Health Tip: Smaller Plates, NO Seconds

Hello dear readers!

I'm sorry to have left you hangin' for a few days.  Accept my apology?  Please?  Life has just gotten a little crazy recently.  Every day something drastic happens it seems.

So, I've mentioned portion distortion before and how its changed completely since the 1980's.  But I wanted to give you a real life example of this.

I was eating at Famous Daves yesterday (BBQ? Uh - yum!), and this is the plate I received to eat on.



Is this not one of the biggest plates you've ever seen in your life?!!? I thought so.  My fork looked TINY in comparison!  Not okay.  When we eat with bigger size plates, we automatically eat more - even if we get full.

Our plate fulls should be the diameter of that fork.

So here is my suggestion to you: use smaller plates and don't go back for seconds.

Seems simple, right?  Not so.  Its hard to find "regular" size plates today.  And its hard to not go back for seconds when those mashed potatoes with gobbs of butter were "oh so good."

Self control people, self control.  Cultivate this habit in your life.  You'll feel stronger, happier, and you'll be healthier because of it.

Tomorrow I'm going to write more on the issue of self control, but today, time is escaping me yet again.

I just wanted to throw this picture out there so you know I'm not making this stuff up...portions, and plate sizes, are increasing at an exponential rate.

Fight the urge.  Don't take seconds.

Stay tuned.  Tomorrows post will be a fun one.

Day 5: Health Tip - Your Body is NOT a Landfill

Hello dear readers!


How are you this fine Sunday afternoon?  Thanks to all of you lovely individuals the blog has hit 500 readers!  This is not a lot in blog terms, but it feels nice knowing that someone, somewhere, reads the information I throw into space.  So, thank you!  I appreciate you.


I would really like to hear more from you all however, especially in the "reviews" section of this page.  Please post things under that tab that you have heard about: fish oil, fad diets, P90X, certain herbs, remedies, ect.  I am itching to do research on things that you care about!  Post away!


Onto today's health tip.

This is a landfill.  

Trash is dumped here.  Don't dump trash into you.  Thats not where it belongs.

Many of us treat our bodies like they are landfills.  For most of us, it is not a conscious effort.  We just eat without thinking.  We eat when we are bored, stressed, happy, sad, angry, surprised, excited, rewarded, punished, scared, and the list continues.  We also eat when we are in front of the TV, video games, Facebook, the kindle, the nook, and this list also continues.  

Pair emotional eating with 'electronical' eating?  That, my friends, is a dangerous duo.  Because then we are not only eating "trashy" foods, we are also eating in a way that our stomach and brain do not communicate with each other.  Basically, you have a distorted perception of when you are actually full.  

This is where I suggest the concept of "conscious eating."  Books have been written about this stuff, its not an original idea.  But I suggest thinking before you eat, and when you eat.  Don't just shove things down the hole in your mouth.  For example, people will place open bowls of candy on their counters, like M&M's, peanut butter cups, chocolate kisses, ect.  Many times they will correspond to the season or holiday.  I know, because I grew up with one of these "candy bowls" on our kitchen counter.  Mom, I'm sorry to use our house as an example, forgive me.  

But basically, you'll walk past that bowl twenty times in a given day and almost every time you'll say "oh its just two pieces of candy," munch, munch, munch.  Not thinking.  

Or, you won't think to realize what you are eating because your emotional.  This particularly pertains to the females.  One cliche I can think of is "my boyfriend broke up with me - so I need ice cream!"  NO you don't! He is not worth shoving your face full of empty calories.  Your heart may be empty... doesn't mean you have to eat empty too.  

Or, people will get really stressed out - and eat.  People will get a raise at work - and eat.  People will have a death in the family - and cope by eating.  

You put gasoline (or diesel, or E85) in your car because it runs best off of gas.  You don't put maple syrup in your car because you will die, or something.  

You feed your hamster hamster food.  You don't feed your hamster baby alligators (in this instance, I can confidently say - it would die).  

Same with your body.

Stop feeding your body food and drinks that it doesn't want.  You are literally killing your body (faster) by doing so.  It just takes longer then baby alligators eating your pet hamster.  

Think before you eat.  Your body is not a landfill.  

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.  

Day 4: Health Tip - Eat Some Breakfast

Hello dear readers!

It is Friday - how wonderful, how spectacular, how fantastic... except for those of you who have weekend shifts of course.  But still - lets delight in the fact that it is Friday, and the weekend is a breath away.

I hope you are enjoying these daily health tips.  Be sure to check out the other tabs as I've recently added a recipe, a workout, videos, and photos!

Here is your Friday, day 4, week 1, health tip!  Enjoy!

Eat Some Breakfast!


Countless people skip breakfast today because they are "too busy."  They rush around the house in the morning, getting themselves ready, only to run out the door five minutes late, stressed out, and on an empty stomach.  Then 10am roles around, and they start to have a strong urge for sweets or heavy carbs.

Eating breakfast is easier then you think it is.  And way more important then you think it is.

Here are some benefits:

• Decrease in stomachaches and headaches
• Eating breakfast has been linked to individuals making healthier food choices throughout the day
• Increases feelings of "fullness"
• Linked to eating fewer calories at lunch
• Linked to healthier overall weight, body image and BMI
• Breakfast helps people feel more "motivated" and increases ambition 
• Increases cognitive performance 
• Increases visual perception
• Increases spatial and short term memory 
• Increased body image
• Decreases overall rates of illness 
• More strength and endurance to engage in physical activity

And these are just some of the benefits.  This list is nowhere near extensive.  

Myth: Skipping breakfast does NOT make you skinnier.  If anything, it actually makes you GAIN weight.

Be smart - eat some food.  

Check out a sample of my breakfast:

• 1 egg w/ cut up spinach 
• 2 cups Greek non-fat yogurt
• 1 cup natural granola 
• 1/2 cup fresh fruit 

Key ingredient?  Protein.  And tons of it.

Secret?  Variety.  

Protein fills you up.  Keeps that growlin' hunger at bay.  

In that breakfast I had food from all the categories: veggies, fruit, meat/beans, grains, and dairy.  Keeps me happy, and healthy.  

So go ahead, eat some breakfast - it'll make you smarter, stronger, happier, healthier.

Stay tuned.  

Day 3: Health Tip - ReThink Moderation

Hello dear readers!

It is Thursday.  Woofta - we almost made it to the end of the week.  So put on a smile.

That's better.  Here is your health tip for day 3... enjoy!

Mod·er·a·tion:The avoidance of excess or extremes.

A big problem in our society today is the concept of moderation.  Since 1980 our obesity rate has tripled.  TRIPLED!  If this trend continues, by the year 2040 over 75% of the United States will be overweight or obese.  That has huge implications as a society.  Why has it tripled?  There are many, many reasons.  One of them is that our view of moderation has changed.

Thirty years ago, moderation would be considered having an ice cream cone maybe once a month, roughly.  Today, our idea of moderation is having a bowl of ice cream once a week.  We have this attitude that "we deserve it."  After a long day at work, we deserve that bowl of ice cream.  After a tough week, we deserve to order pizza (and eat 3/4 of it, plus breadsticks, and two glasses of soda).  After a long day of studying, we deserve to go out and eat appetizers at 10pm at night.

Don't you deserve to treat your body right?  

In my "home town" of Willmar, the popular thing to do was grab 1/2 price apps at Applebee's at 9pm.  It was really the only thing to do (no offense Willmar).  Most of us ordered wings...you know, juicy, boneless buffalo wings.  With ranch, or blue cheese.  Yum, right?  Did you know that just A SINGLE order of wings with sauce is roughly 1,200 calories and approximately 50 grams of fat??  

I-N-S-A-N-E.  And its bad enough we're eating them, let alone at 9pm at night.    

And we view eating Applebee's appetizers (or insert any restaurant) once a week as moderation.  This is not moderation.  

I'm not saying don't go out with your friends, or don't ever eat ice cream...no no no.  Just rethink how often you eat certain foods.  

A handful of M&M's...or what we consider a handful of M&M's... is 300 calories.  That will take you thirty minutes of running (at a steady pace...) to "burn" it off.  

Eat two handfuls of M&M's a week?  600 calories.  Consume this for a year, gain approximately 15lbs.  

Same with a glass of juice.  Keeping your exercise routine the same, your eating habits the same, just adding ONE glass of apple juice once a week?  Yep, 10 lbs.   

ReThink Moderation.  

Stay tuned.  Enjoy your Friday!      

Day 2: Health Tip - Place it Far Away

Good afternoon readers!

So I've been talking at you for a few posts now, and I just thought I'd give some credibility to myself quick...so you realize I'm not just "some quack."  My name is Samantha.  I work at the Mayo Clinic.  I work in endocrinology/diabetes/nutrition.  My personal passion is obesity - especially childhood obesity...after all, did you know we now have an epidemic of obese six month olds?

True story friend.

Shocking, right?  Yep.  Anyway, on to the blog of the day...

Put things farther away.  You heard me.  Move that trash can from under your desk at work to five feet way.  And for those of you who are basketball superstars, move it further.  The further the better.  Move that  binder next to your desk that you grab for every two minutes - to a shelf above your desk where you must stand to reach it.  Move your cell phone a few feet away.  Move your mini fridge from beside your bed.  Make it so you must get up to change the channel on the TV or move the remote a couch or a chair away.  Think this is simple?  It is, that is the brilliance my friends.  But the amount of times your getting up to move will be significantly increased.

Move more, burn more, think better, feel better.

And just to back this idea up, I've been doing it.  And our research shows that the more you move, the more productive you are, and the better you learn.

Things that I have "far away:"
1) My trash can at work...I go here a lot, makes me get up at least once every ten to fifteen minutes and doesn't interrupt my work.  If anything, it makes me more productive.
2) My cell phone.  I put it farther away from my desk so I can't conveniently check it whenever I want to.  I must go to it.  I also do this at home.
3) The remote.  When and IF I watch TV I'll put the remote one couch away.  It was annoying at first, but when I realized just how much even little movements can make a huge difference, I don't mind it anymore.

Get creative.  What can you move farther away?  Post your ideas below, I'd love to hear em.  And don't forget to take my (now weekly) poll on the side of this page.

This post wasn't helpful to you?  Well then just stay tuned for tomorrows post.  Or later tonight's post.  Depending on my ambition levels.

Day 1: Health Tip

Almonds.  They are cheap, and an amazing source of goodness.  Buy some.  Eat a handful before meals.  In simple terms, this will prevent your body from the "sugar" levels spiking after a meal causing less fat gain.  It will curb your hunger slightly, kick start your metabolism, lots of good things.

Try it for a week.  See what happens.

The "proof:"
"Almonds appear to not only decrease after-meal rises in blood sugar, but also provide antioxidants to mop up the smaller amounts of free radicals that still result." (Jenkins DJ, Kendall CW, Journal of Nutrition)

Practical Tips: Don't just enjoy almonds as a between-meal or before-meal snack. Spread a little almond butter on your toast or down the center of a stalk of celery. Add a handful of lightly roasted almonds to your salad or chop and use as a topping for pasta, steamed or healthy sautéed vegetables. When eating foods with a higher glycemic index, including almonds in the meal can help keep your blood sugar under control.

Stay tuned for tomorrows tip!

Week 1: Challenge

So since I clearly don't have the time I thought I would to dedicate to this blog for long posts, I'm just going to post a "Tip of the Day."  This is a resonable goal.  The tip of the day can be anything from a nutrition tip, to an exercise tip, to a mental health tip, to a weekly goal, to a challenge.  Enjoy!

Challenge for the week:  park in the furthest spot away from the store. 

I'm going to try and start off each week (usually Monday's) with a challenge for you.  The rest of the days will include tips, helpful hints, recipies, ect.  This weeks challenge will carry through until Sunday, although I encourage you to keep it going!  For this week, park in the furthest parking spot from the store, bank, office, ect.  We're often driving around the parking lot for minutes upon minutes looking for the closest spot, just so we can walk less.  STOP IT.  Park far away.  Increase your caloric burnage for the day.  This will give you more mental clarity, and increase "happy" feelings. 

Are you up to the challenge? 

Good luck!  Let me know how it goes via comment stream.  And look for a tip of the day tomorrow.