Are you overloaded with work, family and personal demands, often rushing to adhere to a stressful "24/7" schedule? If so, your everyday meal solutions don't need to come from drive-through windows or Styrofoam take-out boxes. Even with a busy lifestyle, you can put nutritious meals on your dinner table with ease. Being time-starved doesn't mean you have to sacrifice nutrition. A few small changes in your meal and snack strategies can yield positive results.

Shop Smart

Supermarkets today offer an array of partially prepared products and other kitchen "shortcuts." When you're busy, you can still put good nutrition on your table without doing all the time-consuming preparation yourself.

Keep fresh lettuce on hand and then add nutrient-rich extras: grated cheese; bite-size grilled chicken, tofu, or chopped hard-boiled eggs; cut-up vegetables; sliced apples, pears, or berries; toasted nuts or seeds. (Keep a variety of salad dressings on hand for variation.

Add your own flair to "ready-to-prepare" dishes: add diced lean ham, chicken breast, or chopped carrots, broccoli or tomatoes to cooked macaroni and cheese; chopped dried fruit or nuts to rice; sliced red and green peppers, mushrooms, and broccoli florets to a good quality frozen pizza.

Flavor your protein with prepared sauces and spreads: barbecue, steak or teriyaki sauce on pork chops, chicken breasts, burgers, or fish steaks; hummus as a sandwich spread; salsas for quick tacos or quesadillas; pasta-ready or pizza-ready herbed tomato sauces.

Use any oil-vinegar based dressing as a vegetable, meat, poultry or seafood marinade.

Do It Ahead

When you're doing it all yourself, it's best to do it ahead. Spend some kitchen time on nights or weekends for easy meal prep during the week.

Plan - Keep an ongoing shopping list so you always have nutritious, easy-to-prepare ingredients on hand.

Pre-prep when you can. Put breakfast cereal and bowls on the table or put together a packed lunch the night before. Assemble tomorrow's casserole while you clean up from tonight's dinner. Wash and slice raw veggies ahead so they're ready for snacking, salads, or a stir-fry.

Make double or triple batches. With soup, stew, salads (i.e., pasta salad or chicken salad), sauce, or whole grains, such as rice, you can make enough at a time for several meals. Or prepare two casseroles at a time - one for now, one to freeze for later.

Cook once for two different dishes/meals. For example, grill enough chicken breasts for dinner tonight and for lunch tomorrow. Prepare hearty vegetable soup on Sunday; add chicken or beans and rice for variation on Tuesday. Cook plenty of pasta - some for tonight's primavera, some for tomorrow's pasta salad.

Something about a 20 minute workout having the same impact as a typical long winded session at the gym really appeals to me. Fast Fitness that targets all the major muscle groups, makes me sweat, torches tons of calories, boosts my overall metabolic rate and still leaves me time for a shower? Where do I sign up? I'm talking of course about HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training.

How does this miraculous sounding workout get powerful results? The answer is in the science behind it all. The goal of HIIT is to hold an anaerobic state over an accumulated amount of time. It's designed with rest intervals to allow you to do longer and harder bursts during your workout. For example, if you were to sprint for 100 meters, you would go full out for about 15 seconds (depending how fast you were). Compare this to a HIIT workout. 5 minutes is generally spent with warm up and cool down (essential for preventing injuries & not over-working your heart!), and 15 is spent with the workout. Of the 15; 4-8 minutes will be spent in those bursts or sprints - depending on your fitness level.

Here are some basic tips to get you started with your HIIT:

Its intense.
You will zap more calories during the workout, and it will increase your metabolic rate. Be sure to eat about ½ an hour before your workout - something light and energizing!

Take a break.
HIIT should only be done every other day at the most. Doing HIIT every day will overtax your body, and could zap energy. It works best for burning calories and increasing strength when your body has a day between workouts to rebuild.

Try something new.
There is a variety of workouts you can do with HIIT. The point is to incorporate intervals. The most effective is jogging with sprints, but you can try intervals on the bike, elliptical machine, jump roping, swimming, and more.

Mix it up.
The point of High Intensity Interval Training is to avoid the plateau and keep your body on its toes. Sticking to one HIIT routine will bore your body and start to decrease in effectiveness. Mix up the pace or interval of your bursts, or switch the type of workout you do your intervals with.

Raise your heart rate. To be effectively doing HIIT, you want your heart rate at or above 80% of its maximum rate during your bursts. The regular periods should be a jogging pace.

High Intensity Interval Training is sure to be a challenge to anyone, and will definitely give you the results you want in no time at all - while leaving you plenty of room for all the other things in your life!

By now, you have seen countless articles promising you an easy way to flat abs, or seven exercises that will create flat abs in just three weeks. The truth is that these are simply lies. Yes, exercising your abdominals will help you to create flatter more toned stomach, but the key word here is "help." In order to actually decrease the size of your abs you have to lose the fat that is covering them. Here are some of the more basic principles behind the real way to lose inches and increase muscle tone:

Cardio workouts: in order to burn fat, you need to raise your heart rate for sustained periods of time.

Only work your abs in the direction you wish them to go: If you do crunches by forcing your abs out, you effectively train those muscles to protrude. Instead, do exercises that focus on pulling your abs back toward your spine.

Work in all three directions: do a variety of ab exercises that bend you forward, laterally and diagonally (twisting).

Focus on posture: stand up straight and pull your abs in; bad posture can contribute heavily to a belly pooch.

Check your diet: if you are eating a lot of gas-producing foods or eating on the run (which causes most people to chew and swallow too quickly) some of the stomach bloat you notice may be the result of your body working to digest food or passing gas through the GI tract. You should also avoid high-fat foods at all costs.

Lower your stress: studies have shown that the body, when under stress, stores more fat cells in the belly. Avoid activities - such as smoking and not getting enough sleep - that increase cortisol in the body.

Work all your muscles: your body is like a machine in which all components work together to perform. You should never focus on strength-training only one muscle group. For example, well developed back muscles are essential to strong abdominal muscles.

Achieving flat abs comes down to three things: getting plenty of cardiovascular exercise, doing full-body strength training that includes a variety of ab exercises, and adopting a healthy diet.

Avocado salad made with cucumber, carrots, cauliflower, and mushrooms is a tasty filling for pita bread, and makes for a low fat, high energy lunch.

Ingredients:

1 avocado, halved and peeled
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped cauliflower
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup cubed low-fat Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup low-fat Italian dressing
4 whole wheat pita pockets
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped tomato

Preparation:

Dice half the avocado. Reserve other half.
Gently toss diced avocado, cucumber, carrot, cauliflower, mushrooms, and cheese with Italian dressing.
Slit pita breads and separate halfway around by pulling edges apart to form a pocket. Fill each with 1/4 of the mixture.
Mash remaining avocado with fork and stir in lemon juice and tomato. Spoon into each sandwich.
Yield: 4 pocket sandwiches

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Portion Control
If you are eating healthy and still not shedding the weight, you may be eating too much. No matter how healthy your selections are, weight loss boils down to calories consumed and expended. To get a handle on the calories you are consuming, know what a serving size looks like – its much easier than measuring it!
This should get you started:

1 serving size of:
Meat (3 oz) = a deck of cards
Fruit (1/2 cup) = a med. Sized piece, or the size of a fist
Vegetables (1/2 cup) = Size of a baseball, for a cup, or 1 medium piece
Rice, Beans, Pasta (1/2 cup) = Rounded handful
Fish (3 oz) = Checkbook
Peanut Butter (2 Tbsp) = a golf ball
Chips/crackers/fries = the size of your palm – disclude your fingers
Drinks (8 oz) = most glasses are 12 oz, so stop filling it up all the way.

Check packaging as well. Breads that are loaded with sugary ingredients will have a higher caloric content per slice, and you’ll be more likely to consume more. Go for low calorie, high fiber options for a more controlled, and still satisfying portion.



H2Oh!
Water is critical to our survival, but beyond that, most people don't think too much about their hydration levels. Sadly, many of us are chronically dehydrated. , The average person requires 64 ounces of water a day for optimal functioning, but this requirement increases with exercise as well as other factors like heat and humidity.
Here are some easy tips to keep you easily hydrated:

H2O to Go: Combat dehydration by having on-the-go water containers to take with you anywhere. Having a hands-free system, water bottle, or similar portable water container on hand will give you easy access to drink throughout the day

Have a Reminder: Set your watch, PDA or timer; or try wearing 8 rubber bands, removing one per 8 ounces of water consumed. Having a reminder throughout the day will keep you consuming the requsite amount of water evenly throughout the day.

Drink before you feel thirsty. Thirst is not an accurate indicator of hydration. By the time you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

Watch for signs of dehydration: Fatigue, headache, nausea, and light-headedness are all indications of dehydration. Feeling lethargic? Go for water, not coffee.

Workouts: Drink approximately two cups of water in the two hours before exercising, then drink an additional 1/2-3/4 cups for every 15 minutes of activity.

Remember, Water is the best fluid for staying hydrated during exercise sessions of less than one hour. Sports Drinks are great for longer sessions, but the sugar and sodium can deplete your fluid levels overall, so be sure to drink plenty of water as well!


Relaxing for Self-Confidence
When people experience stress, they often start to feel like they're losing control of the situation, which undermines their confidence. Most of us have felt this way and will probably feel it again--it's all a part of being alive and interacting with your world. But when it gets to be too much to handle, try adopting some healthy habits. Here are some relaxation tips to help you feel grounded and confident again:

1. Take a break from what you're working on and do something different for a while. If you're in a high stress environment, leave for a short walk if you can. Take some deep breaths and clear your head before returning.

2. Play relaxing background music while you work. Some people prefer classical music or sounds from nature, but your idea of "relaxing" music may be different, and that's ok.

3. Slow your breathing and focus on relaxing your body.

4. Take a hot bath or shower to release tension in your muscles. If you can't do that, go to the bathroom and wash your hands in warm water, massaging them up and down the arms. Take deep breaths and focus on the warmth and feeling the release in your hands.

5. Light a calming aromatherapy candle or get some oils with relaxing scents that you like.

6. Practice mindfulness - being present in the moment - so that you are in tune with your mind and body and can detect the subtle changes as you relax. Start by spending 5 minutes a day just sitting quietly, noticing the sights, sounds, and sensations you are experiencing. When you are aware of what your body is reacting to and what it needs, you will be better equipped to deal with stress and may possibly even prevent it altogether.
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