Fall is Here!

Fall is officially here, and it is the best time to workout outside. Enjoy the beautiful weather and join us in October and November and be ready for the holidays!

CURB YOUR STRESS –

5 tips that really work
1. Keep a tiny to-do list — every morning write down the top 3-5 tasks to accomplish that day. And then — put down your pen until the next day. Be realistic about how much you can get done and always leave a block of time for yourself.
2. Don’t go it alone — enlist others to help you complete tasks and learn how to accept offers of assistance from friends and co-workers. When you don’t try to do everything yourself, the quality of your work will go up, while your stress level will drop.
3. Feel the burn — take time every day to exercise or to do something physical. Even light exercise helps “burn off” stress hormones and stimulates important brain chemicals. It also increases the activity of key “feel-good” neurotransmitters.
4. Put away your magic wand — multitasking is not a genuine solution to anything, regardless of how much you have to do. Yes, you may need to work on several tasks throughout the day, but you aren’t a magician. Trying to “do it all” at the same time is impossible, and creates lots of stress.
Let laughter into your life — smiling more and enjoying a giggle here and there can mellow out your autonomic nervous system and provide a boost to the immune system. It also helps reduce stress hormones like cortisol. And — it’s really fun!

Sesame marinade for Tilapia

1 lb Tilapia
1 T olive oil
1 T rice vinegar
1 T lite soy sauce
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
1 T sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients and pour over talapia. Marinade for about 15 min. Broil for about 20 min. or until fish is flakes. You can also use the marinade for chicken.

Stress Got Your Metabolism Down?

I’m sure you’ve heard of the fight-or-flight response, and you probably know that it’s the way your body reacts to danger or stress. But do you know what the fight-or-flight response is? You guessed it: It has to do with hormones.
When you’re faced with a danger, your adrenal glands release three hormones: norepinephrine, epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), and cortisol. Norepinephrine and epinephrine cause several changes to help you survive the danger, including a pause in insulin release so you have lots of blood sugar available for energy, an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, and a suspension of your appetite. After the danger has passed, cortisol tells the body to stop producing norepinephrine and epinephrine and stimulates your appetite again.
This response evolved to help people deal with short-term survival situations, like an attack by a predator. The trouble is, it occurs in response to all stressors, including the deadlines pummeling you at work and the traffic that drives you crazy. When stress is always present, your body can’t get rid of the excess cortisol built up in the blood. That cortisol just hangs around, causing lots of trouble: It turns young fat cells into mature fat cells that stick with you forever, and increases your cravings for high-fat, high-carb foods.
When you give in to those cravings, your body releases a cascade of rewarding brain chemicals that can set up an addictive relationship with food — you stress, you eat. If you don’t consciously control the pattern, you can become physically and psychologically dependent on that release to manage stress. In fact, people who self-medicate with food tend have hair-trigger epinephrine reactions and chronic high levels of cortisol.
You can help yourself keep cortisol in check by limiting caffeine intake to 200 milligrams a day; avoiding simple carbs, processed foods, and refined grains; and getting plenty of high-quality protein. It’s also crucial that you find stress-relief techniques that work for you. If you can tame your stress response and lower cortisol levels, you’ll have a much easier time losing weight.

Baked Kale Chips

1 bunch (about 6 ounces) kale
1 tablespoon olive oil (I use about 2 tsp.)
Sea salt, to taste
Preheat oven to 350°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet (I needed two because mine are tiny; I also lined mine with parchment for easy clean-up but there’s no reason that you must). Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp 9 edges are brown but not burnt. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.

« Previous Page — Next Page »