A Low-Cal Drink for New Year's Eve

For those of you prone to welcoming the New Year with alcohol, don't blow your calorie intake with high calorie drinks - and all the ensuing snacks!

First, let me caution you to drink responsibly! Nuff said!

Second, you KNOW the drill. Choose diet soda for your mixed drinks. Stay away from full calorie beers and high-sugar drinks. Everything in MODERATION.

Let me share a yummy martini recipe - and low cal to boot - from fitnessmagazine.com!

Low-Calorie Drink Recipes

Pomegranate Martinis (orange and apple, too)

Start to Finish: 10 minutes Makes: 8 servings

1/2 of a medium orange, cut into wedges

Sugar1 1/2 cups vodka or gin

1/3 cup pomegranate syrup (grenadine)

3 tablespoons dry vermouth

Ice cubes

Small pomegranates (optional)

1. Rub orange wedges around rims of 8 martini glasses. Invert glasses into a dish of sugar to coat rims; set glasses aside. In a small pitcher, combine the vodka, pomegranate syrup, and vermouth. Place ice cubes in a martini shaker. For each drink, add 1/4 cup of the syrup mixture; shake. Strain into one of the prepared martini glasses. Garnish with a small pomegranate, if desired.

Nutrition Information per serving: 146 calories, 0g protein, 11g carbohydrate, 0g fat (0g saturated), 0g fiber

Orange Martinis: Prepare as above, except use 3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed, in place of the syrup. Omit garnish.

Apple Martinis: Prepare as above except use 1/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed, in place of the syrup. Garnish with fresh orange peel curls.

Happy New Year 2010!

Yay, a Treadmill!

Hello everyone,

Thanks for bearing with my sporadic posts! In case you didn't know, I'm pursuing my MBA degree and so my posts are much fewer during semesters due to my course load, working full time, and managing a family.

And while my time to post is much less, my passion for health is unchanged! Some of you know that I debated about buying a treadmill last year, and chose a membership at a local health club instead.

Well, I bit the bullet and bought a treadmill this week! I'm so pumped about it. It's my investment in our family's health. My daughter and I are diligent about exercise - and running. We run outdoors in good weather and daylight, and indoors on treadmills during inclement weather or evening hours.

My membership at the fitness club ran out at the end of November. What to do??? I could renew it for about $200. That's my membership only. If I wanted to make a family membership, we're talking a lot more money. So I put the idea of a treadmill up for debate again. I know for a fact that my daughter and I will use it faithfully, and I'm confident that my other children will as well.... With my MBA course load, I'm finding that I can't find the time to run until late in the evening - and I WON'T run in the dark. (That's another story!)

I already have an elliptical machine in my basement. I use that on days I take a break from running. I obviously have a flight of stairs into the basement - they're my "stairmaster" (my kids HATE that I run those stairs - ha!). And now I have the treadmill. I went down at 10:00 p.m. tonight and ran 3 miles and walked 1.5 miles. Yeehaw. And I didn't have to drive 15 minutes to the club and 15 minutes back home. I LOVE IT! Running is my number one choice of drug. Um, exercise! :-)

I refuse to let the busyness of life get in the way of my health. I've been overweight and out of shape before....and I don't want to go back. Living with energy and vitality is well worth the effort.

Maybe you don't have the funds for a treadmill, or an elliptical, or any other machine. That's not the point. What I hope to communicate is that you can find ways to integrate exercise in your life. It's not how much you spend (look at my "stairmaster" steps!) - it's that you don't allow excuses to keep you from pursuing good health! While a treadmill is what I chose as the instrument to continue my exercise in the circumstances of MY life right now, yours might be something else. Maybe you NEED a fitness club membership to give you accountability. Maybe exercise DVDs work better for you so you can follow someone else's lead in the privacy of your home. Or maybe home equipment is what will energize you and keep you on track. Whatever. But please don't let the busyness of life stop you from keeping your body strong and healthy.

You're worth it - and I'm sure your loved ones think so, too! You CAN do it.

Teaching Kids to Eat Green

I absolutely LOVE this idea! This is a pilot program in NYC where students spend time in a garden planting their own plants. I know kids in our area get the opportunity in school to do the same thing. They reap and sow - and feel the intense pleasure of both. But not only do these kids get to harvest what they grow, they're also given lessons on how to prepare the food, too! They get to taste test and experiment.

Care to guess whether they enjoy vegetables more now?

How about adults trying this, too?! If you don't have access to your own garden, you can either plant in pots, or rent a plot of ground from a farmer or a food coop. You just might surprise yourself with how much more you eat of this food group than before!

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Break Your Weight-Loss Goals Into Manageable Chunks

I watched my teenager stuff her mouth so full of food, I was afraid she'd choke! Her cheeks were so packed that she could hardly chew! While it was funny, and we had a good laugh at her expense, it reminded me of goals. For this blog, we're talking weight loss and fitness goals. But goals are goals, regardless the subject area!

You see, a goal can seem huge, overwhelming, daunting and nearly impossible. We can psyche ourselves out and feel as if what we want to achieve is impossible. We might begin to wonder if we've bitten off more than we can chew. Yes, I think my analogy is becoming clear...

I'm currently a mother of many children, working a full-time job and taking two MBA classes this fall. There have been days, as I'm highlighting a textbook while working out on my elliptical machine at 11:00 p.m. at night, that I've wondered whether I've bitten off more than I can chew ... in over my head ... that MBA classes are the straw that broke the camel's back.

That's when I sit down and map out each little step I need to take to reach my final goal.

A large goal usually isn't met overnight with one event. It takes a series of events, repeated over and over and over, to finally attain your dream. For my classes, when I'm overwhelmed that I have 300 pages of text to read, one test, and a 25 page paper due in two weeks - I map out what I need to cover each day in order to finish in two weeks.

It's no different with your weight-loss goals! So you want to lose say, 50 pounds. Okay, does that sound like a huge amount? Overwhelming? Does your heart start palpitating when you think about how much that is? Take a deep breath. It's DOABLE! Yes, it is! But it won't happen overnight by eating healthy for only one day! I WISH!

No, it's going to take breaking that goal up into daily chunks that are manageable! For example: "I will walk for 30 minutes each day this week and eat three vegetable servings a day." Boom. You did it...you made a game plan for today that will get you closer to your goal! Instead of looking at 50 pounds, you've broken it down into something that will help you lose maybe 1 1/2 pounds this week.

Don't let the big picture scare you. While you have to plan for it, breathe and zero in on today. Then tomorrow. Then the next. Each day adds up until your goal is finally met.

You can do it!