Healthy Livin' check-in week of 5-7-07 to 5-13-07

[momandteacherx3]

Hello friends! hope you are having a great Monday!

Deena- how did the scrapbooking party go? Was there a good turnout? How was the breakfast Sunday morning?

A couple of you posted at the end of last week's thread- but I thought I had better start up a new one for the week anyway.

Prairie Home- yum- haystacks sound tasty! And fun for a group. I'll share the "bee" info as I find it. Congrats on the drama!! That sounds like a lot of fun. I found a book of children's plays at the library- the dialog was all written out. It's an old book, I'll look at the title the next time we go in. (Way to go on the dessert choices too!!)

Leslie- I don't know much about cellulite (other than I have some too!!)- maybe we can all do a little research and share? I'm glad you enjoyed yourself this weekend, but are back on track today. I think part of being "healthier" is knowing that you are splurging a little, and not continuing to do it day after day. Don't flail yourself for it- but get back on track. I think it is worse when we don't stop and think "hey, could I have had a better choice today?"- and just continue to live on unhealthy choices. That's one of the reasons why I don't like to use the diet word on this thread. I want to eat healthier, not totally restrict us!

Okay, off the soapbox a little! lol I didn't weigh this weekend, as my eating was off due to being sick. I'll wait a week probably and do it again. Same with the exercising, building back up to a regular routine again.

Hi to everyone- please stop in and share this week, and I'll talk to you soon!

(Drink your water!)

MT3

[Deena]

I still need to work on drinking more water, although I'm doing better than I was.

The breakfast went well. I helped with setting it up and all, so most everyone had gone through line by the time we helpers got our food. I always say it's better to wait anyway, cuz all that's left is the healthy stuff! :D

The scrapbooking party went really well! We had so much fun just talking, snacking and laughing! Oh yeah, we got some scrapbooking done too! ;) Everyone I invited came! That was cool! So I had 7 ladies plus me. We ran out of space to put all of our stuff just about. I had healthy snacks, mostly.

[momandteacherx3]

Okay- I found a little info to share about cellulite. It was from a website called "inch aweigh" (I think).

How to Reduce Cellulite Without Miracle Products
by Maia Appleby

You don’t have to be fat to find cellulite on your body. Just about any woman can squeeze the front of her thigh with her finger and thumb and see it, while men are more likely to find it on their bellies. We all have it, but some of us don’t have to pinch anything to make it appear. Here’s a crash course for these people:
What is cellulite, exactly? Well, it’s actually fat deposits that are trapped within connective (adipose) tissue beneath the skin. The area becomes somewhat hardened by waste products that haven’t been removed from the body (like fats, retained fluids and toxins). Since the fibers surrounding it are very weak, it bulges out and shows itself to the world. As you age and your skin becomes thinner, the cellulite becomes more pronounced.

Cellulite is different from smooth body fat. Cellulite is lumpy. Body fat is like an organ, protecting your cells, cushioning your organs and storing energy. Cellulite is just lumpy. Body fat is distributed all over your body. Cellulite only shows up in the thighs, belly, buttocks, breasts and neck, and there’s nothing even about it. It does nothing… and it’s lumpy.

The best approach to take is, of course, common sense. What’s causing your connective tissue to harden? It may be a combination of things. Look at the healthiest people you know – the people who practice good nutrition and exercise regularly. They probably have little or no visible cellulite.

(continued...)

[momandteacherx3]

The key to decreasing the appearance of cellulite pockets is to improve the way your body eliminates its excess fat. It’s that simple. The methods you can use are practically infinite, but here are ten great places to start:
1. Drink two liters of water every day – more if you exercise vigorously and even more if you exercise outdoors in a hot climate.
2. Give up caffeine. It makes you retain water, promoting cellulite growth.
3. Don’t eat anything fried. The less grease you consume, the better. This includes butter. If you tend to put butter on everything, change your ways. After a few months of shunning butter, margarine and fried foods, you won’t even like greasy stuff anymore – honestly!
4. Get moving. It’s been found that poor circulation can cause cellulite to stay put. Suggestion: indoor bicycling is an excellent way to get the blood in your legs circulating efficiently.
5. Researchers have found that Vitamin C, which helps the body rid itself of toxins, plays a role in reducing cellulite, so make sure you have plenty of it in your diet. Get at least three servings a day of fresh fruits.
6. Avoid sodium, which also causes water retention. Be cautious about Chinese food!
7. Stay real. Chemical additives in your food may seem like a fact of life, but the more you can stay away from them, the healthier (and less lumpy) you’ll be. Read labels. If a product has more ingredients than you could read in fifteen seconds, it’s far from pure.
8. Yoga is a terrific way to improve your circulation and increase your strength. An added bonus of getting into Yoga is that you’ll be surrounded by “all-natural” people who will be a good influence on you. Another plus is that it may give you patience, which you will need, as you won’t see results for a while.
9. Take up weight training. Although it won’t, in itself, remove the cottage cheese look, you’ll speed up your metabolism, which decreases body fat all over your body, proportionately lowering your cellulite level in the process.
10. Do what you can with your genes. Enough said about that.

[momandteacherx3]

Okay, it is interesting information but I would have a hard time with no caffeine! lol I am not a big fan of yoga either, but I can see the validity of more natural foods and less sodium. The article was longer- I edited to the information I thought we could use the most...

Deena- yeah on your party!! That sounds like so much fun. I'm glad everyone showed up too.

Okay, it's almost lunch time here. I think I am having a big salad for lunch- I even have tomatoes and broccoli!!

MT3

[Hoosier Mama]

Wow...that's good info. I would struggle with te no caffeine, too. UGH! But I certainly could move more and drink more water. I think exercise is still my biggest obstacle....I just don't like it!!! But I do know that I feel much better when I consistently do it and am learning that if I don't....I don't feel or look so good!

[momandteacherx3]

OO-OO! I've never scrolled around the reply area before, but if you hit "reply to thread" it opens this screen. Scroll down to the "Topic Review" section. If the arrow in the right hand corner is pointing DOWN, click on it and the previous posts will show. (if the arrow is pointing UP the posts will be visible anyway.) lol It may be old news to some of you, but I rarely remember to check to see if my screen is viewing ALL of the available page or not.

Also, I asked about the time one time and wondered if it was the middle of the ocean. Yup, it is. The time marks on this post are GMT. Well, duh to me! lol

Okay, so I'm not a rocket scientist, and my kids probably know about as much as I do on the computer, but we are learning together, right??

It's almost time for baseball practice and errand-running. Gotta run- MT3

[momandteacherx3]

Oops- on this forum the little "button" reads "post reply"... see, I'm learning!

[momandteacherx3]

Good morning friends! How is everyone doing? What's the weather like in your neck of the woods? It is in the lower 80's here, but pretty breezy. It's nice to get out and take a walk or do some yard work in. We are still in the "unsettled" spring though- as this weekend it is supposed to be about 15 degrees cooler.

We had a doubled up schedule last night, so we ended up having Chinese food for dinner. Maybe not the healthiest (and I thought of that cellulite article too!)- but it is yummy, and we do pretty good with ordering the veggies, etc to go with it. Plus, I usually serve a fruit with dinner too. I made sure I had my water bottle with me though while we were out.

Well, I have to go and check on school- talk to everyone soon.

MT3