Good Hair Color Can Make All the Difference in How You Feel

My hairdresser of more than ten years moved away to eastern Montana in August.  Since then, I have not found a new stylist and took over my own hair coloring.  I tried several products, with mixed results.  Though I seldom rave about products in this blog, I must say I got great results in less than a half an hour with the Clairol Natural Instincts product.  It is ammonia free, takes no more than 15 minutes to set, and comes with a great color enhancement pack to use a few weeks after the initial color application.  The product is also very reasonably priced, at less than $10. This morning, I read Facebook posts while I waited and it was SO easy!  So if you are looking for a less chemically, effective, quick hair color product--particularly right before New Years Eve, you might want to give it a try.

What I noticed about the last couple of days on my diet is that I did fine, if not a bit under my calorie goal, and kept my protein content high, but where was the breakfast?  I see that I don't eat anything before noon or one in the afternoon.  That changed today when I had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast with 2% milk.

Here are my Tuesday and Wednesday results:

Tuesday:	Calories	Protein
lasagna	600	25.6
1/2 California Pizza Kitchen Sicilian	500	27
green salad	100	0
small slice pumpkin pie	229	4.3
water/diet soda	0	0
total	1429	56.9
Wednesday:
cup of tea with sweetener and milk	20	1
bobs red mill soup with sausage	400	23
three slices of ham	360	48
small slice of pumpkin pie	229	4.3
diluted grape juice	120
total	1129	76.3

I have not been hungry between meals and have not succumbed to stress eating, but I think moving some calories to first thing in the morning should help to jump start my metabolism.

Happy Thanksgiving! Weight Watching Tips for the Holiday Season

Thanksgiving is two days away, and many dieters face the anxiety of all the food that will be available at family gatherings.  They aren't wrong.  Studies have shown that people tend to add one to two pounds of weight between Thanksgiving and New Years.

What to do then?  Here are some tips to keep in mind for sticking to your diet during the holidays

1) Stick to your same breakfast and lunch.  If you go out for a big brunch or a big lunch, you are going to have to cut way back on your holiday dinner.  To not offend Aunt Verdell by not eating the sweet potato fluff at dinner, don't blow out your calories at brunch earlier in the day.

2) Mind your cocktails.  Yes, alcohol makes the holidays more festive for many, but alcohol represents empty calories.  Many cocktails contain hundreds of calories each (margaritas, in particular), so sticking to wine spritzers and continuing to drink water throughout the day will help to reduce total calorie consumption at parties and family gatherings.

3) Remember how to portion out your plate.  Although there are many yummy starch side dishes during the holidays, your plate should be allocated 25% meat, 25% starch and 50% salads and green side dishes.  You can have a small taste of everything on the holiday table and not blow your diet if you keep your perspective on your plate and how much of each food group you are eating.

Enjoying the holidays and all they have to offer does not mean having to move up a pant size in January if you take a few steps early on to be mindful of how you are eating and drinking.  Happy Thanksgiving!

When Your Diet Isn’t Working and News from Sheraton

There are times when your diet stops working, which is called a plateau, when you have to shake something up to continue your weight loss. Frequently changing the type of exercise you are doing or changing when and what you are eating can break a plateau.  But what do you do if you are genuinely reducing calories and exercising and you are seeing no results when you are just starting your diet?  This article reviews these situations, which could be driven by prescription medication, or a low performing thyroid, among other issues.  I think it offers interesting information about what could be going on for you when your diet’s not working.


http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2010/10/diet_not_working_heres_five_re.html

Sheraton Hotels, recognizing that road warriors don’t eat, sleep, exercise or relax the way they do at home, has designed a new health and fitness program to be offered in all of its hotels worldwide.  Here is the story on the new program:


http://www.hotelworldnetwork.com/brand-standards/sheraton-launches-brandwide-health-and-fitness-program-9225

What Does it Take to Commit to Permanent Change?

Article first published as Wake Up Calls: What Does it Take to Commit To Permanent Change on Technorati.

A friend confided to me years ago he was pretty lax about his dental care. Until the day his dentist told him he had advanced gum disease, and he would begin to lose his teeth if he didn’t make a change.  From that moment forward he began brushing, flossing and rinsing.  He would do whatever it took to save his teeth.

Last Week Former President Bill Clinton explained to Wolf Blitzer about the reasons behind his new, nearly vegan diet:

“But I did it for a different reason. I mean, I wanted to lose a little weight but I didn’t ever dream this would happen. I did it because after I had this stent put in, I realized that even though it happens quite often that after you have bypasses, you lose the veins, because they’re thinner and weaker than arteries. The truth is that it clogged up, which means that the cholesterol was still causing build up in my vein that was part of my bypass. Thank God I could take the stents.

I didn’t want it to happen again. So I did all this research and I saw that 82 percent of the people, since 1986, who have gone on a plant-based, no dairy, no meat of any kind. No chicken, turkey. I eat very little fish. Once in a while I’ll have a little fish. Not often. If you can do it, 82 percent of people who have done that have begun to heal themselves. Their arterial blockage cleans up. The calcium deposit around their heart breaks up.”

Later in the interview, Clinton expressed his hope that with his new healthier regime, he would be around for his family and someday, for his grandkids.

Short term goals like losing weight to fit into a wedding dress can result in the five or ten pounds of weight loss you need, but what happens on the all inclusive honeymoon? 

Being on TV vying for a quarter million dollars and then follow-up TV exposure seems to work for those on the Biggest Loser and other weight loss shows, but how many people in the public eye fall back into bad habits and gain all the weight back, like Kirstie Alley? 

Does it take the fear of death or threat of severe illness to generate permanent change? 

If you are getting ready to go on your next diet, try to pick powerful reasons for losing the weight. Reasons that are going to mean more to you than momentary life stresses that drive snacking or reaching for processed convenience food when you are in a hurry. 

Put the list on the refrigerator, on the pantry door, on your desk at work, in your car, on your bathroom mirror.  Make certain you can see that list of reasons every time you are getting ready to make a food decision, and then remember why you are on a diet.