Healthy Connections - Olympia, WA

Healthy Eating Web Links 

Stay away from these online diet pills, FDA says

Lab tests find unlisted ingredients that can cause heart attacks, strokes
WASHINGTON - If you're looking for a little help shedding extra pounds after the holidays, the government is warning you to stay away from nearly 30 weight-loss products that contain unlisted and possibly dangerous ingredients.

The pills are advertised as "natural" fat busters and have intriguing names like Imelda Perfect Slim and Zhen de Shou. Some suggest they are innovative "herbal" remedies from Asia.

But the Food and Drug Administration on Monday said the concoctions contain unlisted ingredients, including powerful appetite-suppressing drugs and a suspected carcinogen.

Healthy Connections Support Group

This is a summary of the Healthy Connections Support Group.

Hypnosis for Weight Release

Tips and tricks about the use of hypnosis for weight release

Weight Release with Hypnosis

Several available programs with the focus of weight release.

No one 'diet' has a monopoly on good health

Just as there's no one superfood, there's no one super diet that's going to be right for everybody. The recent Israeli head-to-header published in the New England Journal of Medicine adds to the growing evidence that the optimal diet for weight loss, for example, can be either low fat, Mediterranean-style or low carb (providing you aren't pregnant or have kidney disease). When it comes to eating for your long-term health and wellbeing, our view is that your dietary approach is strictly up to you and again can be low fat, Mediterranean-style or lower carb (with the above provisos). Just make sure it's a balanced healthy one that doesn't cut out entire food groups and does include a wide variety of foods. It also needs to be enjoyable so you actually want to stick to it. That's because out here in the real world most of us don't have the sort of backup they get in weight-loss trials like the Israeli one (eighteen 90-minute small-group workshop sessions over two years plus six 15-minute motivational phone calls when the compliance going gets tough).

The Conscious and Subconscious: How they affect weight release

A great chart that explains the conscious mind and subconscious mind and the association with weight release

Portion Sizes: a great article with great tips

Eating large amounts, even of healthy foods, can lead to excessive carbohydrate or calorie intake, and this can get in the way of weight management and blood glucose control. Many people don't even realize the amounts they are eating. Try to be more conscious of normal portion sizes during the holidays and year round. Check out "When Size Matters" for help with estimating portion sizes, and mind these healthy portion habits:

1. Aim to eat something from at least three food groups per meal to help increase satisfaction and help prevent overeating from one food group.
2. Measure portion sizes of high-carb foods that are easy to overeat, such as cooked rice, pasta, and cereal. Doing this several times will let you see what a proper portion looks like on your plate or bowl and help you learn to properly estimate carbohydrate content.
3. Purchase single-serving items or choose snacks that come pre-portioned such as ready to eat sugar-free pudding, sugar-free fudgesicles and popsicles.
4. Avoid mindless eating in front of the computer or television. Be fully aware of eating while you eat!
5. Never eat out of a bag, box, or jar. When snacking on salty foods, make sure to portion out your serving and put it on a plate or in a bowl. This will help control your portion sizes.
6. Still hungry? Choose more low-carb veggies such as salad vegetables, green beans, asparagus, Brussel Sprouts, or cauliflower. Most Americans' portions of these foods are too small!

9 Ways to Get More Out of Your Day

Lack of time can be detrimental to our physical, emotional and spiritual health. When we are pressed for time, we tend to exercise less, eat foods for their convenience rather than their nutritional value, have less time to interact with our families and friends, and spend little, if any time, on self-development and spiritual growth.

Here are some simple ways you can begin to take back some of your time:

* Set aside a certain amount of time each day just to do what you want to do. How about 1 hour each day? If that's not "possible," start with smaller increments of time, say 15 minutes, and work your way up.
* Doing part of something is better than doing nothing. Even if you can't complete a task or a project, it is better to take a small "chunk" out of it rather than letting the whole thing slide until later. If you absolutely "hate" working in that manner, then just make sure you set aside a specific time to complete the entire task or project.
* Learn to say "No." This isn't always easy, but it can make a world of difference. Even if you don't want to say "No" completely, try to set limits around how much you will do and when.
* Bundle your tasks. Save up non-urgent errands so that you can do those that are logistically close to one another.
* Delegate. How much is your time worth? It may be worth the cost of hiring someone to do things like mow your lawn, clean your house, AND you will be purchasing the precious commodity of time. It's more than okay to ask for help.
* Do the yucky stuff first. Take care of the tasks that you dislike so that you don't waste precious mental time ruminating about not having done them!
* Are the things you feel you "have" to do really necessary? It can be easy to get caught up in the details to the detriment of the big picture.
* Take an honest look at the activities and people in your life that are "energy drainers." Do they need to be part of your life? What would happen if you eliminated or reduced your time spent on/with them?
* And, most importantly, set aside time each week to do something special. Make sure that, no matter how busy you are, you take time to play. Spending time with friends, outdoors, at the movies, whatever makes you happy, is essential in helping you be the most focused and effective you can be with your time.

An Exercise in Proper Breathing

Proper breathing is an underestimated, but critical building block of good health. Slow, deep breathing gets rid of carbon dioxide waste and takes plenty of clean, fresh oxygen to your brain and muscles. More blood cells get the new, oxygen-rich air instead of the same old stale stuff. Experts estimate that proper breathing helps your body eliminate toxins 15 times faster than poor, shallow breathing. You'll not only be healthier, but you'll be able to perform better (mentally and physically) and, of course, be less stressed and more relaxed.

Fuel your body for winter weather

You love it when the mercury dips low enough for you to break out your knee-high boots and sexy tights. But there's nothing fun about chapped lips, lingering fatigue, and other cold weather bummers.

Cut them all off at the pass by filling your shopping cart with foods that will fight for your right to look and feel amazing. Researchers agree that these edibles have healing powers that can help keep you in top shape, inside and out. Start noshing on them now and your body will never suspect that it's winter.

Think these 8 foods are healthy? Wrong!

Even if you haven't bought full-fat mayo or sugary soda since blue eye shadow was in style (the first time), you may be getting duped into less-than-stellar food choices at the supermarket. The culprit? The "health halo." "From a distance, some foods seem like healthful choices because of the way they're packaged or labeled," says Janel Ovrut, MS, RD, a Boston-based dietitian. "But just because a product's marketing gives it an aura of health doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you." Here, eight notorious health food impostors, plus smarter swaps that up the nutritional ante and still give you the flavor you crave.

Fight middle-age spread with these fat-burners

You probably don't need scientists to tell you that your metabolism slows with age. But they're studying it anyway - and coming up with exciting new research to help rev it up again. The average woman gains 1 1/2 pounds a year during her adult life - enough to pack on 40-plus pounds by her 50s, if she doesn't combat the roller coaster of hormones, muscle loss, and stress that conspires to slow her fat-burning engine. But midlife weight gain isn't inevitable: We've found an exercise and diet plan that will tackle these changes.

Seeing is Achieving

Seeing is Achieving
Picture Weight Loss Success With Visual Cues
-- By Mike Kramer, Staff Writer

Visual images hold amazing power. We can all still "see" the Challenger disaster, the flag rising over Iwo Jima, even our own high school yearbook pictures. The images are still with us today. And so are the emotions that go with them.

Healthy Connections Support Group

This link describes the Healthy Connections Support Group that Pat offers quarterly. Contact her for more information.

How To Think Yourself Lean, Fit and Trim

A wonderful article about the power of the mind

Slender for Life Health Coach

Pat is a Slender for Life Health Coach. Please check out here website, and the Slender for Life website for more information.

Slender for Life Website

This is the website for the Slender for Life healthy weight management with hypnosis. Be sure to sign up for Roger's Bloggs. They are powerful.

8 ways the food industry can hijack your brain

This is an excellent link to provide background for the foods that the food industry would like us to eat. It will change your life !