Eating Healthy Saves Money

By Kari Baxter on Friday, May 21st, 2010 | View Comments

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by Leanne Ely, C.N.C.

I hear all the time that buying healthy food costs more money. The truth is, eating healthy, in the right amounts, costs less. It not only costs less in terms of dollars in the checkout line, it costs less in terms of dollars spent on your health care bill later.

While there is some disagreement about the USDA Food Guide Pyramid among certain circles, for the sake of argument, let’s use it as a guideline and assume it is healthy. (Never mind that it says that 10 French fries equals a serving a veggies.) When is the last time you looked at the USDA Food Guide Pyramid? And when you looked, did you also read what constitutes a serving?

According to the Pyramid 1/2 cup veggies is a serving, or 1 cup of raw leafy veggies is a serving. When you put that into perspective, it’s not hard to get your five recommended servings a day. If you’re not sure, go get a measuring cup right now and see what size it is. Most people over estimate how big a “cup” is.

As a rule of thumb, a serving size is about the size of the palm of your hand or a fist. So if you know that you should eat five servings of veggies, 4 servings of fruit, two servings of dairy, 2 servings of meat or beans, and six servings of whole grains each day, you can plan your menus accordingly and cut down on waste.

During my lifetime, serving sizes have gotten seriously out of control. All you need to do is go to a flea market that sells old dishes and see that the size of dishes 30 or 40 years ago are smaller than they are today. By some count our dishes are 20% larger today, which means our serving sizes are too.

USA Today reported on a clinical study done by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR)that says that we underestimate our calorie intake by 25% every day and hamburger sizes have more than doubled. You know that cheap 99 cent hamburger you get at a fast food place? That is how big the average hamburger used to be, all the time!

So, keeping it all in perspective; eating healthy in correct serving sizes is not more expensive. It’s just harder. We have to plan our menus, measure our ingredients, pay attention to what is on our plate and eat mindfully. And when we do, we will be more healthy, our families will be more healthy, and in the end we’ll have more money in the bank. It’s a win/win proposition!

Beginner Pilates Facebook Fan page

By Kari Baxter on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 | View Comments

I’ve been doing Pilates again lately. I love it. It makes my abs so flat. It’s the ONLY exercise that ever has. Even hours of running never flattened my abs or sculpted my legs like Pilates.

If you practice Pilates and want to share your experiences or would like to learn more about it, here are a couple resources.

This a fun blog about Beginner Pilates. It has good information for beginners, videos, questions and answers, Pilates DVD recommendations, and more.

I also created a Beginner Pilates Fan Page on Facebook. It will be fun to connect there, share beginner Pilates experiences, and favorite dvds, books, etc. I look forward to seeing you there! Kari

Beginner Pilates | Promote Your Page Too

Herbalife Weight Loss Shakes

By Kari Baxter on Monday, October 5th, 2009 | View Comments

Look how cute these 2 are!

Weight Loss Shakes have been around a long time as a diet aid and they’re still very popular, probably because it’s such an easy way to cut calories. If you pick the right protein powder, they can be very nutritious, too, probably more so than the food we eat.

Do you know how to make a weight loss shake? http://healthresults.ws has various Herbalife shake videos showing you how easy it is to lose weight and look great on just two nutritional shakes and one main meal per day. Our shakes taste great, easy to make, and cost about $1 (Aus/US) per meal. This is one of the fastest, cheapest and healthiest meals available.

Make your own delicious weight loss shake today!

Duration : 0:5:19

Read the rest of this entry »

15 Heartburn-Friendly Foods

By Kari Baxter on Monday, September 28th, 2009 | View Comments

Are You Suffering?

If you suffer from heartburn you are not alone. It can turn a relaxing meal into a four-alarm fire inside your body. For those who are suffering with heartburn, here are fifteen foods that may be safe for you to eat.

What Is Heartburn?

What is heartburn? Another name for heartburn is acid reflux. Heartburn occurs when acid from the stomach moves backwards from the stomach, up into the esophagus. When stomach acid comes in contact with such delicate tissue it can cause pain and discomfort. Left untreated, heartburn can cause problems such as esophageal strictures due to the erosion of the lining there.

No one wants that to happen. You may take medicine to control your heartburn, but the smartest and healthiest thing you can do is learn what foods you can and cannot eat. While most of the foods we will discuss here are on the heartburn-free side, each person is different. Some foods that may really irritate your stomach and lead to heartburn may not affect someone else.

Know Your Heartburn Triggers

The way to know more about your heartburn is to find out your triggers. These are foods, time of day and other situations that trigger heartburn. Keep a journal of daily meal times and ingredients in foods to chart when heartburn occurs.

In the meantime, here are some foods that you can start with. Just because you have heartburn doesn’t mean you have to starve or give up good taste.

1. Apples and bananas – these fruits do not contain a lot of citric acid.

2. Broccoli – roughage cleans out your digestive system and contains lots of fiber.

3. Bread – you can eat white, multi-grain or whole wheat. Multi-grain and whole wheat are better for your health.

4. Extra lean red meat – cutting away the fat can keep that food from causing heartburn.

5. Graham crackers – they make a nice healthy snack.

6. Chicken breasts without skin – lean meat can be cooked with the skin if it is removed prior to eating.

7. Fat-free cheese choices like low-fat cream cheese – too much fat can get the heartburn going again.

8. Water – it hydrates the body. If you don’t like water, add a flavoring packet.

9. Low-fat salad dressing – they do not contain the same fat content but will have the same taste yet with fewer calories.

10. Cookies – many sweets have to be avoided but you can have a few, like cookies, licorice and jelly beans.

11. Oatmeal and bran cereals.

12. Pretzels – The salted kinds are okay but avoid flavored ones.

13. Fish – bake your fish to avoid adding fat.

14. Egg whites – boil the eggs and discard the yolk.

15. Potato chips or baked potato – stay away from the greasier form of chips or fried French fries.

Did you notice a theme here? Limit high fat, trans fat, processed, packaged foods. Use the above fifteen foods as a start for your diet. Continue to monitor what you eat and when to keep heartburn at bay.

Foods That Make Me Sick

By Kari Baxter on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 | View Comments

My Epiphany on the Treadmill

I was walking on my treadmill today (for the first time in 2 months, but that’s another story) watching TV. I was watching football highlights from the weekend, catching up on games I missed.

I watch a lot of football and I’ve noticed they run a lot of food commercials during games, but even more during highlights. Mostly fast food commercials–Jack In The Box, McDonalds, etc.

Running With Hamburgers

I don’t always pick up on things like that but I think I noticed because when you’re trying to exercise, it’s really hard to look at food commercials. They either make me want to jump in my car and get french fries or they totally gross me out. (Running and eating hamburgers don’t really go together). It probably depends at what point I’m at in my workout.

Today was particularly funny because after a number of fast food joint commercials, they had the obligatory “heartburn” remedy commercial and RIGHT AFTER that, a candy bar commercial.

Here’s this guy miserably suffering because his stomach hurt and needing a remedy, then the candy bar commercial that would make you full the rest of the day and as strong as an NFL kicker (who would want that anyway?).

Land of the Free…

Am I the only one who notices how ironic this is? With the state of America’s waistline today, am I the only one that finds it strange that we gorge ourselves on fast food, candy and JUNK and then take a drug/pill and expect it all to be better?

And the heartburn/antiacid commercials actually fight over why their product is better! It works immediately. It works for the next 2 days. It works no matter what you eat. It adds calcium and vitamins in the process.

What?!?

…Eating WHATEVER We Want

What if we didn’t eat fast food? What if we avoided candy bars? What if you noticed something made your stomach HURT, you DIDN’T EAT IT ANYMORE? Would that be crazy? Has that occurred to anyone else?

Just curious.

It doesn’t seem ground-breaking, but there are so many reflux ads, I don’t think anyone else has thought of it.

If it’s occurred to you to stop eating food that gives you excruciating pain and makes you sick, please leave me a comment below and let me know I’m not alone in some fantasy land!

If that’s never occurred to you, maybe it will now.

NEXT POST! Save money buying vegetables and not Zantac/Pepto/Prilosec/Tums/etc.!

7 Unknown Benefits of Calcium

By Kari Baxter on Monday, September 21st, 2009 | View Comments

Why You Need Calcium

Why do you need calcium? Calcium is known for strengthening bones and teeth. 99% of calcium in the human body is in our bones and teeth. The remaining 1% of calcium in the body performs other vital functions most of us don’t know about.

1. Calcium Raises Your Metabolism

Studies show that having more calcium increases your metabolism and less lowers it. I couldn’t exactly figure out how or why, but in many studies it appears that calcium helps the body burn fat. It also maintains lean muscle mass while dieting (2).

3. Calcium Protects Your Heart

Calcium helps all the muscles in your body, including your heart, to contract and relax properly.

4. Calcium Regulates Blood Pressure/Hypertension

Calcium maintains the pressure in your arteries. Along with helping your heart contract properly, these are 2 necessary functions to keep your blood flowing.

So, calcium helps keep you alive. Big benefit! (5)

One medication available for people with high blood pressure is a “calcium channel blocker.” It blocks calcium from entering your cells to keep blood vessels from constricting. This may help the high blood pressure, but can cause unwanted side effects.

With a calcium channel blocker medication, like all medications, it helps one symptom, but doesn’t allow your body to do what it’s supposed to do (letting calcium naturally regulate your blood vessels).

Prescription drugs have so many side effects, I wonder if they’re worth it. Avoid taking them when possible and stay healthy in the first place!

6. Calcium Prevents Colon Cancer

An American Cancer Society study showed people who took calcium supplements had 30% lower risk of colon cancer than people who didn’t. Colon cancer is the 2^nd leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.

Foods with calcium, like yogurt, also taste good and are filling. (7)

How Much Calcium You Need

Men and women between 19 and 50 need 1,000 mg of calcium a day. Men and women between 50 and 70 need 1,200 mg of calcium a day.

While it’s key to meet that requirement every day, if you get over 2,500 mg of calcium every day, you increase your risk of kidney stones. More of a good thing isn’t better, in this case.

Calcium Supplements

The calcium supplement I take is called Xtra-Cal Advanced. It has calcium citrate, the most easily absorbed and digested form of calcium (meaning your body will take it in and USE it—a key to supplements!) It also has vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese and antioxidants, making it a very advanced, healthy form of calcium.

Whether you use food, supplements, or a combination, shoot for your daily 1000 or 1200 mg of calcium!

I Like To See. Do You?

By Kari Baxter on Friday, September 18th, 2009 | View Comments

Side Effects of Type 2 Diabetes

Since type 2 diabetes is preventable, I thought I’d share with you some motivation to avoid it. These are some side effects of diabetes.

If you (or someone you love) have type 2 diabetes, you (or they) may:

Lose your eyesight
Pee your pants (have a leaky bladder)
Not get an erection (for the guys, obviously)
Need a kidney transplant or regular dialysis (very fun, I’ve heard)
Lose your feet (amputated)
Have a heart attack
Have a stroke
Have pain, tingling, numbness–loss of feeling–in the hands, arms, feet, legs.
Nerve problems can occur in every organ system, including the digetstive track, heart, and sex organs. (This occurs in 60-70% of diabetics.)

More fun symptoms of diabetes:

heartburn
pain in the upper abdomen
nausea
vomiting of undigested food–sometimes hours after a meal
early feeling of fullness after only a few bites of food
weight loss due to poor absorption of nutrition or low calorie intake
abdominal bloating
lack of appetite
reflux
spasms in the stomach area

I don’t mention these things to scare you. Yes, actually, I do. Whatever it takes!

All jokes aside, diabetes is serious. Nobody should have to live like that, especially because most diabetes is PREVENTABLE through weight loss, diet and exercise.

Let me see… eat vegetables and walk or… pee my pants, lose my eyesight and maybe my feet. Tough choice.

Do something NOW before it’s too late.

Losing just 10% of your body weight can prevent diabetes or keep you off diabetic medications. 10 PERCENT.

If you weight 250 pounds, that’s only 25 pounds.

If you need help doing that, get it. Now. Today. From me or someone else, just get it.

If you’d like weekly weight loss coaching, you can order my free cd right now by clicking on this link.

Take care of your body, your health, your family, your life, your eyes and your feet!

For more information on preventing diabetes, click on the following link:

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-prevention/how-to-prevent-diabetes.jsp

Start Strong or Stick With It?

By Kari Baxter on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 | View Comments

I found this in my Success magazine and it really hit home. As a lifetime dieter, I’ve started many diets. While getting started is important, it’s more important to keep going, especially when you’ve decided to make lifetime, healthy changes.

Don’t Flare Out!

Here is what Darren Hardy, the editor of Success, says in his article “Accomplish More by Doing Less”.

“I used to get frustrated when starting a new venture and then seeing the competition leap out in front and get off to a fast and successful start. Then I found the single discipline that gave me the advantage to beat anybody at almost anything–consistency.

A lot of people get gung-ho about new goals or achievements and charge out of the gate in an explosion of activity that eventually flares out. If you make a commitment to consistency, you’ll not only catch your competitors, but you’ll usually leave them in the dust every time. (emphasis added) I do what I have found most people cannot–stay consistent.”

“Great Stealer of Dreams”

“Lack of consistency is the subtle but great stealer of dreams and desires. The stop-and-start process is what kills progress in any pursuit. (from Kari: ESPECIALLY DIETING!) It is probably one of the greatest reasons people don’t ultimately achieve their goals and end up living lives of discontent, frustration and disappointment.”

What Can You Maintain?

So, in order to be successful with changing your exercise and eating habits, pick small goals, things you can maintain, and be consistent with for the rest of your life, no matter what you’re doing.

This is a concept I incorporated into my weight loss program, Weight Loss University. With weekly coaching sessions, you learn a new concept, a new part of being healthy, each week. Then you have a week to practice the new concept (like eating more protein and finding healthy protein sources), learn about it, and ask me questions. This is a great way to gradually incorporate real, long-term habits into your life that you will be able to maintain and stay consistent with forever, not just a season.

If you’re interested in finding out more, and getting a free 2-week trial to my weight loss program, visit my site, Free-Weight-Loss-CD.com.

How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds, Part 4: Be Flexible

By Kari Baxter on Monday, September 14th, 2009 | View Comments

In this ongoing series about How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds, this week we’re going to talk about staying flexible. If you haven’t read the first 3 parts of this post, the links are at the end of this post.

Be Flexible

When you’re first starting out, keep your plans fairly flexible. See what can be realistically achieved with your workouts or your meals. If you are preparing meals for your family, you cannot isolate yourself from what everyone is eating. Stay flexible. Try to stick to your schedule and try to have as many healthy meals as you can.

For the best results, gradually switch your family over to healthier options, like whole wheat bread and pasta and more vegetables. At times, other work takes priority or your family eating needs come first. Do not let that get you down – get back to your schedule or your diet at the earliest available opportunity.

Remember these are changes for life–not just a couple weeks.

Keep It Simple

If your commitments do not allow you to make major changes in your eating pattern or take up longer workouts, start with simple plans. Do not take the car if you are just heading to the local grocery store or dropping kids to school – walk when you can.

Similarly, start with small changes to your diet. Instead of white bread, try whole wheat bread. By just switching from drinking soda at mealtimes to water you can lose up to 5 pounds in a week! You have made a change that you can continue with no matter where you are and with whom you are having your meals.

Stay Focused

Your most important reason for losing weight should be the assurance of good health that it brings and not merely for fitting into a ten year old swimsuit or for making your neighbors jealous. You should be following a fitness plan for the benefits that it brings you. By losing weight, you are improving your health.

With the help of a good healthy diet, you are reducing your risk for major diseases. Only when you work on a fitness plan for yourself, can you be motivated enough to lose weight and stay motivated enough to lose even those last ten pounds.

It’s not always easy to stay on a fitness plan especially when it takes time and efforts to lose even a little weight. However, I am hoping that through this blog and my weight loss program, I will be able to guide you to healthy and effective ways of losing even those stubborn, last 10 pounds.

*************************************

Read More “How To Lose The Last 10 Pounds”!

Part 1: Getting Started *

Part 2: Knowing Why Before How *

Part 3: Overcoming Obstacles

Weight and Diabetes: What is the Relation?

By Kari Baxter on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | View Comments

Obesity is an epidemic in the world today. Diabetes is also on the rise. Is there a correlation between the two? The experts say that there is and that you need to know about it.

There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. Diabetes is a condition of the body where insulin production is affected in some way. Insulin production may be non-existent or in limited quantities, or the body may be resistant to using the insulin that is produced.

Let’s go back a step. Insulin is produced in the pancreas in response to blood sugar levels. Insulin directs the sugar in the blood to different sites in the body where it is used for fuel. Depending on the amount of sugar in the blood, more insulin is produced to deal with the issue.

With Type 2 diabetes, the body has developed a resistance to the insulin it produces. When the blood sugar levels remain high, the body produces more insulin to deal with it. Even with the overabundance of insulin being produced, the amount that overcomes the resistance may still not be enough to deal with the blood sugar levels. This is called non-insulin dependent diabetes and it affects mainly adults above the age of 45.

Type 2 diabetes can be brought on by environmental factors. It develops late in life for most people. Researchers have found connections between obese people and the rise in diabetes cases. Being obese increases the likelihood that certain diseases will occur. People who carry excess weight are at greater risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke and joint problems.

Why are we obese?

It is not just eating too much but also the types of foods we eat. Eating an overabundance of vegetables is not the root problem. Processed foods, sugary snacks, soft drinks and fatty foods increase the levels of glucose in the blood. More and more insulin is needed to deal with it.

The body’s metabolic system is out of whack. With the increased risk of so many conditions, the body is more prone to developing insulin-resistant diabetes. Once you develop diabetes, other things come into play such as the slower rate of wound healing and the need to manage your blood sugar.

There is hope, though. Type 2 diabetes can be managed and sometimes reversed with weight management. Losing just ten percent of your body weight can stop the medication use to manage certain conditions. (This is huge!) Insulin resistance can decrease or disappear when an obese person returns to a weight in the range for the acceptable BMI.

Being obese carries the risk of Type 2 diabetes. Losing weight reduces that risk or eliminates it altogether, as well as the risk of some other serious diseases.

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