Anna's Healthy Breaky Tips!

Anna — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:42:00 GMT

Your momma was right!

Breakfast is the MOST important meal of the day. Eating after 6 or more hours of fasting (which is what is happening when you sleep) is absolutely key to maintaining a healthy body weight. Making breakfast a daily ritual will help set your metabolism (your fat-burning furnace) for the entire day, and help you refrain from those mid-morning junk food binges, or pulling into the first fast food drive in on your way to work in the morning.

Here are my top foods for a healthy breakfast that will contribute to energizing your day, helping you lose weight, and maintaining a healthy body weight.

Whole grainy goodness – Quinoa, kamut, spelt, amaranth or good old-fashioned oatmeal – all are extremely healthy examples of whole grains. Look for cereals that are organic. These are made with less preservatives and salt (yes, some cereals do contain a lot of salt), so be conscious of what your putting in your breakfast bowl.

Raise and shine to good fats - Sprinkle flaxseeds or walnuts on your oatmeal, and get a serving of Omega 3’s. These help maintain a healthy body weight, lubricate joints for less injury, and keep your hair and nails healthy, strong and shiny.

Make fruit a morning staple – Fresh is always best, but frozen will do! Berries such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and blackberries will spruce up your cereal with natural sugars (fructose), so you don’t have to use sugar or artificial sweeteners. A ½ cup of fresh or frozen fruit on your cereal serves up a bounty of natural antioxidants. When you’re buying frozen fruit, look for those with no sugar or syrup added.

Your morning protein punch! This is especially essential if you work out pre-breaky because protein will help your body recover and rebuild muscle faster after your workout. Try an egg white omelet or a cup of fruit and whole grain cereal mixed with low fat cottage cheese.

It’s a soy-o-day! If oatmeal or plain whole grain cereal is a bit dry for your liking, mix it with some soy milk. It will add a little moisture and flavor – you can buy soy milk flavored with vanilla or almond. You can also use it to make a healthy protein pancake.

What are your favorite, healthy breakfast options? Come on, share them with us...

Congrats to my friend Jim!

Anna — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:54:00 GMT

Good golly it’s Friday – and a long weekend to boot! So I wanted to end this glorious week on a positive note.

I have a friend named Jim that I’ve known since I was 6-years-old. Now just to give you an image of our history…this is the boy, who when I was given the job of crossing guard in Grade 5, used to run out in front of traffic to scare the crap out of me…as you can tell we have a long history of him tormenting the heck out of me. Well it’s been well over 25 years of friendship for us, and during this time Jimbo has had a mess of health ailments stacked up against him – heart problems, being overweight and then developing type II diabetes.

Well last week I met with Jim for coffee, he’s now started a very successful photography biz by the way, and he’s lost 40-pounds! And better yet, he tells me that he feels better than he ever has in his whole life, and what's even more inspring is that he says he's taking risks with love and business, thanks to his newfound self-esteem, that he would have never had the courage to do in the past. What caused this transformation in my friend? Well it all started with him adopting a healthy diet, and doing a combination of strength training and cardio workouts to help manage his diabetes. And good news, last week his doctor cut his diabetes medication in half. The doc told him that if he loses 20 more pounds he’ll be off the meds forever, and he'll be able to control his diabetes with diet alone.

So I use today’s blog to congratulate my friend Jim. I’m proud of you buddy! And I hope his story inspires you, in some way, to take control of your health.

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Anna's Healthy Breaky Tips!

Congrats to my friend Jim!