October 2011 Tips and Recipes

Trick or Treat

October's ezine is dedicated to Halloween with some tricks to lose weight and treats that fit into your weight loss plan. So get ready to be scared skinny with these exercise and weight loss tips. Don't forget to try some of the spooky, yet healthy recipes this month.

iPhone app update. The programmer has made the final changes to the iPhone app and will be submitting it to iTunes for approval after a final review. So it won't be too much longer now. We are not sure exactly how long the approval process takes, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be a speedy approval process.

Forum Update The forum hosting site has been selected and the basic topics have been added. Now I am working on creating the “sticky notes” and forum help notes. Once these are completed, then I will be adding a few forum moderators and we will be ready for launch. We are hoping to have this done by the first of next month.

Last update is a new look and feel to the website. I have been busy creating and updating new pages into a new template. What this means is you will start to see some pages that look slightly different than what you are used to. So why a new look and feel? Well with the new template updating pages will be faster, which makes life for me a bit easier. What it means for you is faster results to new requests and more content to help you reach your health goals.

That's it for the quick updates, now on to the ezine.

Weight Loss Tip

Trick or Treat Your Metabolism

Our metabolism plays a big role in the amount of calories we burn. The slower the metabolism, the fewer calories you will burn. So speeding up your metabolic rate can help you reach your goal quicker. So how do you trick or treat your metabolism into working harder for you? Here are a few ways to boost your BMR and rev up your calorie burn.

Eat More!

Okay, you may be saying to yourself, she's crazy! I'm trying to lose weight so why would I eat more. Well by eating more often, not necessarily more calories, you keep your metabolism going. Your body expends energy to digest food, so the more often you eat during the day the more you make your body work to digest that food. This process of expending energy to digest is one great way to trick your metabolism into burning more calories and fat. So grab some snacks, make them healthy, and treat yourself to something healthy every 2 to 3 hours during the day.

Savory Snacks

Treat your metabolism to something tasty yet healthy and enjoy an occasional savory snack. Try a low fat yogurt to satisfy your hunger and sweet tooth. These creamy tasty snacks can help you feel satisfied and also help boost your metabolism. Studies show that people who included dairy products in their diet lost more weight than those who did not have dairy products.

If dairy is not your idea of a delightful snack, try a handful of nuts or almonds. These salty snacks are high in protein and protein takes more effort to digest. This means your body works harder and in turn you burn more calories.

Stress Less

Here's a little known method for boosting your metabolism. By lessening stress in your daily life you are a also helping boost your metabolism. Stress can cause many help risks including obesity. When you stress your body releases cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. This causes an increase to insulin production which decreases your metabolism. So take some time out for yourself, sit back and relax and treat yourself and your metabolism and keep those calories burning.

Scary Moves to Treat Your Body

Being active is critical to staying healthy and losing weight. So don't be scared to treat your body to some sweating and toning. Try some of these workouts to spook the pounds away.

Add Muscles to Your Skeleton

Okay, so I'm taking this Halloween theme a bit over the top with this topic heading. But adding some muscle to your body is a great way to boost your metabolism as well as getting tone. The more lean muscle you have the higher your metabolism which means you will burn more calories. Many people when trying to lose weight only focus on those exercises that burn lots of fat and calories. They go to the gym, hop on the treadmill or elliptical and put in a 30 to 60 minute workout. Then they head for the showers without ever checking out all the other equipment.

Take some time at the gym or at home to add some strengthening and toning exercises to your weekly workout routine. You can use dumbbells, resistance bands, the gym equipment or even your own body weight. Do both the upper and lower body and don't forget about the core muscles as well. Start slow with minimal resistance if you are new to strength training.

Spooky Stretches

Another area of exercise that many people forgo are stretching exercises. After all, what can these do for your weight loss goal? While it is true that stretching exercises do not offer as high of a calorie burn as aerobics or as much resistance to build muscles as strength training, they do serve a purpose when getting tone and fit. Stretching can help lengthen and prepare your muscles for exercise and sports. It's also helps increase flexibility, improves posture and gives you a better range of motion.

I thought this month it would be fun to share a healthy deviled egg recipe with a slight and scary twist. These eyeball eggs are a great way to serve something healthy but still scare your ghosts and goblins at your Halloween party.

Deviled Egg Eyeballs

Spook your friends with this twist on a traditional party favorite.

What You Need:

• 12 Large Hard Boiled Eggs
• 1/3 Cup Non Fat Cottage Cheese
• 1/4 Cup Low Fat Mayonnaise
• 3 Tbsp Minced Chives
• 2 tsp Yellow Mustard
• Pinch of salt
• 24 Green Olives (with Pimientos)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Green and Red Food Coloring

How to Make It:

1. Cut the hard boiled eggs in half lengthwise.
2. Place yolks into a bowl.
3. Add cottage cheese, mayo, chives, mustard and salt.
4. Mash ingredients until mixture is smooth and creamy. You can use a food processor if you prefer.
5. Add a few drops of the green food coloring until you get the desired color for your spooky eyeballs.
6. Spoon egg mixture into egg white halves (about 2 tsp for each).
7. Place an olive in the center of each egg.
8. Using a tooth pick and the red food coloring, draw small lines on the egg white to create a “bloodshot” look to the eyeballs.

Number of Servings: 24

Nutrition Information Per Serving

Calories 34; Tot Fat 2(g); Sat Fat 1(g); Fiber 0(g); Protein 3(g); Carbs 1(g); Sodium 85(mg)

Org Pts 1; Pts + 1

This is sure to scare off all the ghosts and goblins at your Halloween party.

Exercise 4 Weight Loss 2 Achieve Fitness and Health

Best wishes from your diet buddy