Positively Active 2012 Initiative!

Spring is 2 days away and what a great time to kick off my "Positively Active" initiative! I want to inspire 1 million people in 2012 to be active! If you want to participate, all you have to do is email me a photograph of you being physically active to www.donnafoster.blogspot.com. Your photograph can be of you with friends, family or colleauges in an event or race, you training, or just being active! Be sure to include a caption sharing your activity and who you are with. Feel free to be creative as you want but the important thing is to be yourself and to have fun being physically active.

Stay active and anything is possible!
Donna

Reward yourself now, not later!

I read this blog this morning on one of my favourite websites, www.sparkpeople.com. I agree with everything he or she says 100%!

What the writer expresses is what I tell all my clients. DON'T WAIT TO REWARD YOURSELF FOR YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS! No matter how big or small they may be.

Each person has different individual goals whether it's losing weight, being able to do 5 consectutive pushups or 5 proper pull ups. If we keep telling ourselves "when I reach my goal weight," or "when I can do 5 push ups" etc, we lose sight of the journey and stop living in the moment! But more importantly, we don't recognize our hard efforts along the way.

So stop living in the future and live in the now. Enjoy your health and fitness journey and be happy knowing that you are doing the best thing for yourself. Developing good healthy habits and being active!

Enjoy the blog and share!

Stay active and anything is possible!
Donna



I am currently participating in two challenges. Oddly enough, in both challenges one of the questions for the week was something to the effect of "What will you do once you hit your goal weight?"

In both challenges I gave my honest answer - get pictures taken with my boys and a beach vacation. As I read through the other responses I saw things like get a symbolic tattoo, clothes shopping, new jewelry and makeovers. These responses really got me to thinking about how many things I'm planning to do "when I lose weight". Things like: go hiking with my boys, teach them to swim, do a spa day, take a class for fun. The more I thought about this, the more I realized how ridiculous it is to wait. It's like saying "Don't live until you lose the weight." Why can't I take a class now? Or do more physical things with my boys? Even the beach and pictures. What am I waiting for?? Yes. I will look and feel better without this extra weight but it's not stopping me. What is stopping me is the mental stuff. I treat myself like I don't deserve these things until I'm thinner. Or that the weight is stopping me from doing them. The fact is that the only thing stopping me is myself. I should be living each day to the fullest instead of waiting for this flood of happiness, opportunity and capability to wash over me when the weight is off.

I read a fellow Sparker's blog recently about how she was struggling now that the weight was off. She somewhat expected happiness and love to enter her life once she hit her goal weight. And the fact that it didn't happen plus the fact that she didn't have food or weight to comfort/protect her has made hitting her goal weight the hardest part of all. This really hits home as I find myself saying "I can't wait to do this. Or just wait until I do that." So going forward I need to stop waiting and start doing. Happiness isn't a number on the scale, its living life and loving deeply. Whatever baggage I have now, I will have at goal weight if I don't deal with it and let it go.

I do believe in rewarding yourself for hitting your goals. But what I can't get behind is rewarding yourself with life and happiness. We should be striving for this each day and not waiting until goal weight. With this being said, I'm going to start doing all the things I can now and not wait.

Tips to help you shrink your belly

I just came back from a lovely long weekend visiting my good friends in Boston and one of the most asked questions of me was "How do I lose my belly fat?"

I put together a short list of healthy, natural and easy tips that will help you manage your weight!

Eat vegetables and fruit, specially orange ones. (however, if I had to recommend one over the other, I'd chose veggies!)

Women have also been show to lose their waists by replacing refined grains like white bread and simple or added sugar with carbs from fruits and vegetables. Besides packing in the fiber, which keeps you feeling full longer, researchers suspect it's the rich antioxidants, such as vitamin C and beta-carotene, that ward off ab fat.

Carrots, cantaloupe, squash, and peaches are great sources of beta-carotene, while oranges, berries, and kiwi provide a good dose of C.

To keep calories down, pick veggies, like bell peppers, before fruits, and choose fruits over juice.

Below is information regarding the benefits of eating vegetables and fruits.

Mangoes/Pineapples: Aid in Digestion

Artichokes/Radishes: Cleanses the liver

Cherries: Diuretic and laxative qualities

Strawberries: Flush out toxins

Grapes: Cleanse kidneys, liver and aids in digestion. They are also good to eat before a run because it is a good source of energy as they contain many CHO in high concentration

Asparagus: Helps excrete waste and promotes the renewal of bodily organs

Cucumber, leeks and celery: eliminates waste

Figs: (fresh, dried, raw cooked) Cleansing effect on the intenstines, increases volume of stools an accelerate their removal



Eat Protein!

Why do you need protein?
1.Growth and repair of body tissues, including muscle, tendons, and ligaments.
2.Hormones: regulates sugar and fat metabolism
3.Transportation of oxygen throughout the body
4.Enzymes: controls the chemical processes of the ENTIRE body: Digestion and energy metabolism


Here is a list of foods that contain a good source of protein.

Omega 3 enriched hard boiled eggs, plain or greek yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, goat cheese, lean sliced meats, turkey breast, skinless chicken, fish, clams, grilled calamari, Kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, oatmeal (steel oats), nuts, seeds, almond butter, Quinoa, Hemp, salmon, tuna


Other nutrition tips:

Look for breads with the words 100% whole wheat or 100% whole grain, choose tortilla wraps, pita bread, sourdough bread, rye bread

Take an Omega 3 supplement for inflammatory prevention

Incorporate Salba, nature’s most powerful whole food: Promotes balanced blood sugar by reducing glycemic response by up to 40%, supports healthy weight management and digestion. It’s full of calcium, magnesium and iron.
(www.sourceselba.com)

You can buy Salba in a Nutrition Store: GNC, Whole Foods, Trader Joes

Drink lots of green tea!

I could go on and on with recommendations and suggestions! But hopefully this will give you a good head start as you work toward your health goals!

Stay active and anything is possible!
Donna

Get Fit by Walking

Need a new challenge for the fall? Why not join me for the 5K Powerwalking Clinic with the Rosedale Running Room! This is an ideal program for those interested in Stress Management & Weight Loss. It also enhances the benefits of walking and essentially turns walking into a workout!

This 10 week program starts Monday, October 17th at the Rosedale Running Room located at 1087 Yonge Street. The clinic portion meets every Monday at 6:30pm and our practice walks will occur every Wednesday at 6pm and Sunday at 8:30am.

What do you have to lose other than weight?

Please don't hesitate to email me with any questions at dfosterlarocque@gmail.com.



Stay active and anything is possible!

Portion Control

No matter how much weight you want to lose, portion control will pay a huge factor in getting the results you want. In this day and age, the average serving size has increased tremendously which makes it more challenging for those trying to lose weight.

Here's an article that offers great suggestions on how to eat less!




http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1386


Stay active and anything is possible!