5 Health Tips for the Holiday Season

December is usually synonymous with an abundance of eating and a lack of exercise. We want to encourage you to start this New Year on the right foot. The holidays are a time for celebration and family, not to put on weight. It's almost as if we've come to accept that we are going to put on 10 pounds during each holiday season.

Celebration doesn't have to mean gluttonous eating, or deprivation for that matter. It's time to bring the focus back to the purpose of the holiday. Enjoy your friends and family, the time off and the traditions of the holidays. 

The holiday season might not be a time to lose weight, but it doesn't have to be a time to lose your health. The key is to go into the holidays with a plan. Here are five ways to keep your health over the holidays. 

Tip #1: Shop Well For Yourself 
 It is more important then ever to stock your kitchen with healthy foods. Have healthy snacks handy. The more convenient they are, the more likely you are to eat them. Instead of thinking about what you shouldn't eat, promise to eat your 3 to 5 servings of vegetables each day.

Tips #2: Schedule Your Exercise 
Your schedule will be very hectic this holiday season. Schedule your workouts just as you would any other appointment. It's ok if you can't make it to class, but make sure that you get some activity in at least three days per week. 
 
Tip #3: Just Say No
You probably aren't aware how much extra food you consume just from people offering it to you. A sample at the market here, an extra cookie at an office party there and it all adds up. Just think twice before you take that food and decide if you really want it. 

Tip #4: Skip the Baking
Do you make baked goods for giving? Chances are you eat much of what you bake. Who wouldn't? Instead make non-food gifts, or prepare ingredients for baked goods and put them in pretty jars--let your gift recipient bake it up. That way, they can eat it when they want it and you don't have to be tempted in the kitchen. 

Tip #5: Hydrate
Keep your water bottle with you at all times. You should be drinking eight, 8-oz glasses of water each day. One handy trick is to buy a 64 ounce water jug. Fill it up in the morning and know that you need to finish it by the end of the day.

SOURCE

Improve Your Health with Almonds and Kelli

What should you be snacking on? If you are looking to improve your health and shrink your waistline the answer is almonds! A new study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association offers up some compelling reasons why almonds should be our go to snack.

During the study two groups of participants who all had high LDL (bad cholesterol) levels each followed a healthy diet for 12 weeks. During the first six weeks, one group enjoyed a 1.5-ounce portion of almonds for a snack, while the other group ate a carbohydrate-rich muffin for a snack. Aside from the snack, the two groups had the same diet. The groups switched snacks for the second six weeks but again otherwise followed the same diet. Researchers found that when the two groups snacked on the almonds rather than the muffins, they reduced both their LDL and total cholesterol levels. Plus, eating the almonds raised their HDL (good) cholesterol levels, while eating the muffin decreased HDL levels.

What’s more is that even though overall body weight did not change when participants were snacking on almonds versus muffins, their belly fat and waist circumference went down.

And get this: both the muffin and the portion of almonds contained nearly the same number of calories (273 and 253, respectively) and both diets had the same overall number of calories. This evidence shows strong support for the argument that it’s the quality of calories that make for a healthy diet, not just quantity. The fact that almonds are rich in protein, fiber, and vitamin E —nutrients muffins score much lower in—most likely played a role in the results of this study. So next time you reach for a snack, think: nutrient-rich!

Want to learn more on how to make your diet fit your life and reach your goals?

Learn about a new 8 Week Program that starts May 6th thru June 24th! This includes nutrition coaching with in person weekly meetings and webinars. Take the challenge and get fit by JULY 4th. More info about Kelli's coaching services here click here.

REGISTER HERE - May 6th coaching at Sana Vita Studio

Eating Habits are Contagious

Do you wish you made better food choices? Interestingly enough, reading the latest book or scouring the internet is not the best way. Studies show the best way to change the way you eat is to talk to someone who you consider healthy and learn about their daily diet. You are more likely to stick with a new healthy lifestyle if you socially engaged with the person or group you consult. Good thing we offer group nutritional coaching classes at Sana Vita Studio!

Simply, we do not want be to told what to do, but want to be told what others do. Just think about it when you were young and began making choices about your wardrobe.... which one seemed like the better option: wearing what your mom told you was cool or wearing what friends valued as cool? Same difference when it comes to food choices. As soon as we can start making choices about what we eat, we become greatly impacted by the influence of others which we admire and by groups of people we dislike. For example, if you get happy hour cocktails and appetizers every Friday with your favorite co-workers, you probably look forward to it! You may associate happiness with this weekly feasting. On the flip side, if a group you dislike enjoys a certain kind of food, you adjust your tastes so you do not align with whatever they like, because you do not want to be associated with them.

Make a list of your favorite foods or frequented foods...

• Are any of them something your family or friends enjoy? 

• Are any of them well respected by a group of people you aspire to be like or associate with? Maybe from a publication, food source (store or restaurant), people or person you respect...

• Are any new foods (healthy, think chia seeds or or unhealthy, think cronuts...) you enjoy that a friend or family member told you about?

I thought about my favorite foods: baked potatoes, pad thai, cookies, peas, collard greens, raspberries, tuna, tamales and lasagna.

Baked potatoes, tuna, peas, cookies, chef or chopped salads - all family favorites. And i'm constantly finding new ways of preparing all of them on food blogs and from publications. Pad thai, collard greens, tamales - all friend favorites and things we like to eat when we are together. Raspberries - my favorite fruit after I watched a family member incorporate them into her diet. They are low GI, full of antioxidants, and fun to eat. Lasagna - my idol, Garfield's favorite food.

All of my favorite foods neatly fit into a category above... how about yours?

We are socially engaged with food. We should consider the way the internet, specifically social media, impacts the foods we crave. Try following healthy people and blogs that will motivate you, instead of looking pictures of your friend's Sunday night football chicken wing platters. Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter give you the ability to discretely hide or mute posts by friends or family that may be throwing stones at your new healthy lifestyle.

Because healthy (and unhealthy) behavior is contagious try posting new recipes and exercises you have found tried and true that are actually good for you. You could change your love ones lives by being a positive food and fitness source! Posting pictures of Sana Vita Studio or a cute #healthie (like a #selfie... but when you are being engaging in something healthy) keeps you health-positive and motivated and in return may do the same for people that follow you on social media!

Click here to read more about our nutritional coaching services.
Be kind to yourself..follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Source

Keep Calm & Eat Less Sugar During Holidays

The Holiday Season is upon us. A wonderful time to enjoy our family, buying presents, and engaging in holiday merriment. One thing that is synonymous with the holidays is baked goods, sweets, and candies. It’s no wonder that a lot of us, even those of us who lead an incredibly healthy lifestyle, end up loading up on sugar much more than we usually do. You won’t fall ill from one holiday indulgence, of course, but the problem is that sugar has addictive properties—and what begins as an innocent treat can easily morph into a daily sugar fix. When you eat a sugary food, a flood of dopamine is released in your brain. That dopamine creates an increased sugar tolerance, requiring you to eat more to get that same feeling of pleasure.

Most of us know that consuming too much sugar regularly is directly linked to diseases like obesity and diabetes. But what you may not know is that it’s also been linked to cancer, and even degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Being mindful this holiday season can carry over into a lifetime of great choices for your over all health.

Our Nutritionist Kelli Bonomo offers these 5 tips to help keep yourself on track, maximize your Nutrition and avoid the Holiday Fat Trap:

1. ) Always keep your Blood Sugar Stable: Three ways to keep your blood sugar stable: Keep meal   intervals to every 3-4 hours, implement the correct portions and watch the ratios of protein, carbs and fats.

2.) When you have a holiday party, dinner or event, keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day. This is the key to preventing weight gain.

3.) If you are going to indulge in the holiday feast, be sure that you get back on track 3 hours later by eating a balance of protein and fat to help lower your blood sugar and prevent weight gain.

4.) When having a cocktail, glass of wine, or a beer, always remove any complex or starchy carbohydrates from the meal, your body has the potential to store alcohol as fat.

5.) Water helps your liver metabolize fat... hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, especially if you have fallen off plan. Flush that body with water to move out all the extra sodium, sugar and alcohol!

Want to keep your nutrition in check into the New Year? Coming in January, Nutritionist Kelli Bonomo will be offering a program "LOOK GREAT IN 8, DITCH THE SCALE" a coaching program that will include:

* 8 week Nutritional coaching series: Includes 3 phases: Detox, Ignite and Thrive
* 1-hour coaching event every Wednesday evening for 8 weeks (time TBA)
* 2 week supply of CORE Meal replacement shakes
* 3 months FREE Access to Online Nutritional Software, includes meal plans, recipe and additional      tools at the THRIVE phase of coaching
* Before and After measurements, weight, body fat and pictures
* More information coming soon!!

CLICK HERE 

For information about the Nutritional Coaching available at Sana Vita Studio 

CLICK HERE 

For information about our studio

SOURCE 1
SOURCE 2