Wellness Weekly

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! here comes the TEMPTATION, the first of a series of waistline hating holidays is all but upon us. How are we supposed to stay on track with wellness and health consciousness with all this temptation? A few articles from weightwatchers.com have GREAT suggestions, a strategy for almost every type of craver!
Explore weightwatchers.com if these ideas dont suit your needs, the site is an amaizing source of stay fit and healthy strategies!


www.weightwatchers.com
Forget the haunted house; the spookiest Halloween specter is the candy. We show you how to deal.
Resist the sales"My biggest Halloween challenge is not falling for the coupon in the paper," says Linda. "A 5-pound bag of Snickers on sale is still a 5-pound bag of Snickers."
Buy late"The closer to Halloween you buy the candy, the better," says Maggie. "In fact," she says, "never, ever open the bag before the first trick-or-treater comes." That way, you'll have less total temptation time to cope with.
Buy candy you don't like Dina says she heads straight for Mounds and Almond Joy when she has to pick up the Halloween candy. "Coconut is the one thing I don't like," she says.
Make up a game plan If you decide to go for the mini Reese's that the kids will love you for, says Maggie, "Start giving out more as the night wears on, so there's less left over." If there are still remainders, get them out of the house. Give the candy away to a food charity, collect it all and offer it to the neighbors, or bring it to work (and drop it off in a different department).
Go out on a full stomach If you have to walk your kids around to trick-or-treat, make lunch your big meal of the day, so you're not walking around hungry with bags full of candy. Carry a thermos of something hot to sip on, or, as Manhattan meetings Leader Liz Josefsberg says, chew mint gum throughout the night. It’ll help kill your urge to put candy in your mouth.
Come up with a candy strategy When the candy's at home, work with your kids to decide what to do with it. Have them pick their 10 favorite pieces: If they're young, encourage them to leave the rest out for "The Great Pumpkin." And if they're too big to believe, encourage them to save the rest for lunches and parties.
Freeze! Liz suggests putting left-over favorite candy in the freezer. If you get weak and find yourself digging into them, they will be rock solid and it will take time to get through even one.
Ditch the sense of occasion Remind yourself that you can buy yourself candy any time of the year. There's no need to load up on fun-size bars on October 31 when you can enjoy them whenever your heart desires.
Keep things in perspective Eating a little bit of candy on Halloween doesn't make a person overweight — it's constant overeating that can pile on the pounds. So don't assume you can't enjoy even a single treat, especially since deprivation is a dieting tactic that often backfires.


www.weightwatchers.com
The Halloween Face-Off
Article By: Diana Kelly


Do you find chocolate bats scarier than the real deal? Do you scamper shrieking from marshmallow ghosts? We can help.
Those sugar-covered demons elicit knee-knocking fear in plenty of weight-conscious adults each year. What’s a sweets-loving Weight Watchers follower (or non-weightwatchers follower) to do about the mounds of candy everywhere they turn? Our Community users share their advice, fears and strategies for how to manage this upcoming fright fest.
“I’m keeping candy out of reach.”this user says, “No Halloween candy comes into this house before October 31.”
Be a chocolate snob. some users don't have it in their house until almost Halloween. “If I'm going to eat chocolate it's going to be really good chocolate.”
This community user tries to buy the kinds of candy the family doesn’t like. “I think we are going to a party this year, so I might not even have to buy any. Just have to save POINTS® values for the alcohol...”
this user says, “My husband bought 12 bags of Halloween candy last night, they were on sale for $1.88 a bag. I want to kill him because every one of them is something I love. I asked him to hide away the bags so I don't finish them before Halloween.”
To avoid the candy temptation, another community user buys individual wrapped fruit snacks, pencils, and pre-wrapped sugar cookies. She say’s they’re all popular in her neighborhood. “[My son’s] candy from trick-or-treating is divided, chocolate goes in the freezer; other candy is put in a container and stored high where I cannot get to it. Any candy that my family doesn’t eat before Christmas gets boxed and given to our church with mini stockings we make for the homeless.”
“The ‘fun sizes’ do me in.”this user says, “Candy corn doesn't do it to me...it’s all those minis that they put out around this time. I think, ‘Oh, I can have two or three mini Twix,’ then the next thing you know, the bag is gone and I’m scrambling for raisins to give to the kids banging on my door.”
This community user says, “I am worried about Halloween, there is so much temptation in the stores. For the past [few] Halloweens I've eaten probably about six to eight ‘fun size’ candies every day! I am hoping to stick to my ‘have-to-have candy’ back up — eight Sour Patch Kids!”

“I’m winning the battle against enticing treats.”one user says “I was at Target tonight and made it all the way up to the registers with a huge bag of bite-size candy bars. I put it back just in the nick of time, went home and had a glass of white wine and an orange. It was much better than seven mini candy bars.”

Another says she has seven kids and an enormous amount of candy in her house after the holiday. “I am totally terrified of Halloween. I love candy… Maybe I will just adopt this simple mantra from another user: ‘Halloween candy is for kids.’ We'll see how effective it is for me.”

This user shares her “me-time” strategy she's adopted over the past few years. “I don't have little kids anymore so it may not work for everyone, but I work all day, then go out to dinner at a restaurant and order a low POINTS® value meal. I take my time eating. If it's still early I go shopping. I stay out until kids are done trick-or-treating so there’s no temptation.”

Wellness Weekly

We are in the THICK OF IT!! The Fall semester is upon us and who here on campus isn't feeling it?! Check out this article from Weightwatchers.com on making quick and tastey meals in little time, by shopping right and getting a little creative in the kitchen!



Shortcut Cooking
Article By: Leslie Fink, MS, RD


Don't have time to baste, broil and bake? Don't worry! We've got tricks that'll help you turn convenience foods into memorable meals — in minutes.
If you're sick of takeout and too tired to spend an hour in the kitchen, we have simple and tasty solutions for you. Many convenience foods can be easily doctored up so that your meals taste like home cooking — but involve far less effort.

Shortcut strategies
-Purchase dried bean, rice and pasta mixes with flavor packets so that you don't have to measure out lots of spices and seasonings. (Buy reduced-sodium varieties if you're following a low-salt diet.)

-Eliminate slicing and dicing with packages of fresh or frozen vegetables that are already cleaned and chopped or shredded.

-Take home a whole roasted chicken to make a quick chicken salad, burrito or wrap.

-Use canned and dehydrated soups as bases for heartier soups and stews.

Short on time, long on flavor Jodie Shield, MEd, RD, recipe developer and nutrition consultant to The Chicago Tribune, shares some of her super-fast meal ideas below. A few more tips come from Bev Bennett, cookbook author and weight-loss columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
For quick jambalaya, stir-fry salad-size shrimp, diced low-fat Italian sausage and chopped bell pepper. Combine with a cooked Cajun-style rice mix until well blended.
One-dish pasta entrées make simple family meals. Try adding chopped broccoli and diced lean ham to a cooked reduced-fat macaroni-and-cheese mix. Or make a vegetarian version with chopped fresh tomatoes and lightly steamed asparagus tips.
Feed a crowd with a wild rice-turkey casserole: Stir-fry leftover turkey breast, chopped broccoli and dried cranberries; combine with a cooked wild-rice mix.
Go vegetarian with black bean burritos. Stir-fry diced onions and combine them with canned black beans (rinsed and drained) and a cooked rice mix. Layer down the center of tortillas, top with salsa and low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, roll up, and bake until heated through and the tortillas are slightly browned.
Add a dash of lime juice, hot sauce and a cup of chopped cooked chicken breast to canned chicken soup. Sprinkle with cilantro and you've got hot-and-sour soup in a jiffy.
Slice and arrange store-bought, precooked polenta in a 9-inch square pan; top with soy-based chorizo and a little tomato sauce. Bake until just heated through, and you'll be dining Italian-style with almost no effort.
For even speedier meals and snacks from your own kitchen, check out 13 great no-cook ideas in The No-Time-to-Cook Guide.

Wellness Weekly

Get Fit this fall...if your just looking to lose a few or you want to redefine yourself ENTIRELY, check out this link and surf around. There is so much that can be done, and you will find guidance and help here!

http://www.fitclick.com/free_workout_routine_The_Ultimate_Beginner_Plan?CustomerWorkoutID=7135

Also...Choosing the right cardio can be a pain...here are some helpful explainations of a few favorite cardio choices...

Which Are the Cardio Workouts to Lose a Lot of Weight?

If you need to lose weight you are not alone. Over 2/3 of Americans are classified as medically obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Losing weight takes a commitment to eating fewer calories and exercising regularly. Choose an effective cardiovascular exercise like running, bicycling or walking to burn calories and lose weight.
Running
Running burns a lot of calories and requires little equipment. Begin a running program slowly and plan on exercising three to four days per week. At the beginning of each session, spend five minutes walking to slowly warm up, then alternate jogging with walking until you build your cardiovascular and muscular endurance. Once you are able to run for 30 minutes at a time, you will be burning between 250 and 350 calories, depending on your body weight.

Bicycling
A publication from the Harvard Medical school shows that bicycling at a rate of 14 to 15.9 mph for 30 minutes burns between 300 and 444 calories. Ride a bicycle outside, or use a recumbent stationary bicycle. As with running, begin slowly and work hard to increase your distance and speed as your fitness level improves. Remember to combine your cardio exercises with healthy food choices to lose weight.
High Intensity Interval Training
High intensity interval training, or HIIT, is a high calorie-burn workout that is effective whether you are a runner, a swimmer, a walker or a biker. A HIIT workout alternates periods of high and regular intensity effort to burn extra calories and improve your cardiovascular fitness faster. When running for exercise, sprint for 60 seconds, then run at your regular pace for five minutes. Repeat the intervals for the duration of your workout, making sure to cool-down after you are done. You should do HIIT one to two times per week.
Walking
You may not associate walking with a cardio workout to lose a lot of weight, but according to a publication by the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, "mile for mile, running and walking burn approximately the same number of calories. But minute for minute, the faster your speed, the more calories you burn, giving running the calorie-burning edge." Running burns calories more quickly, but brisk walking for the same distance will give you the same calorie burn with little stress on your joints. Practice walking faster by walking tall, swinging your arms and rotating your lower body slightly as your walk.Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/145238-which-are-the-cardio-workouts-to-lose-a-lot-of-weight/?utm_source=octobernewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=101005#ixzz12iveMxHo


Hope your find something inspiring!! I sure did!!
~be-well

How to Grow Culinary Herbs

Thank you Evelyne from Ladbug Herbs for sharing your knowledge on growing seeds on October 7th in the Dewey Campus Center. Several staff members participated in the workshop and planted their own mini indoor gardens. I'm watching the two types of basil, thyme and oregano grow on my kitchen counter!