*tell a friend*

*tell a friend*

sing it Gloria.

Emma came home singing this song today...it's 70s pop week in her music class.  As much as I love this song, I told her she's got to go to school and tell her the 80s are where it's at!  There's got to be a day to sing "Don't Stop Believin", too!

and if you want to sing along...because I know you do...here are the words...if you don spandex and roller skates and dance around...I want the video!!

sing. LIFE.

Happy Monday.

*tell a friend*

Halloween is coming.

And so are a bunch of other food holidays...

Sugar is around every corner.  Lurking everywhere just waiting for us to walk past so that it can jump out and scare us into having a little nibble of sugar or maybe a whole pound of sugar.  Halloween candy has been calling our name for over a month and before this week is out wal-mart's aisles will be stocked with all of the baking necessities a girl could want.  I walk past that canned pumpkin every time I go to the store for 4 months of the year.  I have a super dooper fantastic recipe for pumpkin bread...when I make it I eat almost the whole loaf with a gallon of milk.  It's that good.

Then it's Christmas and the shortbread stars that my Grandma made start to call my name.  They are a family tradition.  I love to make them.  They are very tasty.  My mouth is watering.

So...in order to help us all through the next couple of months, I've been scouring the internet.  I've been to a few sites.  I've found a few ideas for your defense against the sugar months.  I'll list them at the end of this post for your reading pleasure.  In the meantime, I'm going to list a compilation of what I found.

Hints and tips:

#1-Don't buy any candy.  I know you want to.  I know you think you'll save it for the little trick or treaters or for that candy dish on the side table at Thanksgiving.  We all know that there will come some reason to open that candy bag and consume the entire thing before any holiday gets here.  Buy the candy you need on the day of the holiday, if possible.  Your thighs will thank you.

#2-Eat healthy snacks.  This is the one place that will snag me up if I don't stock my house with something healthy to eat.  I'll end up grabbing a piece of candy.  That will last me about 5 minutes so I'll go get another one.  And now I have that weird candy taste in my mouth so I'll get another one...anyway, you get the picture.  I've posted healthy snacks here on my blog before.  Make sure you have some in your house.  Just say no to candy snacks.

#3-Eat a healthy dinner and don't skip meals.  Make a plan to create and eat a healthy dinner together.  Try to make it as colorful as possible.  A salad with all kinds of greens, a grilled chicken breast, some mixed veggies...

#4-Take a walk everyday.

#5-Brush your teeth.  When a candy craving hits you, brush your teeth.  You'll be surprised at how many things don't sound very good to eat when you've just brushed.

#6-Healthy sugar.  If you just have to have sugar make it a healthy option.  One of my faves is vanilla yogurt with strawberries. 

#7-Drink lots of water.  I have not been drinking my minimum of eight glasses of water a day.  I think it's affecting me in lots of ways.  One of them being that I eat more than I should because I think I'm hungry when I'm really super thirsty.  Today, I'm getting back to drinking more water.  I put a 16oz glass of water by my sink with a post in on it that has the number 2.  Everytime I finish that 16 oz glass I'm going to put a new number on it, next will be a 4, and then a 6.  I have to drink four of those glasses to get my water intake at it's minimum.  Now, every time I walk into my kitchen, I'll be reminded that I need to drink.

#8-Leave something on your plate.  When I'm paying attention enough to what I'm eating, I remember to leave something on my plate.  It sounds like a little thing but it will totally help you to eat less.

#9-Have only one piece.  When your kids come home from trick or treating with their boatloads of candy, don't sit down and have a feeding frenzy.  If you must have a piece, have just one and walk away, put it away.  Most times when we have a craving for something we really just need a small taste of it to satisfy ourselves.  For some reason we think in order to be satisfied we need to have a house sized version of whatever we crave...we don't.

#10-Eat pumpkin pie instead of pecan pie and brussel sprouts instead of green bean casserole.  Think about what foods you're making and consider whether or not there is a more healthy alternative.

So this almost feels like a review of the year so far!  All of the above links and some of the ones below are from Move it Monday posts!  This is it everyone!  We've got all of the knowledge to get through the holidays...let's use it and stay healthy through this last stretch of the year.  We can do it!!

How to NOT eat halloween candy:

kick your sugar addiction

avoid a sugar induced coma this halloween

avoid sugar cravings

sugar addiction

eating healthy during the holidays

healthy ideas

healthy. LIFE.