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Tag: innovation weight loss and fitness

FitnessHealthy TipsLifestyle

Healthy Halloween Treats

When you’re faced with the constant push of Halloween candy, what can you do to still make the season fun but also healthy? There are so many fall treats and activities that you can enjoy with your family that can also help you stay on track for your weight loss goals. Everyone knows that pumpkin picking is an essential fall outing, but apple picking is also a great seasonal activity for families and groups where the reward is a healthy snack. Kids will love picking them, and it will make eating them a special occasion every time you’re looking for a snack afterwards. When it comes time to carve pumpkins, don’t just throw away the insides. Save the seeds and bake them in the oven for a tasty snack that is also full of antioxidants and minerals, like zinc. And getting them fresh from the pumpkin means no added salt.

 

Another fun snack to make with your kids is Halloween Trail mix. The basic ingredients are Cheerios, nuts, pretzels, raisins and a little bit of Candy Corn, but you can mix it up with whatever flavor Cheerios you like and any kind of nut, or nuts. You can also add some reduced fat popcorn to the mix. Another candy corn themed treat is a Candy Corn Fruit Cocktail. Just cut pineapples and oranges (or Clementine wedges) into bit-sized chucks, and then layer pineapple then orange in a see through cup with a little whipped cream on top.

 

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Don’t let the orange peels go to waste – you can use them to make Jack-O-Lantern Fruit Cups. Just cut off the top of the orange and hallow it out, then carve a face onto the orange like a Jack-O-Lantern and fill with the fresh fruit of your choosing, like strawberries, grapes and blueberries.

 

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Clementines also make perfect mini pumpkins if you peel them and keep them whole then add a piece of celery to the top as a stem. You can keep going with the fresh fruit with banana ghosts – just cut some bananas in half and add two chocolate chips for eyes and one for a mouth on each half near the end of the banana.

 

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A fun savory dish that could be a great dinner option is Halloween Stuffed Peppers. Simply carve a Jack-O-Lantern face onto the peppers and replaced the top after you carve out the seeds and then cook them as usual.

 

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These recipes are all about putting a healthy spin on Halloween snacks, but also about something more than food. Your kids may try something new, and be proud of something that they picked or made from scratch. It’s more than just unwrapping a piece of candy, you’re preparing something together and eating something you won’t feel guilty about. While it is important to remember to eat healthy, it is also important to enjoy this time with your family. And with these ideas you can do both.

 

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

 

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness

8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797

469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018

FitnessHealthy TipsLifestyleUncategorized

HALLOWEEN CANDY – DON’T BUY IT!

We’re barely a week into the month of October and already every store is filled with Halloween themed costumes, decorations and candy. While it may only hurt your wallet to give in to the first two, buying Halloween candy so early in the month will cost you more than just money. Even the bite-sized versions are packed with sugars and calories, and offer your body no nutritional value. Just think – If it wasn’t Halloween would you even consider buying this candy?

 

Avoid the “but it’s a holiday” excuse. If you start making excuses to buy it, you’re going to give in to your excuses to eat it. Just because it’s the special Halloween version that only comes out once a year, that doesn’t mean you should get it. Two weeks ago we discussed having tablespoon sized portions of your favorite holiday dishes and desserts on Rosh Hashanah because they only come around once a year. But this is not your family’s special recipe on a meaningful holiday. The Halloween candy is candy in a costume. It’s a great marketing tool that is meant to bring nostalgia. It represents your youth, and the comforts of your youth. A time when it was YOU who was once running around in the Halloween costume. The combination of the approaching Fall weather and the packaged Halloween candy can bring you back to a time when life was easy, fun and stress free. That’s a wonderful feeling, and I agree with the fun of the holiday, but not in the 2nd week of October. Halloween is one day, October 31st. Candy should be purchased the day before and celebrated the day of. Don’t make it longer than it really is.

 

It’s going to be difficult enough because without even buying the candy you will still come across plenty of it. Look around, Halloween candy is everywhere – in a bowl on every desk at the office, every counter at the bank, the nail and hair salon. It’s sitting next to every cash register and everywhere in between. You already work so hard to eat right and exercise, don’t sabotage yourself. The little slip ups add up very quickly. EVERYTHING COUNTS AND EVERYTHING MATTERS. Don’t let all your weight loss efforts go to waste over a candy bar that is dressed up in a Halloween Costume. Because when the costume is off, it’s really just a candy bar you can buy anytime of the year.

 

There are many healthy treats that you can buy and/or make with your family. Check the blog on Monday for some healthier Halloween treat ideas.

 

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

 

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness
8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797
469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018
FitnessHealthy TipsLifestyle

Free Month for Cancer Awareness

Far too many times I see women in my office who have not had a mammogram done out of fear of what they might find. They use the excuse that they are too busy, or say that they will go, but they are in no rush because they don’t have family history. I have news for everyone that doesn’t already know this – more than 50% of cancer today is environmental. You don’t have to have a family history to get cancer. But at the end of the day, more people do not go for the life saving test.  Your friends, neighbors, parents, sisters brothers etc. – they just don’t go. They don’t go for one reason – FEAR. The fear of finding something. We know when we go for any test annually that it’s only a matter of minutes that can change our life.  One test and we can become a cancer patient. Yes, I agree, that’s scary. But it’s even more scary to put it off and not know.

 

If you wait for symptoms your survival rate is less than half of what it is when you find it early. So while I know the fear of finding out something that can be life changing is terrifying, it is far more scary to not know and find out when it’s too late. After each year passes you have the elephant in the room growing because you know you didn’t go the year before. Every year will be scarier than the year before if you continue to push it aside. I speak from experience. I can tell you first hand that when you don’t go – it doesn’t stop growing. I know this because I lost my Mom at the age of 59 and my sister at the age of 51 both to cancer. Both very treatable conditions, but they refused to go to the doctor. Because of my mother’s death, my sister felt doomed. Instead of catching something very early and treating it, she let it grow to the point of no saving her. I have learned from their mistakes and go to every appointment I need to. But it doesn’t make me any less scared. I know every time the results I hear have the potential to be bad news. But I would rather know and deal with it, and God willing put it behind me, than not face it until it’s too late.

 

I’m no different than anyone else. I try and live as healthy as possible, in the hopes that my healthy lifestyle and low body fat will help me reduce my cancer risk, but I know it’s not a definite. What I do know to be definite is that if I find something early, I can hopefully treat it and my healthy lifestyle will help me recover faster than if I was unhealthy. I hope you can learn from my family’s mistakes and go and get checked. Not just for breast cancer, but all cancers. Because of our environment, it’s important that we have testing for all cancers annually – age accordingly. If you know you have a family history go early. If you don’t have a family history, check with your doctor for what testing you should be having for your age.

 

Because I feel so strongly about this and because I see first hand so many women who just “don’t make the time” to go…. I am offering my annual FREE MONTH FOR CANCER AWARENESS. Come in with ANY CANCER SCREENING TEST REPORT (MAMMOGRAM, COLONOSCOPY, OBGY OVARIAN, PANCREATIC, TESTICULAR, ETC) that you had completed in the month of October 2014 and we will add a free month on to your existing membership or new membership. Do it for you! Do it for the ones you love! Do it for the ones that love you! FACE IT. DEAL WITH IT.…….IT’S THE ONLY CHANCE YOU HAVE OF BEATING IT.

 

~ LOVE TO LIVE HEALTHY 2014

 

Josephine Fitzpatrick
Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness
8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797
469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018
FitnessHealthy TipsLifestyle

Tips for A Healthy Fast

This weekend is the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, which means atoning for the sins of the past year by refraining from eating and drinking, among other things, for 25 hours. Though it is possible to safely fast for this amount of time physically, mentally it might prove difficult. After our body has finished digesting our last meal, our brain will send out signals of hunger. Dealing with that feeling can get you through the day, but it is the lack of water that can really affect your body. Water can’t be stored like glycogen, a resource that our body gets from food that we use for energy. We are constantly losing water every day, and that is why it is especially important to saturate yourself with water before you fast to help lighten the effects of dehydration such a headaches.

 

Drinking plenty of water is one of a few ways to prepare yourself for the fast. If you are a big coffee or soda drinker, or anything with a lot of caffeine, start cutting down on these drinks now and for the rest of the week. Being dehydrated on top of being deprived of caffeine will only make the head aches worse and can even cause nausea.

 

On the morning of the fast, which begins at sundown, try something high in fiber and protein like fruit and Greek yogurt for breakfast. For lunch, go for something high in protein and low in sodium like an egg white omelette with vegetables or fresh turkey over salad. Throughout the day watch your sodium intake, it will just make you thirstier. So when you have vegetables skip the salt and butter and go easy on the spices. For your final meal, continue with low sodium and high fiber foods. The fiber will help keep you full longer. Some options are roasted chicken, sweet potato, and beans (not from a can, which usually already has salt added – prepare them yourself). It is important to keep this last meal light even though you may want to eat as much as you can. A stuffed stomach will send hunger signals sooner. Also remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day.

 

Once the fast is over, you are going to feel hungry and very, very thirsty but do not over do it. Drinking cup after cup of water right after you break the fast will dilute your blood without giving your body time to adjust and may cause you to feel dizzy. Instead, slowly sip one cup of water then start to snack on something like grapes or an apple. Take it slow, then you can fully enjoy your celebratory meal.

 

Have an easy fast!

 

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

 

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness
8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797
469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018
FitnessHealthy TipsLifestyle

How to Enjoy Your Favorite Dishes During the Holidays

The first of many Jewish holidays this season begins tonight and with it comes several things to look forward to: family gatherings, celebration and traditional foods. Whether this is apples and honey, challah bread or Grandma’s special kugel, here are some tips to enjoying this holiday feast.

 

Start with tasting. Put one tablespoon of any dish you want to try or know you love on your plate. We all know what a tablespoon sized scoop looks like, so be honest with yourself. It may not look like enough but it’s the right place to start. Be more generous with the healthier options you find. Eat the healthier foods first and then go for the heavy dishes and special treats. Saving the best for last can help you eat more of the right foods and you may even skip the less healthy foods you always tell yourself you have to eat. Think of it as a taste testing – if something wasn’t as good as you always remember, at least you only had a tablespoon. And if there was something you really enjoyed and you won’t see again for another year, help yourself to an extra tablespoon. For many of you this may be a two-night holiday so you have to commit to staying in control on not one but two nights. You are the one who controls what foods – and how much – go on your plate.

 

If you find that you don’t want to finish something, remember that it’s okay to leave food on your plate. Take your time and listen to your stomach. Though you may think your stomach is always telling you “More, more!” you might realize that just a taste of certain dishes is all you need. You have to do what’s right for you. People may notice your small portions and insist you take more, and they may see your half eaten plate and say you should finish, but you can’t give in to the pressure to please other people, even if they’re the ones who cooked it. It is important to stay in control especially in social situations when food becomes personal. Stay strong and stay in control!

 

But like we said in the beginning, the food is just one part of this holiday for you to enjoy. Focus on the time you spend with your family and the significance of this holiday: hope for a sweet future and being thankful for the year that is coming to an end. Whether you are celebrating tonight or not, let this be an opportunity to appreciate how far you have come and recommit to your goals.

 

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

 

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness
8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 10018
469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018