of my prime motivations for keeping fit. I love the exercise, the challenge and the solitude the rugged mountains provide, and I plan to keep doing it as long as humanly possible.
Now hiking in the mountains for eight days may not be your idea of a good time, but it really helps to have your own compelling reason to get and stay fit.
Whether it’s improved health, longevity, more energy, the ability to travel, to be here for your grandkids or just to look like a million bucks, having your own reason to stay fit will make it so much easier to take the steps each day to make your goal a reality.
If you have a clear picture of your reason, both mentally and in writing or in graphic form like a photograph, the energy behind your reason will build and propel you even faster toward the results you want.
We are hard-wired to be goal-seeking mechanisms, and giving your mind and body a compelling target that is saturated with vivid and true emotions is like winning half the battle.
So don’t just start exercising or eating right with a half-hearted attitude, dive into the experience with a clear goal of how you want to look and feel, and be amazed at how fast your life changes.
And once you look and feel Fabulous, you’ll begin creating other significant goals for yourself as ready targets for all your new-found energy.
Grab hold of your own compelling reasons to get fit, and don’t let them go till you reach the summit and beyond.
P.S. To check out the common-sense method designed specifically for women in their pre- and menopausal years, please visit my website to see the Fit and Fabulous for the Fifties and Beyond program. You’ll be glad you did!
There have been many studies proving this fact, and if you’re serious about losing weight and improving your health, you’d be wise to dump these chemical cocktails down the drain.
Regular soda is bad enough, but diet sodas have nothing whatsoever in them that is good for you. They’re created in a lab where scientists labor to make a cauldron of chemicals and artificial sweeteners taste like something real. Blech.
If you’re craving something cool and refreshing and a little sweet, you can make some great-tasting coolers that are actually good for you with a minimum amount of effort.
All you need is some sparkling water or club soda (both of which add fizz with zero calories and no chemicals), some fruit, and a sprig of mint. If you have a simple hand-held juicer that makes it easier too.
To make a great-tasting cooler that will brighten up your day, squeeze the juice from a lime or two, a lemon, orange, or tangerine into a glass. Add a sprig of fresh mint and “muddle” them around with a spoon for a bit to crush some of the mint. Add ice cubes, then fill the glass with the sparkling water or club soda and enjoy!
You’re adding vitamin C and many other beneficial enzymes to your diet, for virtually no calories. And the act of making one of these cocktails is actually fun. It slows you down a little and gives you the satisfaction of creating something healthy and fun for yourself.
If you like things a little sweeter, buy packets of stevia, a natural sweetener with no calories and no chemicals, and add some of that to your drink before you add the ice.
You can get creative and start mixing juices and experimenting with different herbs, like lavender, rosemary, spearmint, and so on.
You can do the same with crushed strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, or apricots. There is no limit to the flavor combinations you can create.
Healthy tips like these form the core of my Fit and Fabulous for the Fifties and Beyond program, which was created to help women in their menopausal years take charge of their health and to feel and look great.
You can dump the diet hype and the weird food approaches down the drain with the diet soda. A simple but effective program of eating right and exercising effectively in the privacy of your own home will make tremendous changes in the way you look and feel, and fast!!
Everybody, including me, has days when I just don’t feel like exercising.
You may find this surprising since I spend so much time and energy helping others to do just that. But I’m not going to blow smoke up your knickers and pretend I never have days when I don’t jump out of bed raring to go.
Especially in the past few weeks since our new pups Winnie and Remy wake us up a couple times during the night, there are mornings when my “get-up-and-go” just doesn’t kick in like usual.
What do I do about this?
First of all, I acknowledge reality for what it is. Next, I take a few minutes to sit quietly, breathe deeply, and picture the way I want to look and feel for the rest of the day.
I don’t beat myself up or try to motivate myself artificially, I just relax and let my imagination go to town, in a focused way.
In a very short time I’ll start feeling better and my energy level will rise. Soon I find I’m wanting to exercise, maybe a lighter version than usual, but my body is ready for action.
Learning to train your mind as well as your body is essential to making the changes that will make you look and feel your best. That’s why the Fit and Fabulous for the Fifties and Beyond program includes many mental exercises you can do to create a success track to run on.
I find it’s better to do some movements every single day, if even for a very few minutes. This keeps your muscles, your internal organs, and your brain in an active mode. It keeps your energy primed and your whole being more responsive and relaxed.
That way, whatever the day may bring, you will be prepared and more able to smoothly navigate life’s ups and downs.
This is especially important during the menopausal years, when hormonal changes bring their own challenges along with whatever else life has in store.
You too can learn to take control of your mind and your health, so you feel and look better and better as you go through menopause. No need to believe the best years are behind you!!
You can get stronger, fitter, more toned and secksier during these years than you may imagine, by taking small but consistent steps every day towards your goal.
Beat the Hate to Exercise Blues and get into the best shape of your life, the common-sense way.
I spoke to a friend I’ll call Karen the other day. She is totally stressed out due to economic and personal reasons.
She lost a good chunk of her retirement savings in the recent Wall Street meltdown; she’s worried about her job security because the company where she works is not doing well; her husband is grouchy because of the pressure he’s under at his job; and her son is depressed because he’s afraid there will be no job for him when he finishes college next year.
All these are valid reasons to feel pressure and stress which I won’t attempt to minimize. However, learning to handle the pressure from events like these will be more and more critical to our well-being as time goes on.
The world has changed and it won’t be going back the way it was for a long, long time, so it’s up to each one of us to find a way to overcome the sometimes overwhelming events which surround us on every side.
Here are five simple ways to rise above the commotion:
1. Turn off the news. Journalism has become a lost art. The sensation-chasing muppets on most “news” shows today are just stirring the pot, trying to whip us into a frenzy so we’ll buy their sponsors’ latest books, gizmos, or pills to remove the stress they’ve helped create. Shut ‘em down.
2. Feed your mind with positive, helpful information. Now is a great time to read or re-read the classics, whether by truly great novelists or inspirational heroes like Dale Carnegie, Earl Nightingale and others. Great writing by positive, creative people will inspire you to create your own positive path, despite what others around you are doing.
3. Keep a journal. Especially in conjunction with #2 above, writing even a few sentences each day will help you gain perspective and allows you to keep track of valuable insights and wisdom you pick up along the way. Soon you’ll be able to read your own writing as a source of inspiration, as well.
4.Get some exercise. The importance of moving your body daily cannot be overemphasized. You will increase oxygen flow to your brain and vital organs, pump up your energy level and release powerful depression-chasing substances into your cells. Exercise also tends to motivate you to eat better, and good food like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats and fish will strengthen you from the inside out. Avoid junk food as it will make you feel lousy.
5. Breathe deeply. I’ve saved this one for last as it’s the simplest yet most overlooked way to gain control of your thoughts and emotions. Taking a few minutes several times a day to sit quietly and breathe deeply, all the way to your toes, while picturing what you want has tremendous effects on your serenity and your health. Don’t neglect this powerful energizer as a way to pull out of a negative emotional or mental state.
While these five steps won’t raise the stock market or necessarily effect some of the things you’re stressed about, they will strengthen and fortify YOU so you can think clearly and develop rational alternatives for yourself.
You can change the game from Overwhelm to Overcome when you use your God-given faculties in a way that increases your opportunities for success.
Just read a great article about how certain foods have proven to be excellent mood elevators.
With the mood swings that are often part of menopause, this is a simple yet effective way to take charge of your feelings and keep your attitude lively.
As a sage once remarked, “Food is a drug.” What we eat has an immediate and lasting impact on every part of our body at the cellular level. And since our minds and bodies are so closely linked, it stands to reason that the right foods will help us feel better emotionally too.
And the good news is the foods that are most helpful are not of the “twig and berry” type at all. They’re good solid things you’re probably eating already. Adding this awareness to your eating will help you make even better choices, especially on stressful days or when you get a case of the menopause “blues and blahs.”
The most helpful combinations are those that are high in complex carbohydrates and protein. No, that’s not the doughnuts and candy bars: it’s whole grains, fruit, sweet potatoes, beans and other vegetables, combined with fish, lean meat, chicken, cheese, or tofu.
The healthy fats and omega-3 fatty acids in fish, olives, olive oil, nuts and avocados are great for your brain and also give your skin a boost. These foods can help stave off depression, especially if you do a few minutes of exercise before eating. Getting your endorphins going is always a help to your moods, and eating the right foods along with it dramatically increases the positive effect.
Some other quick mood-enhancers include fat-free or low-fat milk, eggs, dark chocolate (a square or two melted slowly in the mouth makes a great dessert!), and cocoa.
We always knew chocolate was good for us, didn’t we?
It is, just watch the amounts and stick to pure dark chocolate on most occasions. Eating a pound of bon-bons may give you a temporary high, but the resulting depression when your pants don’t fit will NOT improve your mood over the long run.
These foods and more are part of the basic common-sense eating plan in my Fit and Fabulous for the Fifties and Beyond program. You can take charge of your health and your weight, and get into better shape than you may imagine, menopause and all.
If you haven’t seen it yet, please visit my website by clicking here.
