Just Between You and Me...

You don't have to eat all that.

The Truth About Your Body

There is no good time to tell you this, but I think you should know something:

Your body doesn't care about the holidays. It doesn't even know it's supposed to be on hiatus until January, much less care.

It doesn't process calories, fat, or sugar any differently because it's Christmastime. It just keeps plugging away.

"Hi ho hi ho, it's off to work I go...taking in all of these yummy goodies and...oooh, eggnog!...why is she eating all of this junk anyway? Whatever, I don't get paid to ask questions, no time to think, just gotta keep processing this food 'cause that's what I do and wow there sure is a lot of it..."

I imagine the above being said in a sing-song voice similar to the ones on the Mighty Machine DVDs that apply human voices to garbage trucks and construction vehicles.  I've watched a lot of Mighty Machines so the voices are pretty much drilled into my brain forever.

Anyway, your body isn't on vacation - it's still open for business.  So even if you've pressed pause on your wellness until next week, your body hasn't.  Sooooo......yeah.  Sorry 'bout that.

I'm glad we had this little talk. :)

I'd also like to get all warm and fuzzy with you (I know, what?!) and say thanks for your readership. I love writing in this blog and knowing that you read it and maybe even glean some value from it makes me merry and bright.  I hope you have a wonderful wonderful wonderful holiday filled with wonderfulness. 

Now snap out of it and get back to being healthy and stuff!  Trust me, you'll love it!

Cranberries My Way

A few of you have asked how I make my own dried cranberries.  Well, after wandering the aisles at the grocery store looking for unsweetened dried cranberries (no sugar whatsoever - just plain old wonderful cranberries all by themselves) and coming up empty, I turned to the internet.

Here's what I learned: you can dry cranberries on your own in your oven!  It's so easy! Using a food dehydrator would probably yield better results, but I put a moratorium on any new kitchen gadgets so I stuck with the oven. My husband thanks me.

Here's how you do it. You'll need a bag of fresh or frozen whole cranberries, a pot of water, a towel, and a cookie sheet.

1. Boil a pot of water. Easy.

2. While you're waiting for that, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and get out a cookie sheet. Easy!

3. Once the water is boiling, dump in the cranberries. Leave them in just long enough for the skin to pop (about two minutes in my experience). If you leave them in too long they'll get mushy. Trust me on this part.

4. Drain the cranberries in a colander and pour them out onto a towel to pat them dry.

5. Once dry, transfer them to your cookie sheet and put them into the preheated oven.

6. After 10 minutes, turn off the oven but leave the cranberries in overnight.  In the morning, they'll be shriveled up little bits of cranberry that are perfect in your Christmas Day salad! 

Um  *ahem* a bit of a cautionary tale here - don't forget that they're in the oven the next morning until you've already preheated it for something else and then open it to find that you've just burned them. Trust me on that part, too. :)

Enjoy!

The Fanny Pack

This woman's face hidden
 to protect her dignity.

Are you wearing your fanny pack?  If you ate something you didn't need today, then I am willing to bet you are! 

I was reminded of my fanny pack yesterday when talking about - what else? - holiday weight loss with a friend.  I explained a visual tool I use when I find myself eating something my body has no use for: putting that food into a fanny pack that is strapped across my waist. 

For example, fudge. When my stomach growls and I give it fudge, it's less than grateful. I mean, what is a hungry body going to do with fudge?  So it politely thanks me for the fudge, tucks it into the fanny pack, and then 10 minutes later tries again:

"I'm hungry. The fudge was great but I need something I can work with. Perhaps some whole grains and a little protein?" 

And let's say I give it a Christmas cookie.  My stomach may take that cookie, put it into the fanny pack, zip it up, and say, "thanks, but not really what I needed.  I need something I can use for fuel. Let's try again."  And the cycle continues. You keep feeding, it keeps storing, and you know what happens.  The belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly happens. And in January you look into the mirror and say, "but I only had a few bites!"

Look - when you eat something that is nutritionally bankrupt, your body has no need for it. So it tucks it into your virtual fanny pack and asks for something else.  If you keep giving it stuff it can't use, that fanny pack is going to get more and more full.

Have you ever tried to sit down wearing a fully-loaded fanny pack? I have, both literally and figuratively. It ain't cute either way. I've got too much that I want to do in a day to carry around that extra stuff. 

Take off the fanny pack! Stop putting things into it!  When you get to a table laden with holiday goodies, imagine yourself unzipping your fanny pack, putting all of the stuff inside, and carrying it around with you all day.

It's a pretty darn accurate analogy if I do say so myself. :) So get on with it!

Good day!

Healthy Holiday Hint: Eat like a kid again!

Half the time when I pick up my kiddo from school, his lunchbox still has a few cleaneating goodies in it - graham crackers, a cereal bar, these great fig-newton (it's not a cookie! it's a fig newwwton!) thingies I found...just miscellaneous things he didn't get around to eating. And because I am a product of the "eat what you're given and don't complain," generation I ask him why he didn't eat all of his lunch.

And for some reason I am always pleasantly suprised to hear him tell me, "I was just done eating."

He was just done eating. He eats his lunch until he isn't hungry anymore and then he just stops and closes his lunchbox. That's so...healthy. I love how kids do that. They get a bum rap for only wanting to eat junk food but most of the time kids are actually pretty healthy with their eating patterns.  The food they want to eat may not be that healthy, but at least they eat it in a healthy way. :)

So that's our Healthy Heather Holiday Hint for today: eat like a kid again!  Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're not hungry anymore. I'll be at a Christmas Eve party on Friday with a buffet full of delicious holiday food, and you better believe I'll be remembering this hint. 

Healthy eating is more than just what you eat, it's also how you eat. Pay attention to your hunger signals this week and listen to them. They won't steer you wrong.

Remember: He sees you when you're eating! :)

The Lies We Tell

Liar! 

Yes, you!  Me too, if I'm being honest.  We all tell lies to ourselves about the food we eat, especially this time of year when there is so much to lie about.  Do any of these sound familiar?

No one saw me eat that (or I just had a tiny bite), so it doesn't really count. Truth: if your body digests it, it counts. If it goes down your esophagus, it counts. Your body doesn't know it wasn't supposed to count. It's gonna do its thang either way.

I've been so good all week, I deserve to have a treat. Truth: you're right! You do deserve a treat! Go get a pedicure! Buy something pretty to remind you of your hard work. Call a good friend and brag on your great week. Treat yourself right...by not ruining all of that hard work.

I'll make up for this tomorrow.  Make that next week. Truth: you might. But when I tell myself this lie, I almost never follow through and if I do, I resent it.  Exercise should be proactive, not damage control!

When I notice that I am telling these little lies to myself, I try to see it as a sign that I am feeling deprived or too restricted in my nutrition. If I was truly happy with my nutrition plan, I wouldn't be looking for ways to rebel (and then try to pretend never happened), would I?  So I relax things a little and give myself some wiggle room until I feel like I am sufficiently indulged.  But this is the clincher - I still log it, I still eat clean, and I still remain accountable to myself for what I am eating and what that means for my fitness. And sometimes I think about those added calories (and the added water weight I will carry as a result) and decide it's not really worth it.  I mean, it's just food.  Food is a temporary situation.

If you hear yourself telling sweet little lies, take a step aside and ask yourself why. Do you need some wiggle room?  Are you feeling left out of the food celebrations? But are your fitness goals bigger than that?  Maybe so, maybe not.  Either way, be honest with yourself and about the reasons you feel that way.

Santa's watching, after all!

Be merry and bright today. :)

Healthy Holiday Hint: The Feeders

As we get into the thick of the holidays, our resolve begins to wane. Doesn't it? I know mine has. Just turning on the television these days plants visions of sugar plums in our heads...and after seeing them enough times chances are your brain will begin to resent all of that teasing and want to bite into one. 


So it's time for reinforcements. Before you head into the weekend, read up on these Healthy Heather Holiday Hints.


There is an army of sugar plums out there, and they're armed. So, we're going to profile the threats. It may be your mother-in-law, your co-worker, or your neighbor…but you know who it is. That person who corners you and insists that you try their Triple Cheese and Bean Dip. They’re “feeders” and they want to feed YOU!  You can categorize them as such:


The Nurturing Feeder: needs connection and affection, which you can provide without eating pie.  A hug, a shared laugh, an inside joke...all of these things can provide what the Nurturing Feeder needs, but they don't make you fat.


The People Pleaser: needs to feel needed and appreciated, which you can provide by praising their thoughtfulness (but not eating the fruits of their labor).  You can even ask for their recipe...and then "healthify" it on your own. 


The Controlling Feeder: wants to take you down. They may be angry that you are not enabling their bad habits, or they may be jealous of your discipline and success. Regardless, your best line of defense here is to change the subject with haste. 


Feeders aren't bad people.  Well, that last one may have some anger issues.  But for the most part, they're just swept up in what they consider to be celebrating the holidays. If you want to have a healthy holiday, take a deep breath when you see these folks coming (holding a plate of something they want to feed you), remember their real motivation, and celebrate your relationship with them without the extra pounds.


It can happen! You can do it!