Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain :: Guest Blog

We are so pleased to have a guest blogger today who can give us all a little help. As much as we love our curves, most of us would agree that we already have plenty of them...no need to tack on a few more this holiday season. So if you currently have a fun-size Butterfinger halfway to your mouth, take a pause and read on....my good friend Wendy Arena, whose background in the health and wellness field extends for miles, is here to help.

10 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain....by Wendy Arena

As the days grow shorter and colder and holiday festivities beckon, we tend to overindulge on seasonal treats and comfort foods.  The feeding frenzy begins with Halloween candy in September and lingers on through pumpkin pie and Christmas cookies.  The holidays can be stressful and emotionally-charged for many of us.  Combine this with the abundance of holiday goodies, and you’ve got a recipe for overeating.  Holiday weight gain is not inevitable, though.  We can enjoy our celebrations without packing on the pounds and get through winter without fattening up like bears preparing for hibernation.  The following strategies can help you prepare:

1.       Make a plan.  Choose two or three foods that you absolutely love and can only have during the holidays.  Egg nog?  Pumpkin pie? Latkes?  We all have our special favorites.  Decide which ones you will have and enjoy them in moderation. 

2.       Spoil your appetite.  Don’t show up to a holiday gathering absolutely famished.  Have a protein- and fiber-rich snack (apple slices with peanut butter, cheese with whole-wheat crackers) ahead of time.  That way you aren’t tempted to inhale an entire plate of cookies!

3.       Stay hydrated.  Drink plenty of water and other decaffeinated, calorie free beverages throughout the day. 

4.       Don’t overdo the holiday spirits.  Calories from alcohol add up quickly.  Mix wine or hard liquor with seltzer and drink a glass of water or seltzer after every drink. 

5.       Don’t skimp on sleep.  Sleep deprivation not only makes you groggy-it makes you hungry too!  Lack of sleep interferes with hormones that control appetite, so you end up eating more.  Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep each night. 

6.       Keep moving.  Make time to exercise, no matter how hectic your holiday schedule.  If you do it first thing in the morning, there is less chance you’ll blow it off later in the day.  Enlist a buddy to work out with so that you’re accountable to another person. 

7.       Get outside.  Don’t’ let the cold and snow keep you indoors.   Fresh air and natural light energize the body, mind, and spirit.  Bundle up and dust off those snow shoes, sleds, and ice skates.  There is plenty of winter fun to be had!

8.       Take a time out before you eat.  .  Ask yourself, “What am I feeling?”  Are you truly hungry, or are you tired, stressed, sad, angry, or bored?  If you are truly, physically hungry, then, by all means, eat.  Otherwise, take a few deep breaths, take a walk, call a friend, paint your nails, knit…basically do anything to distract yourself from the urge to eat. 

9.       Ditch New Year’s resolutions.  Making a New Year’s resolution to lose weight and get in shape puts us in the mindset that we need to eat like there is no tomorrow right up until New Year’s Day.  Lose that all-or-nothing mentality.  Find a new way to commemorate the New Year and make good health and fitness a year-round endeavor.

10.   Practice Golden Rule-in reverse.  Treat yourself the way you would treat others.  Be kind and forgiving with yourself even when you overindulge.  Just pick up where you left off and try harder next time.   We all have good days and bad days-even during the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  Don’t throw in the towel if you overindulge on fudge or gingerbread.  We are all works in progress. 

 

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average person only gains about a pound during the holiday season. A pound might sound like much-until you consider that the average person will never lose that pound.  Multiply that pound by 10 or fifteen years, however, and it becomes a little scary!  The good news is,  you don’t have to be a statistic. 

 

One Thing I Would Change About My Life - in haiku

Gentle words I would say,
Be exceptionally kind to myself every day.
Care for everyone, precisely me. 

                                                     ~RS



can't take back the words
hold them longer while they sleep
one more I Love You
                                    ~KL



Less snarky kids please
More passion in the sack too
My hausfrau life, pure glamor. 
                             ~MR

Hand in Hand

Today's prompt:

If you could have any job (and instantly have the training and qualifications to do it), which job would you want?

I have always wanted to swim with whales. I didn't say much about it when younger because I was afraid kids would say I wanted to hang out with "my kind". When I was older I realized the math involved with becoming a marine biologist and I bailed. I wondered if I could keep up the ruse of being a Green Peace volunteer just so I could be on a little boat chasing a whaling ship? And I would get to be near the whales while cutting off his ropes. For a while I seriously considered working on a whale watch ship, but a commute to Ptown seemed INSANE in the heart of Summer...So now I just enjoy the occasional trip on the Dolphin Fleet with the kids.

I have always wanted to be an author, but don't take rejection well. For a while, I sent out manuscripts, but really nothing gets looked at from a person out of the blue. (But be sure to read up on Madonna's newest children's book, of course. I am sure Snooky (Snookie?) will have one soon, too.) So I write some fun emails and FB updates and get my kicks on this awesome shared blog instead.

Really, I centered my whole life around being a mom. My desire to have children lead me to become a teacher. My wonderful upbringing made me want to stay home for as long as I could with my kids. Then I wanted them to get into school so I could have some time to myself. Then I got some time to myself and I felt guilty so I put my name in to substitute and get back into teaching. Then between the teaching gigs I became a lump. Lost. I puttered. I looked at my husband from the corner of my corduroy couch, feeling small and said, "I think I want to be a teacher again." He nodded, knowing this all along. Knowing how much I was missing being with students. It is surprisingly very different than being with my own children. I love my kids and having fun, but I have a different fulfillment when I am with students. And when I get home, unless I had a really tough day at school, I am a far better mother for having been in the classroom. I remember that my kids are kids when I have been teaching all day. And I remember that my students are kids when I have helped my child through a meltdown the night before.

If I could have any job in the world, I would want to be a mom and a teacher. How fortunate is that? Though I would still love the bit about the instant training and qualifications because I don't know if I would ever have that.

The Push and Pull

In honor of November being NaBloPoMo, me and my Curvies are taking the time to write every day. Monday thru Friday, that is. And NaBloPoMo is nice enough to supply prompts. Today's prompt, which was to talk about the last compliment I received, makes me crawl out of my own skin. I am not one of those self-deprecating women who negates compliments with a quick dismissal, or worse, a rebuttal. But nor am I the type to kiss and tell. I can take a compliment -- gladly -- but I will not be likely to repeat it in mixed company.

So I did a little digging through some old blogs I used to write. I even found one about how it felt -- to me -- to have Obama elected our new president.

But the one that struck me as I read and re-read old blogs, was the following. It choked me up with some raw emotion I had suppressed, reminded me that the tween that is so prickly to me now was prickly at seven. And it raised in me a tenderness toward her that I have been desperately seeking in recent months, remembering her at seven, at five, at birth.

Thinking about her. At 25.

****

 

Nov. 9, 2008

 

Sometimes, when we are walking down the street, I feel my daughter start walking right exactly precisely next to me. And in that very moment I push my hand out of the edge of my sweater only to find hers rising to meet mine.

 

Wordlessly, we are walking hand in hand, me and my daughter, my first baby, the one whose life -- from the minute she was born -- has been an absolute push and pull. Against me and toward me, and over again.

 

Within minutes, she will have pulled her hand away and back into her pocket. And I will have held my breath the entire time, cherishing the intimacy of it and knowing it will always be her pulling back her hand.  Her company. Her love. I ache to be close to her and she resents this simple fact.

 

The minute I reveal that I know her secret, she will be gone for good.

 

So I stay quiet, waiting patiently for the next time she lets me hold her hand.

First Act In Office

If you were President of the United States, what would be your first act in office?

Today, we all go to cast our votes for the next President of the United States (if you are reading this and have yet to vote, go do it – NOW!).  Party lines cast aside, we will have to respect the popular vote and trust that the next man; whether it’s Obama or Romney, will do what is right for our country as a whole.  No amount of bitching about it (sorry for the profanity, but that is clearly what it is) is going to change the outcome.  I will put my trust and faith (??) in this chosen candidate to make decisions that will enrich our great country.  I wonder what Obama would do as his first act should he be re-elected.  I ponder what Romney would do first in the White House.  Personally, I would spin circles in the desk chair in the Oval Office simply because I could!

 

Seriously, I do not know the first thing about being President.  It is a daunting endeavor regardless.  We live in volatile times and there is certain unpredictability about our national security.

As part of NaBloPoMo, us Curvies are using some suggest topics to fodder discussion.  I do not like to engage in public about my political beliefs, simply because this year's election has become very negative in all aspects.  However, I am curious about what others would do in the role of President.

As a child, I wondered what it would be like to be President.  Wow, the boss of the entire country?  Holy Smokes Batman - $200,000 a year for a paycheck.  And then you grow up.  $200,000/year is not an awful lot of money to be completely grey-haired in a period of four years.  Seriously, go back and look at the men in office when they are inaugurated and again, when they depart the top seat.

You know, this country is an amazing place to live.  When we all stop and reflect upon our freedoms for a moment; when we are truly grateful for the rights we take for granted; and when we are simply kind to each other.

I would not make my first act in office one of trying to balance a budget; nor trying to decrease a trillion dollar deficit (how does one do that ANYWAY?  I have issues with my household deficit!).  I would not try to focus on aid and peace in the foreign nations until we are better resolved here at home.

What would I do?  With my rose-colored glasses on, my first act in the Oval Office (yes, aside from spinning in the chair) would be to enact some type of Be Kind Act.  You read that correctly.  Everyone must be kind to one another.  Wouldn’t that be fantastic?  So simple, but such a grand gesture – an act unlike any before.  Manners, people.  Our nation would return to manners. 

Imagine a world (through these rose colored goggles):

o   Where people let one another pull out into traffic.

o   Where people hold the door for the next person behind them.

o   Where pleases and thank-yous are second nature and involved in every act.

o   Where elders are treated with respect and given priority.

o   Where children do not disrespect their parents and are given rules/consequences for their actions.

o   Where cell phone use is not the standard in the grocery aisle, at the gas station, and every other public place.

o   Where people must do at least one act of kindness a day, for another person (preferably unrelated to them).

That would be my first act.

 

 

November challenge-Election

Helloooooooooooo!
For the month on November, we Curvies have joined NaBloPoMo November. (National Blog Posting Month). With over 1600 other bloggers we are touching on some topics that are brainstormed by another person. Makes us step outside our normal realm, but we still write in our voice. I am psyched. 
Today's topic is :

What are your thoughts about tomorrow's election in the United States?

Hm. Now. That is a toughie because I don't talk politics much in general because it can cause a stress in a relationship. I am not one who likes my relationships stressy. It makes my hair look bad and my breathing goes funny. I have decided I am going to write a little bit about it in a chaotic way that is my brain and my heart.

I do listen a bit to what is said by both political parties, but I just believe in one political party more. Quite simply, it has to do with being raised in a family whose start was in politics. Almost like being raised Irish Catholic, I was raised Democrat and as a girl and as the baby of the family. These are all things that formed me and the way I think and the way I feel.

Bleeding Liberal heart? Yes. 
That is me. But my heart bleeds for so much more than politics. I have a bleeding heart for little chubby kids, and wet otters holding hands, and a picture of a cake sent to me by a friend that stuck to the pan and was ruined. These things effect me. 

I don't like it when people don't share. I think stuff should be even in a perfect world. I want people to stick up for each other and make sure that each person is getting the same rights as they are people. People.

Yes, this is all very broad and I tend to think in broad terms because the itty bitty, nitty gritty of what ifs, what abouts, sometimes they.....it is too much to think about. It doesn't apply often enough. I focus on the big picture. This is a big country, it gets the stand back and look approach from me. Maybe that makes me sound stupid. However I am not. 

My husband has commented before, being of another political party and a bit of a challenging smartypants, that he can count on me to vote for the same party no matter what and always for the female candidate within my political party. 
Hm. 
Maybe. 
But only because they tend to be heading the way I am going. I have voted for another party before, though...it was for the Green Party. A Gay woman to boot and that just kind of proves his point more and he shakes his head at me. 

(Flashing winning smile)

It is all good.

So my thoughts about the election tomorrow are this: you all know who I want now for both President and Senator. I just hope it comes out nice and clear. No hanging chads. No faulty ballot machines. No recounts and EXTRA discord between the political parties. I want all the advertisements to stop and the phones to stop ringing. I don't want any more bashing of people. I want everyone to settle the frig down and think about how awesome the end of the month is. 
Thanksgiving. 
Pie.

Yes, I want everyone to friggin' stop and think about pie.

Oxygen

Are you suffocating?  Not literally, of course.  I would wager some money on how many of you have had feelings of suffocation;  at least a few times in your life. 

Any woman can tell you  - it is in our nature to be a care-taker.  Mother Nature has hard-wired us all to be the nurturer.  Although some of us gals may be better at  taking care of business than others; however, we are all genetically pre-disposed to take care of the village.  What happens when that village does not include caring for the most important person of all?  You!

What working mom has not felt the tug, pull and YANK of the countless tasks in her daily routine?  What wife does not maintain her household responsibilities with careless effort twice her heft?  What woman has not let herself go, at the price of taking care of her children, her parents, her employer, her spouse, her pets and her friends?

<Crickets………Crickets…….>

I thought so.

Now, every single one of us is a smart, level-headed individual who knows what has to be done in the general gist of daily life.  But, why…..why do we always put ourselves dead last?  Why do we not hesitate to take our kids to their countless doctor appointments and sports commitments?  Why do we absolutely ensure our spouses are cared for, nurtured, listened to, cooked for, laundered for and mentally okay?

Hmmm.  I hear you.  You are saying, "Because...... that’s what we do."

So, why do we fail to take ourselves to our necessary doctor appointments (both routine and when something feels off)?  If our child so much as wimpers for a moment too long, we have the doctor on speed dial ringing.  Why do we make excuse, after excuse, after excuse when WE are not cared for, nurtured, listened to, cooked for, laundered for and not mentally okay?  We simply cast ourselves off with a brisk (and oftentimes harsh), “I’ll be fine.”  In reality, we are suffocating and we are letting ourselves go.

Now, I am immensely guilty here – so I will be affirmatively calling the pot black.  However, all I can think of is flight attendants.  Yes, formerly known as airplane stewardesses.  What do these ladies of the sky instruct you to do on each and every flight?  Put your oxygen mask on YOU first.  Yes.  They do not advise that you put it on your children first, or even someone else next to you.  PUT IT ON YOU FIRST.  Okay, so we get that.  Why, oh why can’t we women apply that to life as well?

Why does it seem socially UNACCEPTABLE for a woman to take care of herself?  To put herself first makes a woman appear selfish.  Wait.  What? 

I do not have the answers for you.

Why must we always portray ourselves as being completely pulled “together”; despite the circumstances?  Why, when we really take a look at ourselves – and we do not feel pulled “together”, do we judge ourselves as not worthy?  Why do we criticize ourselves as inadequate when Jane Doe seems to be sufficiently pulled together?  Instead of changing our thoughts, we simply chastise ourselves for being too tired and the fear of competing with the other women in our world forces us to give up on ourselves.

Typically, it is not until a woman falls sick that she is cared for and relents to taking care of herself.  I know this first hand.  My cancer diagnosis SCREAMED at me for being foolish; the chiding voice still takes up residence in my head as I struggle to keep lovely, wonderful me on the front burner in a life of three kids, a husband, a job (okay, and a couple of hobbies on the side). 

Suffocation, for me, is not the crushing pressure of not being able to breathe amongst the weight of my womanly duties.  For me, when I fail to put the oxygen mask on me first, I find myself exhausted.  Utterly exhausted.  After a particularly non-stop day, you know – the one that starts at 6:15 a.m. and does not wind down until well after 9 p.m. – I wonder how I persevered through the day.  I suddenly remember that I forgot to eat.  I then tend to overeat because I am hangry (so hungry, I have become angry); or I am in auto-pilot - eating is no longer a pleasure but a survival reaction  - my brain instructs me to shovel in copious amounts of calories to ward off starvation  (and because I am so hangry , no one shall die a premature death).

Well.  Let us do this together.  Let us STOP wearing our exhaustion as a badge of honor!  Let us STOP buying into the excuse that it’s okay to be the sacrificial lamb of the family.  Seriously, our behavior is a form of self-abuse.  Being a good mother, a good wife, a good friend – it is all irrelevant if we are driving ourselves into the ground.  Let us STOP comparing ourselves to Ms. Jones next door and let's start being us. 

Grab your mask.  Let’s oxygenate you.  Now.  Starting this moment.  There’s no better time to breathe.