The Health Benefits of Yoga

When you hear the word “yoga” what do you think of? You may think you know all there is to know about yoga, but there is a good chance that you don’t. Let’s take a look at some of what women are blogging on the topic of yoga.

Have you heard of Hot Yoga?

From Fat Fighter TV – Hot Yoga

Benefits of Bikram Yoga are said to include:

• toning, strengthening, and lengthening your muscles
• strengthening your spine
• increasing flexibility
• improving circulation
• flushing toxins from your body
• improving digestion
• reducing stress
• improving cardiovascular health
• helping with weight management

READ FULL POST AT CATHERINE-MORGAN.COM

Link Wrap-Up of BlogHer Good Health-A-Thon

The BlogHer 2009 Good Health-A-Thon is coming to an end, but your good health choices can still continue. I hope we’ve been able to help you get on the right track to better health in 2009, I would love to hear how you’ve been doing in comments.

I thought I would take this opportunity to do a little wrap-up of our Good Health-A-Thon…

We started off talking about setting goals. Did you set any? Have you stuck to any of them?

The Tao of Healthy Living and Weight Loss

A few weeks ago I was flipping through the million channels on my TV trying to find just one thing worth watching (which isn’t an easy task).  Luckily I found Dr. Wayne Dyer on PBS.

I read my first book by Dr. Wayne Dyer (Real Magic) about twelve years ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since.  So when I watched his seminar on PBS that was based on his latest book, of course I had to run out the next day and buy it.  This one is called Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life, and it’s his interpretation of the 81 verses of the Tao.

[The Tao Te Ching was written five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, and offers advice and guidance for living a balanced life.]

As I read, I came across aspects of this wisdom that are helpful in my quest for better health and weight loss.  So, even though I’m no philosopher (obviously), I thought I would share some verses that stood out for me.  They offer guidance for healthy living and even weight loss.  Here are three.

[Keep in mind that I am only pulling the parts of these verses that I find most relevant to good health, this is by no means a complete look at any of these verses.]

Verse 9 – Living Humility – To keep on filling is not as good as stopping.

I Lost 29 Pounds, 15 More To Go.

Last year around this time I came to the realization that I was at my highest weight ever.  I knew I was overweight, but when I checked my BMI I was shocked to realize that I had actually tipped into the “obese” category.  My BMI was 30.8 and anything over 30 is considered obese. It was at that moment that I decided I needed to make a drastic lifestyle change.  But hardcore dieting really isn’t my thing, so I started a “pre-diet” to ease myself into weight loss.

By the end of the year, my healthy eating had paid off, and I had lost 29 pounds [insert happy dance here].  Anyway, it took almost a year, but my BMI is down to 25.7 (overweight is considered to be between 25 and 29.9).  So I’m still a few pounds away from being considered “normal weight”, but I’m more determined than ever to get there.

Goal Setting Success

This is the time of year that many of us are setting goals in hopes of achieving success with our New Year Resolutions. And setting realistic goals can be what makes or breaks a good resolution.

Have you set your goals yet?

There are many theories about how to set realistic and achievable goals. But it’s not always as cut and dry as all that.  As with everything in life, something that works for one of us may not work for all of us.

Here are some ideas that may help you find success.

Get Motivated To Diet and Exercise With SkinnySongs

Get Motivated With SkinnySongs — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

Motivation is the number one thing we all need if we are going to be successful at losing weight. But, it’s also the number one thing that tends to slip through our fingers and land us back in the cookie jar. Now, thanks to venture capitalist Heidi Roizen, staying motivated is as easy as popping a disk into our CD player. That’s because, when Heidi couldn’t find music to help her stay excited about dieting and getting back into her skinny jeans, she decided to write her own. She began to write motivational lyrics on losing weight and getting in shape…And that is when the idea for “SkinnySongs” was born.

Last week I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask Heidi a couple of questions about SkinnySongs…

1. How did you come up with the idea for SkinnySongs? What was your inspiration?

I got on the scale one morning, after a big night out, and much to my horror I had hit an all time high — at 190 pounds I was 45 pounds more than I was when I got married, and I weighed more than my husband, who is a pretty big guy! I was facing my 50th birthday a few months off, and knew I did not want to enter the ‘back 50’ feeling or looking like that. Unfortunately, I knew I would be facing a challenge ( a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, to be exact) at the first meeting I was going to. I got in my car to head to the meeting, mentally steeling myself for resisting the cookies, and the CD player came on. It was then I thought, that there must be great music to pump you up about taking care of yourself and sticking to a plan, like “I will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor got me through a few breakups, or more recently, “18 Wheeler” by Pink got me through a few tough work situations. So I went looking for it… But I couldn’t find what I wanted. I found weight loss meditation, podcasts, audio books — but what I wanted was fun, upbeat, current music, that sounds just like what I listen to on the radio — but with lyrics that would speak to me and reinforce my goals. I didn’t find it, so got inspired to do it myself!

2. How long did it take you to get from idea to realization?

I thought of the idea in May and we had the CD mastered just two weeks before the end of the year. For the first few months, I was experimenting with writing lyrics (I ended up writing over 40 songs to get to the 10 on the CD) and of course doing the most important thing, pitching the idea to the peole whose involvement was critical — the producers George Daly and David Malloy. I knew that in order for the music to work, it had to be just as good as top quality hits, or people would chose to listen to other things instead. Both George and David are longtime music industry execs, leaders in their fields, with tons of music awards, gold and platinum records, and hits to their names as both producers and songwriters. They were the ones who took my lyrics and worked with me to turn the ideas into reality.

3. Were shirts part of your original plan?

Actually, I had made up the ‘do not feed’ shirt years before this, as well as one that says ‘kick my a**’ (not in the lineup!) that I wear when I work out with a trainer. So the shirts seemed a natural extension once I got going. Just like it surprised me there is no music for this topic, it surprised me that there is so little choice for shirts to wear when exercising that reinforce the message you’re trying to stick with. All the shirts in the SkinnySongs lineup are intended to be fun reminders of what you are doing and why, and in the case of “Do Not Feed”, it usually gets a laugh from your friends, but maybe also, they won’t try to force that second piece of pie in your direction.

4. You created Skinnysongs as a motivator for your weight-loss. Have you met your goals?

It has been a great motivator for me. I have lost over thirty pounds as well as increasing my muscle mass. It took me six months to reach my goal, but I went from a size 14 to a size 8 and am back in my skinny jeans. I really do listen to the music every day, it puts me in a great mood and gives me the positive reinforcement about sticking to the plan and not letting food control my life.

5. What advice do you have for other women who are looking to begin a weight-loss plan?

I wish all you had to do was listen to SkinnySongs and you’d reach your goals, but sadly that isn’t the case! It is, of course, all about diet and exercise. For me, it was also about making a series of small but important, permanent lifestyle changes — I didn’t gain 40+ pounds because I had a bad week, and I wouldn’t have taken it off either (nor kept it off) by just ‘going on a diet.’ I committed to getting control over my emotional eating by following a schedule of eating five small meals a day, three hours apart, and not touching food in between, just because it smelled good or I was having an emotional moment. I incorporated strength training and walking into my DAILY routine, I do at least one of these things every single day. I keep myself motivated through celebrating my successes with a nice clothing item here or there, that I couldn’t have worn a year ago. And I read about other success stories as well as listen to SkinnySongs to keep the motivation up, since this is not something you do and then be done with, rather it is a part of how you live your life going forward from here on. I’m happy to say I turned 50 a few weeks ago and I look better and feel better than I did at my 40th birthday!

Heidi also has a great website for SkinnySongs. Where you can listen to samples of each of the songs, learn about the artists involved in the making of SkinnySongs, and even get some really cool shirts to workout in. There is also a clip of Heidi’s appearance on the Martha Stewart show. It’s a great site, you should really check it out.

Anyway, the music on this CD is great, and just what the motivation doctor ordered. I imagine the only thing missing, would be subliminal messages telling us that cookies taste like cardboard and dieting is fun. But, if you’re not having any fun with your current weight-loss and workout plan, or you just need more motivation to stay on track, then you might want to give SkinnySongs a try…Because, Doesn’t music always make everything a little better?

Also see posts from…

Jacki at That’s Fit

Amy at Diabetes Mine

Heather at The Well Mom

Eating Healthy in Three Easy Steps

Top Three Tips For Eating Healthy — by Catherine Morgan

I am a firm believer that the number one thing any of us can do to promote good health…Is to eat a healthy, well balanced diet. Regardless of your weight (even if you are thin or at an ideal weight), it’s important that we all try to eat healthy. Unfortunately, that is sometimes the hardest thing for many of us to do.

It can be overwhelming for someone with “questionable” eating habits to make the changes necessary for good health. But, it’s also the best thing you can do to reduce your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and chronic illness. So, what can we do? Well, I recommend you take it slow, and not put too much pressure on yourself.

Don’t decide today to make radical changes in your eating habits. If you do that you are setting yourself up for failure. Instead, let’s look at what I believe are the top three changes you can make that won’t be hard for you to stick to. Once you have conquered these three things, you will become empowered to continue taking a step at a time toward healthier eating habits and a healthier life. So, let’s give it a try.

Lose Weight and Lower Your Cholesterol With Dr. Oz on the Oprah Winfrey Show

Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness, But It Does Buy Healthy Foods — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

When I hear Dr. Oz is going to be on Oprah, I usually try to watch. So today my daughter and I tuned in. One of the things Dr. Oz was talking about, was how eating eleven pounds of vegetables a day can be helpful in losing weight and in lowering blood pressure. At that time a big platter full of fruits, vegetables, and nuts was brought out and put in front of Dr. Oz and Oprah. It looked yummy to me.

It was when that platter of fresh fruits and vegetables was brought out that it occurred to me…I love all of those foods…So why do I have such a hard time sticking to a healthy diet? If it isn’t because of the taste, could it be because of the cost?

For several years now, I have been battling uncontrolled hypertension and high cholesterol. And as a nurse, I know the best way to conquer these problems is with a healthy diet. So Dr. Oz wasn’t really talking about anything I didn’t already know, just something I haven’t really been able to “stick” with.

Can someone actually lose weight by eating eleven pounds of food a day?

Catherine’s Top Three Tips For Healthy Living

Hi everyone. I was honored to be asked to write a guest post for Life Learning Today, and this is what I came up with.

Catherine’s Top Three Tips For Healthy Living

1. You are what you eat, and it is never too late to start eating healthy. Every day, try your very best to put healthy foods and plenty of water into your body. When you have a choice between something healthy and something not healthy, go with the healthy choice. But, don’t be too hard on yourself on the days you fall back into old habits. There is no rule that says, to be healthy you have to be perfect. Even if you are eating healthy 50% of the time, that is still better than none of the time.

If you are one to never go for the healthy choice, then start today with a commitment to eat one thing that is good for you (just one thing that you would normally not eat), and do that for a week. After a week, start eating two things that are good for you, and so on, and so on. Before you know it, you’ll be eating healthy half the time…And that’s a great start.

You can start today, loving yourself and your family enough to stop poisoning your body with unhealthy foods. Heart disease is the number one killer in our country. And 80% of heart disease is due to eating an unhealthy diet that leads to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Start today, and take a bite in the right direction…Your heart will thank you.

Dieting, Weight Loss, and Healthy Living. All kinds of links, for all kinds of dieting and nutritional needs.

image from Low Carb Diets & Recipes

I didn’t lose any additional weight this week…but don’t worry, I didn’t gain any either. Not much to report this week so I thought I would do something a little different. Here are some links to articles with tips, inspiration, facts, and links to other dieting sites. Some you may have seen before, some you may not have. I’ll be back with next weeks “dieting update” as usual.

Until then, here are some great weight loss blogs for you to check out.

Dieting Update (week four) – Good News About Taco Bell.

OK – Quick recap…Giving up sugar, and eating healthy food is my main goal. But, when I first started this plan I ran into a bit of a glitch.

I’m not really a fast-food person, but this week I fell into the fast-food trap. Actually, it was the Nacho Cheese Chalupa trap. (Truth be told – I fell into this trap twice this week.)

This is the story. (And you’ll see it was really not my fault at all, it was obviously all my daughters fault.) My daughter loves Taco Bell and I love Chalupas. My daughter wanted to go to Taco Bell, so we did. I ate a couple of Chalupas. Moral of the story – Don’t eat Chalupas when you are on a diet.

Since this “laps of the Chalupa”, I have been really good. Eating little to no sugar, increasing my fiber intake, and eating a lot of vegetables and healthy foods. I’m also doing good about not eating too close to bedtime.

Bloggers Blogging on Dieting, Weight Loss, and Nutrition.

image from

A Recipe For Weight Loss — by Catherine Morgan

I don’t know about you, but even though I know exactly what to eat and what not to eat, I still eat a bunch of stuff I know I shouldn’t. Since I really want to lose a few pounds, I recently started blogging once a week on my struggles and desires to “Take it Five Pounds at a Time“. I need all the motivation I can get with this venture to lose weight and eat healthy, so I looked through the BlogHer Blogrolls for some inspiration, and found a lot of it. For those of you also struggling with weight issues, I hope you can find some inspiration and ideas from these great blogs.

Join me in taking a look at some of the BlogHers blogging on diet and nutrition, I am going to introduce you to a dozen or so in this post. I also encourage you to check out the Health and Wellness BlogRoll where you can find many other great blogs.

3rd Week DIET UPDATE — Taking It Five Pounds At A Time

Well, it’s the third week and I lost one more pound. So altogether I lost three pounds in three weeks, that’s not so bad.

Some of the things I did right this week were; I stayed away from sugar and the Taco Bell, I increased my veggie intake, and I started taking a fiber supplement.

I don’t think I did anything “wrong”…but I am going to do a few things better this week.

#1 – I’m going to stop eating food after 8PM at night. I know that sounds late, but I am often up until 1am or 2am…so it won’t be easy.

#2 – I’m going to start swimming a few laps in my pool. Swimming is the one exercise I am able to do without affecting my medical condition, and now that it is warm out I can use the pool.

#3 – I’m going to try and eat Wild Salmon at least twice a week. I can get individually wrapped Salmon at our Walmart, and that works good for me since my kids don’t eat it.

Hopefully with these adjustments I will lose another pound. Wish me luck.

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See original post:

Taking It Five Pounds At A Time

1st Update

2nd Update

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Important News On Dieting and Weight Loss – New Study On Glycemic Load – with additional links and articles.

cartoon from MizFrogs Pad

New Study On Glycemic Load and Weight Loss

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – When it comes to losing weight, the number of calories you eat, rather than the type of carbohydrates, may be what matters most, according to a new study.