Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Dante’s Favorite Family Snack

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In the evening or during football season, it’s always nice to have some healthy snacks on the ready for when the family gets the munchies. This little treat is a family favorite but my youngest son, Dante likes it the best! The spices remind me of Autumn and is great for serving during a football game. Makes 16 half cup servings.

2 cups Pretzel Goldfish crackers
3 cups low-fat granola
1/2 cup sesame sticks, broken up (choose whole wheat or honey wheat)
3 cups chopped mixed dried fruit
PAM Fat-Free Butter-Flavored Cooking Spray
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients and spray lightly with PAM.
2. Sprinkle with all spices and toss.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. At 10 minutes into cooking time, stir ingredients to cook evenly.
5. Cool and eat, or store at room temperature.

Health Benefits
Low in fat, calories, sodium and sugar. Healthy snacks such as these are important to women’s fitness. We need at least two snacks each day and it’s great to be able to indulge in something so tasty and delightful.

Love this snack as much as we do?  Tell us about it in the comment space below:

Dancing: The Darling of Exercise

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Dancing isn’t just fun thing to do when you’re young. Dancing is a great exercise that should be part of a healthy lifestyle. For instance, you can burn as many calories belly-dancing as you can walking, swimming or riding a bike. As with any physical activity, however, the weight-loss benefits of any sort of dancing depends on the frequency and length of your workouts and your exertion level as well as your weight and physical condition.

You’re practicing good health and fitness when you move to the music. If weight loss is a priority, choose a form of dancing that keeps you moving continuously. Simply put: the more you move, the more calories you’ll burn.

Dancing burns calories, boosts energy, improves circulation and tones muscle. A 120-pound woman can burn about 120 calories doing 30 minutes of moderate social dancing. Dancing helps to increase strength, endurance and flexibility. But did you know that dancing can also relieve tension and stress, improve your mood and boost your creativity.

Magical and transforming, dancing can breathe new life into a weary soul and make your spirit soar. Dancing can inspire new romances or rekindle old ones. Dancing puts you in touch with your body and builds your self-esteem.

Dancing can help keep your body, including your brain, healthy as you age. Exercise increases the level of brain chemicals that encourage nerve cells to grow. Dances that require you to remember dance steps help boost brainpower by improving memory skills.

Whether it’s ballet or ballroom, clogging or jazz, salsa or samba, dance is great for helping women and men of all ages and fitness levels stay in shape. There’s even chair dancing for people with physical limitations.

Indulge yourself in this most primal form of creative release. It’s a fun and exciting way to stay in shape that’s why it’s the darling of exercise. Go on, shake that booty!

How do you feel when you dance?  Share in the comment space below:

The Very Vital Vegetable Dip

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Vegetables are great for snacking, but everyone wants a little dip on the side. This very vital vegetable dip will add zing to your vegetables without masking the flavor. Makes 12 servings and is great at parties or just set it down in front of the family and watch it disappear.

2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup chopped scallions
4 tsp fresh lemon
1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp mustard
1/2 cup chopped pimiento
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives
2 clove garlic, minced

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in processor or blender.
2. Process until smooth.
3. Serve with an assortment of raw vegetables, including broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, celery, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, or anything you like.

Health Benefits
A good women’s fitness program will include at least five servings of vegetables each day that’s why a veggie dip like this is so great to make. This dip is low in calories, fat, sodium and sugar. The scallions, pimiento, chives and garlic aid digestion and add flavor to this delightful dip.

Love this dip?  Leave a comment in the space below:

Finding the Motivation to Diet

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Dieting. It’s not one of our favorite words in the English language, but it’s one that most of us come face to face with at one time or another. It evokes images of starving ourselves over salads and rice cakes at lunch while our ever-skinny friend wolfs down a plate full of nachos without a care in the world.

We know that we have to diet. We probably have said to ourselves at some point within the last month or so, “I really need to lose some weight.” So what’s stopping us from starting? Most of the time, the hardest thing about dieting is actually finding the right time to start. If there are sweets or chips in the house, we tell ourselves that we have to wait till everything is finished, and then we’ll start. Or if there is an upcoming celebration we tell ourselves we have to wait till after that event and then we’ll start dieting.

We come up with excuse after excuse not to start our diets and soon before you know it, you now have to lose 15 pounds instead of the 10 you started out with. But it doesn’t have to be this way!

Dieting doesn’t have to be hard. It’s actually pretty simple when you think about it. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. They key is finding low calorie and low fat foods that you enjoy eating. If you hate eating rice cakes… you’re going to have less luck sticking to your diet if that’s all you ever allow yourself to eat.

So before you begin your diet, make a list of all the foods you enjoy. Then go through your list and see if you can make a few adjustments to some dishes that will decrease the amount of fat and calories. If you like tacos, try using low fat cheese, low fat sour cream, and perhaps fish or a lean turkey meat instead.

If you can’t make any adjustments, put that food in your “treat” list. Dieting is all about balance and by allowing yourself a treat every now and then; you will find it much easier to maintain your diet for a longer period of time.

Spend some time in the produce department of your grocery store. Are there fruits or veggies that you really enjoy? These make a great substitute for chips or sweets. Eating a handful of raspberries or blueberries, can be just as satisfying as eating candy, minus the guilt you feel after you gorged on gummy worms. Keep these in your home at all times in plain sight. Don’t hide them in a drawer where you can forget about them. It helps to always keep a fruit bowl handy where you can quickly grab an apple or a peach when you feel the urge to snack.

Dieting doesn’t have to be a chore. With just a few easy changes to what you are already eating, you can begin your diet and stick to it without having to torture yourself with tasteless food.

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What Could You Do If You Were Thinner?

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Many life coaches will ask their clients this question, “If money were not an object what would you do?” It provokes all sorts of thoughts, dreams and ideas and is great for motivating people to challenge themselves and take risks to bring about positive change.

So today, I ask you, “What could you do, or would you do if you were thinner?” Do you have any idea? Have you ever allowed yourself to imagine what life would be like if you were thinner?
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Let’s define what being thinner might mean. Well, for starters it means that you weigh less than you do presently. Now, since this is a total exercise of pure imaginary creation, you can envision whatever shape you like. Try to keep your ideal model of the same height since that aspect will remain the same unless you are a growing child. Other than your height, there is no restriction to the body that you can imagine for yourself.

1. What would your ideal body mean to you in the way of day-to-day life?
2. How might people treat you differently?
3. How might you feel about the new you?
4. Would your love life change?
5. What exactly would make it change?

People will treat you differently when you lose weight. Some people will notice your efforts right away and be quick to compliment you and offer moral support. Others might feel vulnerable. Strange though it sounds, friends can feel threatened anytime you try to make positive changes in your life. Perhaps it’s because they are worried that once you don’t have the stifling handicap of excess weight, their leverage will be gone and you will no longer need their friendship. They fear that you will move on and leave them behind. Family members and spouses sometimes experience these same feelings of doubt.

I’m sure many of us have experienced similar feelings. Either with a friend who seemed to wish us failure or in the reverse case where we become the saboteur with our own self-doubt, wishing to disrupt the efforts of a friend.

These insightful feelings that seem to spring up out of nowhere, have roots deep within our psyche. Though we often confuse these feelings with jealousy, they are actually evidence of fear, afraid that we will be left behind, afraid that we are less than what even we think we are.

But what would you do if you were thinner? Would you buy the latest fashions? Would you wear a bikini? Now be honest, there are no restrictions to how skinny that you can imagine yourself. This is your own mind game—so now that you see yourself—would you wear a bikini or is the style just not for you?

How about a fitted evening dress or a pair of jeans you had back in school—can you envision your imaginary body wearing any of these things? Don’t stop to think if it is a viable thought—just allow yourself the act of imagination.

How would the new thin you act at home? If you have a husband or partner, how would they react to the new thin you? More than likely, love making would take on a whole new dimension. Oh sure, there would probably be no change in the amount of love, or the way you love or are loved, but there will be something new. Your own self-image will release your inhibitions and you will feel more relaxed and contented about making love. When a girl feels pretty and sexy, she can perform much better in bed.

Now that you have your new imaginary body, how would you act at work? Do you think with your new thin body that you would have more confidence to go in and ask for a raise? You know, slimming down most always makes a positive impression on those you work for, unless of course they begin to feel threatened.

That’s because everyone knows that losing weight is hard work. It takes commitment, dedication and perseverance—three attributes of a successful business employee. So there are monetary reasons why your boss might be impressed over your weight loss efforts.

What could you do if you were thinner? You might be able to squeeze onto a couch full of people or get photographed with others without the need to turn sideways. What about when trying on clothes at your favorite boutique—would you feel more comfortable about walking out of the dressing room to show off a new swimsuit or new pair of jeans?

How would you move about if you were thinner? Remember, you can be as thin as you want. Would you run marathons? Would you wear incredibly high heels and strut your stuff? Maybe you would want to take up ballet or ballroom dancing.

What would you do around a swimming pool if you were thinner? Would you be more apt to sit out or walk around without a cover-up? Would you wear bright colors or a certain style?

What sports could you participate in if you were thinner? Would you take up dance, tennis or golf? Would you go to the gym more often just to show off your body?

There are so many possibilities when we use our imaginations. There are just as many possibilities when you use a journal to record your day-to-day happenings. Especially a fitness journal, aimed at making you thinner, healthier and happier.

If you have never used a fitness journal before, I urge you to try one now. It has been proven time and again, that people who use a journal to write down everything they eat and drink and to record all of their physical activities have a far greater chance of successful weight loss than those who do not.

The journal is a constant reminder of where you started from and how far you have come. It is your own personal “thinner you” dream, and if you commit to using it daily, it will help you succeed. You see, the constant writing connection is much like the spark to get your imagination soaring. It’s the magical thing that happens when you start to write. Your creativity will explode.

So what would you do if you were thinner? Probably be kicking back and reading all the energized entries in your fitness journal … that is … if you were thinner.

Are you ready to start slimming down today? Grab a towel, a bottle of water, tuck your journal in your bag and let’s get going. There is a thinner you and it’s going to emerge real soon!

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