Home Blog Page 63

Eight Tips to Dealing with Temptation

Heather Morneau
-
2
Eight Tips to Dealing with Temptation

It’s that time of the year again. Wait a minute, is it really?

Actually it’s always that time of the year. Temptation is always there. Now, it just so happens that at this present time of the year, there happens to be many more treats to tempt us. So how do we “Just say No”.

Some ways to say no are easier than others. But I think that with a little thought, we can be better prepared and therefore, better armed to resist.

First of all what is it that you just can’t say no to. You may have to do a little thinking. It’s not as simple as salty or sweet. Or chocolate or anything else.  There are many more things we should think about.

  • Do you have trouble resisting social drinking?
  • Can you actually go get a coffee without all the flavours and extras?
  • Can you go to the movies without popcorn?
  • Can you watch someone else indulge and just not join in?
  • Can you actually order water in a restaurant?
  • Can you make cookies and not lick the spoon?
  • Can you really be that disciplined?

When we are really trying to lose weight it truly is hard to watch everyone else just eat and drink whatever they want. We are tempted to ask them to not eat and drink ‘that’ in front of us. We are tempted to tell them that ‘actually YOU should be cutting back too’. We are tempted to eat just a little something when we are all alone. After all it is our own body we can ‘cheat’ if we want. But the problem is that we all know that WE are the problem and then the vicious cycle of guilt creeps in. Why does it have to be so hard?

The truth, again, is that it is only hard because we are creatures of habit. We tend to do what is comfortable and for most of us, food is comfort. So, if we really are people who like habit, how do we change our habits and how do we get past our temptations?

 

Once we have had a good hard look at ourselves, we can truly take steps to make our temptations either more tolerable, or at least less tempting.

 

1. Don’t buy the ‘thing’ that is your biggest temptation.

If you tend to eat chips, do your best to simply not have them in the house. If you have them at home for other family members, put them out of site…. Out of sight, out of mind.

2. If you are going to indulge, make sure you are really aware of the amount you are having.

Take your portion out and put the rest away before tasting.

3. Eat or drink your temptation slowly.

If you seem to suck back your treat, you don’t really taste what you are having and therefore are more likely to go back for more. Savour each taste, it truly will taste better.

4. Eat your treats in a conscious way.

If you tend to eat in front of the TV, you typically won’t pay enough attention to what you are eating, therefore you will tend to overeat.

5. If going out with friends is part of your temptation, have a healthy snack before going out.

If you are not really hungry when you are out, you are less likely to eat the whole menu. Or at least will be satisfied with smaller portions.

6. When going out, drinking water is now quite cool, so do it.

The best 0 calorie drink out there is still water, also it will fill you up more before you eat.

7. If you have a glass of water in your hand while out socializing, others are less likely to offer you more to drink as they can see you are drinking.

You can then alternate water with what else you are drinking and that way you stay hydrated at the same time.

8. If you are planning a night out, then do just that, plan.

Having a reward meal in your week is truly good for you as long as it doesn’t turn into a reward weekend. So, keep your week’s eating clean, and plan that after you have your reward, to enjoy it and then get right back into clean eating.

 

You can’t eliminate temptation from your life all together, it’s part of the process. But being better prepared to handle it when it is there, means the kids can eat their Halloween candy without fear that their loot seems to be shrinking while they are at school.

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. – Charles M. Schulz

Personal Health Checklist

Heather Morneau
-
0
Personal Health Checklist

There is a lot more to being healthy and losing weight than “just eating less”.

Of course if you eat like a hockey player and the only physical thing you do is run to the fridge on commercials while watching the game, then yes, eating less is probably a good idea. It’s funny how everybody has an opinion on how YOU should lose weight. They may not be the best people to get advice from, but in today’s world of social media, everyone thinks they should share their opinion and of course it’s always right.

Now, in basic form, it really should not be any more complicated than consume less than you use. But most of us have no idea how much energy we consume or use in a day. Our world is not the same as it was ‘back in the day’. Once upon a time, most of us would have been very active all day. We did not sit in front of the TV at night, let alone have jobs that were just as sedentary. We would have been in bed earlier and stopped work when it was dark and only ate when hungry instead of bored. But that is not the world we live in anymore, so our diets and routines MUST change. Most of us are still thinking about food the way our parents did and it’s time to stop.

Because our lifestyle has changed so must our dietary habits. If you have a physical job where you are on your feet all day then you have the advantage that you can eat more, but are you eating the right food. Not only has our lifestyle changed but so has our food. Really it has. There are tonnes of studies out there that confirm that the nutritional value in most of our food has actually changed. Where we once knew exactly what vitamins and minerals were in everything we ate, the way our food is grown has changed. No longer are most fruit and veggies grown out in the open fields. There are now whole systems of gardens where the food is grown in water and nutrients must be added. Also, our meat is no longer just roaming the fields, there are hormones and antibiotics used. So, what do we do with this?

We must be more aware of our own selves. For years in our house, we simply just ate what we felt like and when we got sick, went to the doctor and moved right along. Things have changed. We now are being way more proactive. Living much more preventative instead of reactive. We have found that we are paying much more attention to what we eat in ways we didn’t before.

  • Is it local?
  • Can we pronounce the ingredients list?
  • How much sodium?
  • How many calories?
  • How much fat?
  • Is this the best value?
  • Should I buy this or make this?

Some people look at our new way of eating and exercise as a little excessive. It may be for some people, but for us it is so much more than just a lifestyle. We have not made these changes for anybody else’s sake but for our own. We have moved past the critics who think we are little out there, to where we feel better now more than we did in our 30’s and 40’s. We still indulge in some excellent wine. Love going out for dinner with friends. We still have wonderful meals full of all of the foods we have enjoyed all of our lives, we just do it in moderation and enjoy the workout to balance those extra calories.

So, in this day of easy access to information from so many sources, do a little homework for yourself.

  • Figure out if you should be adding some nutrients to your diet, or taking something out.
  • Should you eat more of one thing and less of another?
  • Should you keep track of your food?
  • Should you track your steps in a day?
  • Would making some changes make you feel better?
  • Should you be taking supplements?
  • Should you be adding protein to your diet?
  • Are you getting enough sleep?
  • Pay a lot more attention to how you feel.

Be proactive instead of reactive. It is a lot cheaper to be preventive than medicate and repair.

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. – Will Rogers

Where do you find Inspiration

Heather Morneau
-
0
Where do you find Inspiration

As I sat to write this week, I needed to find some inspiration.

So as I often do, I went to Pinterest. That is the one place on the web that inspires me in so many ways. I can look up just about anything and someone has pinned something about it. That process got me thinking, where do YOU go to find inspiration.

There seems to be no shortage of pics with great quotes on them posted everywhere. Google the word ‘inspiration’ and about 750,000,000 results pop up. WOW, that should keep us inspired and motivated forever. And yet……

The reason that there are so many places to find inspiration is because we all need it. Nobody is exempt. We all have great intentions to do all and be all. But that is not real. Life is messy. Things don’t go as planned. This isn’t new info. But, most of us just hide ourselves away and hope that ‘it’ will all just go away. We will wake up tomorrow and the problems of yesterday will simply vanish as we sleep. Yeah right, so will my wrinkles.

So if we all struggle, why do we have troubles finding what will get us out of that funk? Simple, WE ARE HUMANS, therefore not perfect. We should never be ashamed to seek help. As babies and toddlers, we all, on a regular basis, sat crying with our hands in the air waiting to be picked up and soothed. So, when did that change and why? The need is still there even though we are older, we are still humans.

Where, then, do we look for inspiration.

1. Family and friends ­ seems obvious, but not everyone has support from family and friends, if it’s not there, keep looking.

2. Support groups ­ there are endless online groups, including ours, Q4fit wants to be there for you.

3. Clubs ­ if you have joined a team or club, you have built in support.

4. Gyms ­ even drop in gyms have both staff and other people to seek out.

5. Online ­ may seem lame, but there are so many images and pics especially on Pinterest.

6. Yourself ­ sometimes you just need to put on your grown up pants, suck it up and just do ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ is.

7. Historical figures ­ so many come to mind, Terry Fox, Rick Hansen, Nick Vujicic, Anne Frank, Stephan Hawking, Benazir Bhutto and the list goes on.

In a post not long ago, Aug 13, to be precise, we at Q4fit, shared an amazing video on inspiration. That’s what we called the post, Inspired. It just can’t be described in any other way than inspirational. Arthur Boorman had no reason to believe that he could fix his own situation, yet he did. Thinking about that video and that man, gets me going.

The main thing about finding what works for you is knowing what you are looking for.
So;

● Start looking.

● Talk to people.

● Share your journey.

● But most importantly, let’s agree, then, to inspire each other.

● Be the inspiration for someone else, anyone else.

You don’t know these days with social media and the need to share, who is watching and looking for inspiration.  They may actually find it in you!

 

The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength not a lack of knowledge but rather a lack of will.– Vince Lombardi

Laugh and Lighten Up

Heather Morneau
-
0
Laugh and Lighten Up

I used to say to my kids when we would encounter a grumpy person, ‘at least you don’t have to go home with that person or even BE that person’.

Grumpy people are everywhere and they are toxic, so what do you do to fix them? Nothing. Nothing at all. Truly there is nothing you can do to fix other people who are grumpy. Just leave them alone to their own troubles. The trouble is that sometimes their bad attitude is contagious. How do you combat that?

In school, when I was there, bullying was dealt with differently. There were no ‘big plans’, campaigns, t­-shirt awareness programs. Right or wrong, that isn’t how it was dealt with. But one of my teachers told us how he used to deal with them. Just laugh at them. A bully needs you to be afraid of you, so laugh, they won’t know what to do. I have actually used this advice a few times, especially in traffic. Just laugh, smile, and be glad you are not that guy.

Many numbers are thrown around, but I've heard some claims that children laugh more than 300 times a day, but adults laugh less than 20 times a day. That alone makes me sad. In general we should all just smile more. Even laugh more. Lighten up!

So let’s look at some of the reasons to lighten up a little.

1. Laughter boosts your immune system. According to some studies, laughter helps to boost your immune system and may even increase the number of cancer ­killing cells in your body. Doing something that feels good and is good for you? Sounds like a good idea to me!

2. Laughter releases endorphins. When you laugh, you trigger a release of endorphins (those feel ­good chemicals). These chemicals are the reason that you feel so happy when you laugh.

3. Laughter helps us connect with others. Think about how you feel when you're laughing with someone. You feel connected, right? Even if you don't know the person well, you feel bonded with him or her. Forming connections has a positive impact on our lives ­­ and laughter is a great way to connect!

4. Laughter protects your heart. Apparently laughing has some healthy heart benefits. Laughing can lead to improved blood flow and cut down on high blood pressure.

5. Laughter keeps us present. When you're laughing, you're focused on whatever is funny in that moment. You're not worried about the past or the future. You're in the now. Though you might not realize it, laughter really is one of the best ways to stay in the moment.

I have been reading a book lately and loving it. The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. It’s a great book that shows “The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work”. If you want a great read of real evidence that happy is better, this is your book. There is evidence in this book that says that your brain can’t tell the difference between a fake smile and laughter and the real deal, so just do it. You will feel better.

So go;

  • find that movie that cracks you up.
  • Read a funny book.
  • Startle your kids.
  • Play a silly game.
  • Tell a joke.
  • Something, anything, just laugh!

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?” – Unknown

1...626364...71Page 63 of 71

We offer a fun and fast way to unleash the athlete within you. Supporting health by all means necessary, with valuable information and dedicated programs.

© Q4FIT.COM 2023 | All rights reserved

Company

About us
Terms
Privacy
Careers
Contact

Quick access

Latest articles