Hey, I just wanted to send out an early reminder that day light savings time is a week from today.

Yep next Saturday you are going to need to move your clocks ahead 1 hour. It is actually next Sunday, but the time change happens at 2:00am so most people take care of it on Saturday. For those of you who do not partake in daylight savings, you should probably just do nothing… Yep nothing.

I gotta be honest with you all about daylight savings. This day is in my top three days of the year. I LOVE IT! Now the only negative there is about next Saturday is that you lose an hour of sleep, BUT… gaining an extra hour of daylight is the greatest thing in the world. I love having as much daylight as possible. Where I live in the winter it gets dark as early as 4:30 pm. Sometimes I go to work when it is dark and come home when it is dark, but in the summer it stays light until close to 10pm for a while. I love that.

I am going to celebrate this wonderful day by going on a few hikes and getting my mountain bike out for the first time this year.

Anyway this is your first reminder of daylight savings.

It is Friday and it is finally sunny here in the great state of Washington. Here in WA, more precisely Seattle, we do not get a whole lot of sunny weather. Especially this time of year. So when the sun comes out people flock outside. And that is exactly what I am going to do today.

I am heading out to a local climb here in the area called Poo Poo Point. It is known as one of the best hang-gliding and para-gliding locations in the nation. It is a pretty easy 2 mile hike up to a gorgeous few of the Issaquah valley. If you get lucky you can actually watch some guys jump of the hill with their parachutes on.

I’m looking forward to just getting outside and enjoying the nice whether. I decided not to do an extreme climb today, because this will be my first time out this year, that is the weathers fault, but it should be beautiful.

I have some big plans this summer, one to hike the Enchantments again(did that for the first time last year), and perhaps to a few day 30-40 mile backpack trip through Yellowstone. Hopefully I can make that one happen.

So I’ve been doing my 10 minute trainer daily exercises, going to start the chalean extreme here really soon, but I am looking forward to getting outside to exercise.

So enough typing on this here computer. I am going OUTSIDE!

If it is sunny where you live then I hope that you will join me in an outdoor activity this weekend.

- Nick

By Joe Wilkes

The big news in nutrition this past week was a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study covered cookbook recipes over the last several decades (with emphasis on recipes in The Joy of Cooking), and it was discovered that calorie counts have gone up dramatically as authors have increased portion sizes to conform to new cultural norms. Where the 1936 edition of the kitchen classic averaged 268 calories per serving, the most recent 2006 edition averaged 384 calories. Lower costs of food and larger plate sizes are theorized as part of the reason for the increase, but nutritionist Marion Nestle says that mainly it’s just a reflection of people becoming accustomed to eating more and more overall. What can we do to monitor and control portion sizes? Here are some ideas . . .

Small Portion of Food, Water, and Food Storage Containers

1. Downsize your plate. One issue the study pointed out is that the average plate size has grown over the years, and the amount of food served on those plates has kept pace with that increase. Instead of breaking out the big dinner plate, try eating your dinner off a salad or dessert plate. The smaller plate will make the amount of food look larger by proportion, a visual cue which will trick your brain into thinking you’re eating more. You can also trade in your big dinner fork for a more petite salad fork, which will slow down any shoveling behavior that might occur at the dinner table.
2. Divide and conquer. When you’re cooking more than one serving of something, immediately store the prospective leftovers in single-serving containers. By putting out the entire dish, you run the risk of there not being any leftovers at the end of the meal. Depending on what the meal is, I divide my food onto two plates—one for that meal and one for lunch the next day. And as a side benefit, this can help you tighten your wallet while you tighten your waistline.
3. Count it down. If you eat your reasonably sized portion of food in the dining room/living room/den/bedroom/bathroom, etc., and leave the leftovers in the kitchen, it will make this next step a lot easier. Here’s the scenario: You’ve finished your first portion, and yet you still want more. This is far from atypical, especially if the big plate of leftovers is sitting in front of you, tempting you, calling to you—maybe just a half a spoonful or maybe just a pick at the serving platter with your fork (just the good parts, of course). That couldn’t possibly have more calories, right? Wrong. The calories from the food you sneak in after you finish eating are as potent as the calories from the food you’re served. The good news is that if you can hold off, you won’t be hungry for long.

   After you have a decent-sized portion of food, it takes your brain about 20 minutes to get the message from your stomach that you’re full. So try this: Before you reach for seconds, glance at the clock on the wall or your wristwatch. Spend the next 20 minutes chatting with your dining companions, or if you’re eating alone, check out the newspaper, read a magazine article, or play along with a round of Jeopardy on TV. Then, after 20 minutes, see if you’re still starving for another bowl full of whatever. Chances are that your cravings will have disappeared. If they haven’t, maybe you do still need a little more food to achieve satiety. Review what you ate before, and if the calorie count seems low, treat yourself to a little extra. Or, if the calorie count seems about right or high for a regular meal and you’re still hungry, fill up on some low-cal veggies or have a big glass of water. Sometimes it’s easy to confuse thirst for hunger.

4. Embrace your inner child. And we don’t mean have candy for dinner . . . When you’re on the road or out for dinner, don’t be ashamed to look at the kids’ menu. As the adult menu has been supersized to gluttonous proportions, the children’s menu often has the most nutritious options. Check out Debbie Siebers’ portion-control tips below, and you’ll see that oftentimes the amount of food in a kids’ meal is just the right amount for an adult watching his or her figure. Not to mention, if you play your cards right, there could be a free toy in it for you. Out of the mouths of babes . . .
5. Sharing is good. And while we’re getting lessons from the small set, how about sharing? If you’re a foodie like me, the hardest part about eating out is passing up all the goodies you want to try on the menu. Instead of ordering too much for yourself, strategize with your fellow diners about how you can maximize the variety of the food instead of the quantity. Most restaurants will be more than happy to provide you with extra small plates so you can split dishes. And make sure you actually split them! Don’t dine out with your friend who survives on a nibble here or there and split two dishes; you’ll end up eating 80 percent of the food on the table while he or she makes do with a couple of forkfuls. In case you ever wondered how Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi keeps her model physique while judging up to 12 meals a week, the secret is that she doesn’t eat everything. Also, when you’re figuring out how to eat family-style, make sure that at least one of the dishes is a healthy salad, a non-cream-based soup, or a vegetable dish. That way you and your family can get full without getting fat.
6. Learn your weights and measurements. As anyone who’s a regular reader of this newsletter knows, we’re always going on and on about reading labels. And as important as the calorie, carb, protein, and fat numbers is the serving size. This is where the corporate food interests get you a lot of the time, by adjusting the serving size downward to make the nutritional numbers look a little better. As anyone who’s recently spent a Saturday night alone with the TV can tell you, the estimate of four servings in a pint of Ben and Jerry’s or Häagen-Dazs is wildly optimistic. Whereas the label would indicate a 300-calorie serving, keep in mind that the entire container has 1,200 calories. And since most of the containers taper downward, eating what appears to be half of the container can actually amount to two-thirds.

It’s definitely too much of a hassle to weigh and measure everything you put in your body every day. Even the most anal-retentive people among us don’t have the time to be hauling out the scale and measuring cups for every meal. But it’s worth it to at least familiarize yourself with a few standard weights and measures. Try learning what an ounce, a gram, and a tablespoon, etc., look like. That way you can at least eyeball how much you’re eating. I’ve yet to meet the person who can make a typical bag of potato chips last for twelve servings.

Handy Portion-Control Guide
By Debbie Siebers, creator of Slim in 6

To achieve weight loss, it’s crucial to really understand what a portion is. Here’s a trick: use your hand as a guideline to portion sizes.

Palm = Proteins

Make protein portions the size of your palm. Protein is found in animal products, like fish, meats, and cottage cheese. Some veggie sources include legumes (beans, etc.), tofu, tempeh, and wheat glutens.

Thumb = Fats

Fats are important but also very dense, so match portions to the size of your thumb. Good fat sources are avocados, olive oil, nuts, and seeds.

Fist = Fruits, Grains, etc.

Your bread, fruit, cereal, rice, and grain portions should be about equal to the size of your
closed fist. Remember that whole grains are always preferred.

Hand = Veggies

Open your hand and spread your fingers as wide as you can. That is a good vegetable portion. Raw vegetables are loaded with fiber and nutrients, and contain very few calories.

ChaLEAN Extreme – P90X Workout – P90X Plus – Power 90 Workout – 10 Minute Trainer – Shaun T – Ab Workout – Turbo Jam

One instrument that you may want to use when you are walking or even running is a pedometer. This is a gadget that can not only measure how far you have walked, but also how many calories you have burned. Some of the pedometers that are on the market today also will monitor the heart rate of the person using them. This can be beneficial when using the instrument to lose weight.

Walking, speed walking, jogging and running are all excellent forms of cardiovascular exercise that work well to burn off calories. These activities can be performed just about anywhere that there is wide open space. What is more, these are all free activities as you can walk outside without having to pay gym fees. The trouble with using this form of exercise is that it can be hard to figure out how far you have walked or how many calories you have burned.

When you are working out, it is always good to have a goal in mind, or a carrot to chase, so to speak. The pedometer gives you that goal. You can use it on a daily basis to see your progress. It is a good idea to push yourself a little bit more each day when you are exercising so that you can continue to pursue your goal. By using a pedometer, you can have an idea of how far you are going each day as well as how many calories you are burning off.

In addition to using the pedometer when you are out walking and running, you can also use it when you are using a treadmill. While most treadmills will give you this information on a computerized screen, if you have a treadmill that does not give you the information that you need to keep you in your regimen.

You can also use the pedometer if you are walking during an outing. It can be a good way to tell you how many calories you have burned off during a day at the zoo or the museum. If you want to know how many miles you have walked or run, or how many calories you have burned, you should invest in a pedometer. This can be a valuable tool when you are trying to stay in shape.

ChaLEAN Extreme – P90X Workout – P90X Plus – Power 90 Workout – 10 Minute Trainer – Shaun T – Ab Workout – Turbo Jam

Have you ever seen an interview with like a 105 year old man that says, “Yeah I’ve been smoking for 75 years, and have only eaten 3 salads in the last decade. And there ain’t a single thing wrong with me.”

I’m thinking WHAT!? How do people get so lucky in life? (Cause those type of people are out there.) Here is someone that didn’t take the best care of their body, didn’t eat right, smoked, probably didn’t exercise a whole lot, and here they are over 100 years old with no major health issues. Well I am here to tell you today that that person is the EXCEPTION.

Long life, and more importantly, a healthy life is not something that just lands in your lap. You need to take care of your body in order to help it work correctly for a long time. Like a well taken care of car.

A healthy diet, and a consistent exercise regiment is probably the most effective and most important practical thing you can do in your life to extend it and live it in good health.

It is never to late to start. There are 40, 50, and 60 year old men and women that have cut the pounds and got into the best shape of their life. So no matter what age you are, start eating healthy, exercise regularly and your future will be bright and long.

The 10 Minute Trainer by Tony Horton is an incredible daily exercise that only takes 10 minutes. If you have a little more time on your hands try the PX90 or the chalean extreme.