My Week 26th June- Week 26- This Weeks Meeting Book

My Week- 26th June

Habits for a Healthy Weight
Successful slimmers have healthy habits in common.  Want to know what they are?

1.  Tracking- Writing down everything that passes your lips brings awareness to what and how much you are eating.  It's the most effective way of thinking about food choices

2.  Regular Exercise- Research shows that exercise not only aids weight loss, it helps keep it off as well.  Make exercise a part of your daily routine.

3.  Portion Control- Measuring and weighing your portions in order to get the correct Propoints value is an essential part of effective tracking.  

4.  Sort your surroundings- Organise your home and work environments to support the food choices that will help you lose weight.

5.  Plan ahead- Planning ahead healthy meals and ensuring you have all the ingredients on hand, helps keep you on track.

6.  Moderation - Learning the art of flexible restraint is important for weigh loss.


Warm Up with a hot cup

Hot choc o'clock
Chocolate is probably the best known mood food thought to trigger the release of endorphins.  Endorphins are natural opiates in the brain know to block pain and produce euphoric feelings.  Just remember you can have too much of a good thing.

Smart switch- Ditch the grande hot chocolate with whipped cream and syrup
Go for- A teaspoon of cocoa or drinking chocolate with 1/2 hot water and 1/2 skim milk


Yes Barista
Coffee is the most common all round pick me up.  A low dose of caffeine is classified as being between 80mg-250mg of caffeine per day for adults or the equivalent of 1-3 cups of instant coffee per day.  Caffeine doses within this range have been associated with increases in mood, alertness, efficiency and concentration.  However even at this low dose, caffeine has been shown to interfere with quality of sleep in some individuals, especially if consumed in the late afternoon or evening.  


Smart switch- Ditch the full cream lattes with caramel swirls.  
Go for- Small skinny lattes or good quality plunger coffee with a dash of milk

Tea Time
There's an explosion of teas on the market these days from black and green to herbal blends with floating botanicals.  In winter a little spice can make all things nice and blow away those winter blues, so try chai and other teas with aromatic compounds.  Both black and green teas have powerful anti-oxidents .  Plus where would we be without a peppermint brew to cleanse the palate after a meal.

Smart Switch - Ditch the sugars in your tea
Go for- An alternative sweetener or naturally sweet, fruit flavoured tea. 

My Week - 12th June Week 24

Winter Tweak and Eats

Modify your favorite winter meals to make them satisfying winter warmers.

A salad or sandwich might be great for lunch in summer, but as the weather cools down; its nice to warm up main meals.  With a little planning, learn how you can bring a little winter warmth to each meal time

Breakfast-  Try warm porridge drizzled with honey or heat milk before adding it to your wheat biscuits.  If you have the time, sit down for hearty poached eggs on grainy toast or if you're in a hurry grab some raisin toast with WW Canola Spread on the way

Lunch- Grill vegies like pumpkin, sweet potato and carrots with a spray of olive oil, or add some warm chicken or boiled egg to usual tossed salad.  Grill or toast sandwiches with warm ingredients like, chicken, roast beef or bacon for a filling edge.  

Dinner- Go for your favorite winter warmers, but tweak the ingredients to make them healthier.  Chicken stock or low fat sour cream are great in mashed potatoes instead of cream and butter.  Roast or bake meats meats instead of grilling and bake or puree vegetables into a hearty soup.  

Whats your trigger?
We all have trigger foods- the snacks and treats that challenge our willpower.  One solution is to remove the temptation by clearing them out of your kitchen cupboards and replace them with Propoints value friendlier options.  

- Low fat hot chocolate for regular hot chocolate
- Maple syrup to drizzle over warm popcorn
- Weight Watchers cookies to dunk in your tea or coffee
- Instant soups for a hot mid meal snack
- SPC fruit snack tub with a dollop of warm custard

June is a great month for beetroot, broccoli, Brussel spouts, cabbage, carroys, cauliflower, celery, fennel, leeks, onion, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, silverbeet, spinach, sweet potato and turnips

Natural Winter Sweeteners
Weight Watchers dietitian Emma Stirling shows us how to make the most of the winter fruits on offer

In the nutrition stakes fruit is way up at the top of the list.  It's one of the most nutrient dense food groups packed with an array of essential vitamins and minerals for glowing good health.  

As a food group fruit makes a significant contribution to our vitamin C, beta carotene folate and potassium intakes.  However, it's the dietary fibre content that fills us up and can boost weight loss efforts, that's one of the reasons why all fresh fruit and most vegetables now have a Propoints value of zero.  

Winter Wonderland

We tend to eat more fruit as dessert in the winter- think pies, crumbled and stewed apples.  Just keep in mind that when fruit is juice, dried, processed or cooked often the skin, seeds and dietary fibre are left behind with some essential nutrients and antioxidents.  At the same time the natural sugar content becomes concentrated and the water is removed.  If you add sugar or honey remember to count the Propoints value.  

Fast Indoor Fitness
Weight Watchers exercise consultant Allan Bolton shows us how to get the most from a 15 minute indoor workout

With shorter days and less daylight, it can be hard to find 45 minutes of straight exercise time outdoors.  Home exercise can be a good alternative to keep your fitness ticking over during winter.  It requires little equipment and you can exercise when you want to.  

The key to optimising a 15 minute workout is to turn the intensity you.  The best way to do this at home is to include the principals of interval and circuit training.  Include hula hooping, exercise DVD segments, box jumps / step ups, skipping etc.  But getting in possibly 2 15 minute workouts each day will help you stay ontop of your fitness and weight loss.  

All you need to do is warm up at a moderate pace, then as you feel comfortable up the intensity to a peak and then ease the intensity down for a few minutes at the end.  Of course if you choose to, you can extend your workout for 20 minutes, 30 minutes or however long you have

Here's an example 15 minute workout plan:
1 minute step ups / box jumps ( lead with the right leg)- easy pace- 1 minute each leg
2 minutes of Zumba DVD- pick a favorite track - moderate pace
2 minutes hula - hoop- moderate pace
2 minutes rope skipping- higher intensity- double unders if you can do them
1 minute step ups - (lead with with the right leg)- lead with right leg - 1 minute each leg
1 minute rope skipping- higher intensity
2 minutes hula - hoop- moderate pace
2 minute of Zumba DVD- pick a favorite track- moderate to easy pace