Archive for May, 2009

Do you have clothing in your closet that's 10 years old — and hasn't fit you in 10 years?

Do you find yourself wistfully thinking back to the '90s when you were slim, trim and fit?

Do you wonder if you'll ever get back the body you had a decade ago?

Ten Years Thinner: 6 weeks to a leaner, younger-looking you by Christine Lydon, M.D. promises to help you shed a decade from your waistline. It touts itself as a simple, doctor-developed six-week eating and exercise program.

For a chance to WIN a copy of Ten Years Thinner, just Subscribe To This Blog and post a reply telling us what you were doing in the summer of 1999. What music were you listening to? Who were you spending your time with? What were you wearing? Do you wish you could have your 1999 body back?

You have until Thursday, June 11 to let us know. I'll announce the winner here on Friday, June 12.

I ate two chocolates yesterday.

Neither one was the Turtle from my desk drawer. But still, two chocolates aren't exactly Bikini Boot Camp-friendly.

I woke up on Saturday morning with a sore throat and proceeded to be sick for the entire long weekend and beyond, so I rationalized that somehow I deserved two chocolates.

This kind of rationalizing is baloney, of course. But in my defense, there were 10 chocolates in the box and I only ate two.

The worst part is that I'm going to have to record it in my Food Journal.  Two chocolates. 100 calories. No nutrients.

But the best part is that the thought of having to record it in my Food Journal deterred me from eating the other eight chocolates in the box.

Actually, the best part was eating two chocolates. But the Food Journal is pretty good, too.

If you're new to the Food Journal, here's how to set your goals:

• 45-65 per cent of your calories should come from carbohydrates
• 20-35 per cent of your of calories should come from fat
• 10-35 per cent of your calories should come from protein

Of course, your percentages can't add up to more than 100 per cent. So if you plan to get 65 per cent of your calories from carbohydrates, you can't also have 35 per cent from protein and 35 per cent fat, because then you'd be totalling 135 per cent. You'll need to find a range and balance that works for you that totals 100 per cent.

How do those percentages translate into actual grams of each nutrient?
In a 1,500 calorie diet, healthy nutrient ranges would be roughly:

• 175-242 grams of carbohydrate each day
• 33-54 grams of fat each day
• 42-121 grams of protein each day

The ranges are wide and reflect the values suggested in Canada’s Food Guide (approximately 55 per cent carbs, 15 per cent protein and 30 per cent fat) and popular diet programs like the Zone Diet (40 per cent carbs, 30 per cent protein and 30 per cent fat).

For women age 19-50, Health Canada's Dietary Reference Intakes recommends 25 grams of fibre each day. For women 51-plus, Health Canada recommends 21 grams.

The Bikini Boot Camp Six-Week Menu is based on a 1,500-calorie-a-day diet. You may need to adjust your calorie intake based on your goals.

Congratulations to Kelly and Melissa who have won our Day 9 contest by telling us about their favourite healthy snack.

Kelly said:
"Frozen Grapes!!! They are great in the summer!!!"

Melissa told us:
"I love apple slices dipped in peanut butter. Also, when in a hurry, a ripe banana often does the trick. I am usually fine at work as I teach and have limited access to snacking other than at lunch. My worst time is just after supper and the craving hits for ‘just a little something sweet to finish off the meal’. This is definitely a challenge for me."

Kelly and Melissa have each won a copy of The Snack Factor Diet: The secret to losing weight by eating more, by Keri Glassman, M.S., R.D.

Don't forget to check out the Bikini Boot Camp Six-Week Menu for great meal and snack ideas!

It's Victoria Day and across the country, many of us are performing involuntarily squats and lunges as we plant our gardens. Ah, exercise disguised as leisure. My favourite!

Not only is gardening a great way to stay active, it can also be a source of healthy, fresh vegetables. So why not expand your gardening repertoire this spring by planting a few peas, a couple of tomato plants and some zucchini?

Need help getting started on your vegetable garden? You'll want to enter today's contest for a chance to WIN one of two copies of Douglas Green's fabulous new book, The Guide to Canadian Vegetable Gardening. Just Subscribe To This Blog and post a reply telling us about your favourite vegetable and how you like to prepare it. You have until Saturday, May 23 to let us know. I'll announce the winners here on Sunday, May 24.

And now . . . some thoughts on gardening and exercise, right from author Douglas Green:

"General research shows that a half hour of gardening a day with its stretching, bending, and lifting is an excellent workout and is equal to the workout you'd do in a fitness centers.

Shoveling snow, mowing the lawn with a push mower and gardening with heavy power tools each has a value of 6.0. Aerobics and  swimming carry the same 6.0 value!"

Congratulations to jentam, who has won our Day 6 contest by telling us about her  favourite non-workout way to get exercise.

jentam says:
"This may sound strange but I enjoy cleaning the house and getting exercise doing so. I move quickly when I clean and I try and stretch as I reach to clean windows or sweep under the bed. It feels great to have a clean house *and* feel like I’ve been working out."

Ooh, extra points for multitasking! Nice work. Your prize is a copy of Move a Little, Lose a Lot: New NEAT science reveals how to be thinner, happier and smarter by James A. Levine, MD, PhD.

In other news, today is World Hypertension Day. Who knew? Not I. But to help . . . celebrate . . . wait, I don't know if we're meant to 'celebrate' World Hypertension Day, but anyway, to help 'mark the occasion', we're giving away a great prize pack from Mrs. Dash. It contains all 12 flavours of Canada's favourite salt-free, flavour-full seasoning plus a step counter and a jump rope. The folks at Mrs. Dash say that using Mrs. Dash instead of salt is a great way to cut down on your sodium intake.

Mmm. Sodium. I confess that I put salt on everything. It's a habit I really have to break. Is there something that you put salt on even when you know you really shouldn't? Do you add salt to your food before you even taste it? Do you ever add a visible layer of salt to your food? If someone served you a bowl of salt, would you proceed to put salt on it? For a chance to WIN this fab Mrs. Dash prize, just Subscribe To This Blog and post a reply telling us about your bad salt habit.

You have until Sunday, May 31 to let us know. I'll announce the winner here on June 1.

Congratulations to Michelle and Anna Gregory, who have won our Day 5 contest by telling us about a great decision they've made.

Michelle told us:

"To live in Canada! I came from the U.K. on a work permit for 1 year. That was 19 years ago. Growing up gyms were viewed as something rich people went to because they didn’t have to work long hours like the rest of us. Here, I’m out cycling/skiing/skating with the kids and I’ve just signed up for my first ever learn to run class."

Anna Gregory says:

"I am a recent subscriber…and the best decision I ever made was to quit smoking….I found out I was pregnant and I had no other options.

I joked that I would take a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of rye to the delivery room (I also stopped drinking during my pregnancy!!)…but my oldest son is 26 now and I never did start smoking again…the benefits??? Oh….far, far too many…as you can imagine (know if you are an ex-smoker)…

I still crave a cigarette every once in a while…but I am a non-smoker and will be forever!"

Congratulations, ladies! You've each won a copy of Suzy Welch's new book, 10-10-10: 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years.

Congratulations to Sarah, who won our Day 4 contest by telling us about what inspires her.

Sarah says:
"I am inspired by my mother, and my best friends. My mom lost almost thirty pounds, one of my friends is constantly going to the gym and eating healthy (and I hate to be the chubby, chocolate-eating friend), and my other friend has decided to train for a marathon happening next May and she has never run a day in her life. With these three important women in my life, I know that I can succeed as they have."

Good stuff, Sarah. If we stick together, we'll all get there.

Sarah's prize is a copy of Never Say Diet: Make five decisions and break the fat habit for good, by Chantel Hobbs.

Don't forget to enter our Day 9, Day 7,  Day 6 and Day 3 contests for a chance to WIN great prizes!

I am loving the Bikini Boot Camp Six-Week Menu because I can see all my meals for weeks in advance. It's so easy to make my grocery lists when I'm this organized!

Planning your meals in advance has many benefits:

• It helps you make a grocery list and stick to it.
• You can cross-reference your list to what's on special at your local stores to ensure you're getting the best deal.
• You can identify ingredients that you're going to need a lot of, then save money by buying them in bulk.
• You’re less likely to come home to an empty cupboard, find yourself without a plan, and end up eating popcorn for dinner.

In addition to the Bikini Boot Camp Menu, I'm also using CanadianLiving.com's new Meal Planner tool — it actually compiles a printable grocery list for you! I'm loving it. You can access the Meal Planner through your MyCL account.

Everyone's all atwitter about Tuesday night's Biggest Loser finale.

The changes — both physical and psychological — that the Biggest Loser contestants undergo over the course of the season is staggering.

It's unbelievable. It really is. So much so that I rang up Biggest Loser trainer Bob Harper and asked if it was actually possible for people who aren’t on the show to make such a stunning change in their life.

"I think anyone can turn their lives around when they decide that they’re worth it,” said Bob. “You don’t need a TV show. People are looking for an excuse not to start something. I would tell people, ‘Once you pull those excuses out of the way, what’s standing in your way of achieving your goals?’”

He admitted that the results seen on the show are not typical. “You can’t expect those kind of extreme results because on the show, people spend six or more hours working out each day. They don’t have a job or families to go to. They’re in an extreme situation,” he explained. “But you’ve got to find what works for you in your daily life. Don’t make excuses.”

Okay Bob. I’ve ditched my excuses and adopted the Bikini Boot Camp program because it fits so well into my daily life. Now how do I stay with it? How do I stay motivated?

“You’ve got to realize that you have to stay on the course,” he said. “When you decide that you’re making a lifestyle change and you’re not looking for that one certain goal of fitting into a certain size but you’re actually working to change your lifestyle, you’ve got to trust the process. If you trust the process, you’re going to be able to change your life forever.”

I have a Turtle in my desk drawer.

That's right, a Turtle. A delicious, chocolaty pecan treat.

It has been in my desk drawer since last Thursday, making it the longest surviving Turtle ever. Usually such a sweet snack would be devoured on its first day at the office. (Although, now that my colleagues know it's in there, its days are probably numbered.)

Turtles and other such tasty treats are forever in danger of extinction because of my rampant love of snacking. It's a real testament to my commitment to Bikini Boot Camp that this Turtle has survived so long.

(I just took it out of my drawer and smelled its wrapper. Mmm. Then I slid it back in my drawer. That is willpower.)

Anyway, turns out that snacking is not such a bad thing. Just look at the Bikini Boot Camp Menu — it's littered with snacks. The trick is to snack well.

The Snack Factor Diet: The secret to losing weight by eating more, by Keri Glassman, M.S., R.D, has more than 100 ideas and recipes for crunchy, sweet, salty and creamy snacks to enjoy. Best of all, these waistline-friendly snacks promise to help keep your energy high, your metabolism up and your mood positive.

I have two copies of The Snack Factor Diet to give away. For a chance to WIN, just Subscribe to This Blog and post a reply telling us about your favourite snack. No — no Turtles allowed. These have to be healthy snacks!

You have until Monday, May 18 to let us know. I'll announce the winner here on Tuesday May 19.

Happy snacking!