"Those holiday lapses do not have to turn into collapses"

Let's be real, we all over-indulge during the holidays.

I personally had about a dozen cookies late last night and you know what they tasted good and I enjoyed them. It seems like many "experts" offer tips such as keeping a food diary during the holidays and calorie counting, but to me that seems to just over-emphasize the "lapse" and create unnecessary guilt.

Therefore, I suggest after a lapse in your healthy eating plan that you "Fu-ged-a-bout-it" and move-on. Wake-up the next morning and start over with a healthy eating day. I still felt a little full this AM from the over-indulgence lapse last night, but the worst thing I could of done this morning would be to starve myself and not eat.

Everyday we have the opportunity nutritionally, physically, and emotionally to have a positive start-over day. My positive start-over day nutritionally included a healthy meal of oatmeal and apples and walnuts in the AM and will continue to "keep the wood-stove burning" and intake another small healthy meal each 2.5-3.5 hours.

It is most important that we "not let that wood-stove burn-out" and create a fight-or-flight stress response in our sympathetic nervous system, which often leads to "lapses" and a lot of calorie intake. To keep that wood-stove burning in our bodies and prevent "holiday nutrition lapses" we must learn to feed our bodies with a healthy "small meal" every 2.5 to 3.5 hours.

My next post will include sample "small-meal" plans that will keep your wood-stove burning and keep you from over-indulging too much this holiday season.

In closing, when you do over-eat this holiday season (and most of us will) enjoy it and move-on. Most importantly, do not create unnecessary guilt for yourself about the lapse. Instead focus on a positive start-over day in all health dimensions and stay positive.

This is the opinion of Jonathan T Felsen and is not intended to replace the advice of your health-care provider.

Reflecting on ALL dimensions of Health.

Hello Friends and Family.

After a brief hiatus from regular Internet access, I am back writing again and hope you enjoy the new 2011 JT's Health Enhancers Blogspot.

As the New Year approaches and the turkey and cookies begin to slightly increase our waistlines it is important that we do a genuine reflection of where we stand not only in our physical health but the many dimensions of health that affect our well-being.

I encourage you to write down each dimension of health that is bold below and genuinely rate yourself on how you are doing in this area of your life (you may use a 1-10 scale an A-F scale, bananas to apples scale-whatever floats your boat) and how you may look to enhance this dimension of your health in 2011. I have added some general questions and examples after each dimension to help you with this.

1. EMOTIONAL: How is your mental outlook on your life? Are you being positive or negative in how you view yourself? Are you excited about your life and what you are doing in it? What are your passions and are you getting to act on them with clarity and confidence regularly?

2. Intellectual: Are you learning new things or hobbies that are increasing your appreciation of your existence? For example, I rate myself currently at a 5 out of 10. I'd like to increase my intellectual health in 2011 by learning to play the banjo, improve my Spanish speaking skills and as you can tell improve my writing skills. I believe improving on these areas of my intellectual health would enhance my existence and help others.

3. SPIRITUAL: I personally rate my Spiritual health on the amount of time I feel truly at peace and worry free. What are you doing to increase times of peace and calmness in your life? One may find that going to a place of worship for an hour a week brings them a sense of peace or others may find a solitary hike in nature brings them peace. Find out what brings peace to you and make a plan to incorporate this into your life. You'll know you have found it when crying babies or watching the Buffalo Bills does not seem to irritate you so much.

4. ENVIRONMENTAL: My contention is that we as humans share this planet with species and nature and that our decisions have an impact on well-being of our planet and other species. Therefore, how can we better treat our environment in 2011? This does not have to be drastic, perhaps just change a few light bulbs in your home to higher efficiency bulbs. This will not only save you money but lessen the amount of coal burned into the air which affects air quality and asthma rates. Or, re-use the plastic bags that your groceries are put in for trash bags or for pet waste.

5. SOCIAL: How are we doing in our relationships with other people? Are we truly listening to and supporting others? How is our social support network? For example, I find that when I am feeling down or depressed that I can positively change my mood by simply talking to an old-friend or family member on the phone. Seek out those who support you and call on them when feeling down. How may you increase your network? Perhaps, by becoming involved in an organization or group that is aligned with your own unique passions.

6. PHYSICAL: I chose to put the Physical dimension of health last because it is often wrongly attributed to the only meaning of good health. In my opinion, Physical health is equal to all the other dimensions of health listed above. However, the great thing about increasing physical health is that you can increase other dimensions of health at the same time. For example, I found joining a basketball league last winter not only increased my endurance and physical body, but I made life-long friends thus increasing my social health. You may seek out a volunteer trail clean-up crew that maintains natural hiking trails and Eco-systems, this will not only increase your physical health but also your environmental, social, and intellectual health. Be creative and see what works for you.

The purpose of this exercise is to genuinely reflect on each dimension of health in your life and how you look to improve on it and create a better life for yourself, others, and the environment. Have fun with it!!

This is the opinion of Jonathan T Felsen.

SMART Goal setting

Although it may seem tedious and a bit uncomfortable to write down and share with others your wellness and personal goals, doing so will give you a better chance at achieving these goals.

Research conducted by Dr. Gail Matthews shows that people who write down their goals, shared this information with a friend, and sent weekly updates to that friend were on average 33% more successful in accomplishing their stated goals than those who merely formulated goals.

The SMART Goal setting principle is a great way to begin the process of WRITING DOWN and achieving any goal you want to accomplish in your life.

S: Specific. Make your goal as clear as you can. For example, rather than saying I want to exercise 3 times a week, further specify your goal and write down that for the month of June I will ride the stationary bike for 20 minutes on Monday morning at 7:00 a.m., perform 20 minutes of walking Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m., and swim for 20 minutes on Friday aftenoon at 4:00 p.m. Get as specific as you like in regards to intensity, however if you are just beginning an exercise program start slow and gradually build up your intensity.

M: Measurable. Make sure that your goal can be measured. In the above example, you can measure the goal by checking off your exercise sessions during the month of June and determining if you completed all the sessions.

A: Attainable and Agreed upon: Be certain that your goals have the support of all members of your household and be very specific with them about the time needed to complete your goals.

R: Realistic: Do a good inventory of your current lifestyle and time constraints and be certain your goals are well within your reach.

T: Time Based: Set a date that is reasonable to achieve your goal and when this date comes review what you have accomplished.

Once again, you will be more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down and share them with a peronal friend, trainer, or family member and up-date them on your progression.

Happy Goal Setting.

Breaking away from late-night over-consumption

With all the "March Madness" basketball I have been watching this month late-night eating has become an un-healthy habit for me this month. Unfortunately, these late-night hours are the worst time to be consuming excess calories because we typically are sedentary and not doing much activity. Therefore, one is likely to gain weight and certainly not lose much weight if he/she is consuming excess calories late at night.

However, there are ways in which to break the habit of late night eating:

1. PERSONAL RESOLVE AND WILLPOWER: This might be the most important step to breaking late night-eating habits. Make it a goal to stop eating late at night and write that goal down on paper. Put this written goal on your refrigerator and visualize how you want to feel and live.

2. DISTRACTION: Chances are that you may not even be hungry when the urge strikes to eat late at night. It can be out of boredom, habit, stress and/or fatigue, but whatever the reason it can be helpful to distract yourself from food. Try taking a hot-bath, taking a walk while talking with friend or family on your mobile phone, having some hot-tea, reading a book, watching a movie, or playing boggle, scrabble, or any game you like. Find what works for YOU best, and JUST DO IT. I think you will find that urge to eat will dissipate.

3. INCREASE FIBER IN YOUR DIET: Fiber makes you feel fuller, therefore eating a high-fiber diet can make you feel full longer. Try addind some high fiber foods (legumes) with your last meal of the day.

4. HAVE A FAMILY STYLE DINNER: This does not mean punching your brother or arguing with your parents, but rather sitting-down at the dinner table and slowly eating your meal. Try not eating in front of the TV or eating while reading.

5. DON'T STOCK THE FRIDGE WITH JUNK FOOD YOU SHOULD NOT BE EATING: If ice cream or cookies are in your house, chances are they are going to be eaten. So, simply DON'T BRING UN-HEALTHY FOODS IN TO YOUR SPACE.

6. EAT BREAKFAST. Studies have shown that those who eat a good breakfast are less likely to over-eat late at night.

Hope this helps.

Proper Warm-Up and Cool Down.

Spring is in the air and it is now a great time to get outside and get some physical activity.

However, before moving too quickly it is important to properly warm-up and cool-down your body to increase blood flow to the muscles and quickly remove by-products, such as lactate, from the muscles which can lead to muscle stiffness.

Here are some quick tips so you can recover quicker and have a more enjoyable exercise experience:

1. The warm-up should GRADUALLY increase your heart rate and mimic the activity you will be doing. Therefore, if you are going to hike a mountain, try to start on flat-terrain for 5-10 minutes before climbing in elevation. If playing tennis, start with some light walking or jogging, then get into some volleying that will eventually mimic the level of play.

2. The cool-down is designed to prevent sudden "pooling" of blood in the veins while continuing a proper circulation of blood through the skeletal muscles and heart and brain. This can reduce delayed on-set muscle soreness as well as dizziness or fainting after exercise. The "cool down" should be similar to the warm-up but move in the other direction and slow the heart-rate back to resting. It is important to note that STRETCHING IS NOT A PROPER COOL-DOWN, one must move to keep the blood circulating, thus reducing pooling and by-product accumulation.

Making SENSE!

I'm reading a very interesting book at the moment called the Cortisol Connection by Shawn Talbott which bluntly lets you know that if you have too much stress and anxiety in your life, you will eventually experience serious health problems. Talbott does however offer solutions to combating stress with the SENSE program:

S: Stress Management: Talbott explains that it is best to avoid all stressful situations in the first place. Although this is unrealistic, Talbott is accurate in saying that we can avoid some of these stressful situations with proper planning. For example, if one knows they are likely to be in rush-hour traffic we can plan to bring a book on tape. However, stress is unavoidable so the only thing to do is to better manage the stress. Managing stress is highly individualized and what works for someone may not work for another. Yoga and meditation are great ways to manage stress but boards games, X-word puzzles, etc can also be ways to manage stress. The key is to determine what works best for YOU.

E: Exercise: The physiological effects of exercise, increased endorphins and lowered stress hormones are natural "stress fighters". However, in those with very high stressed lifestyles fitting in exercise can seem impossible, therefore start small with manageable bouts of exercise. Again, exercise is a highly individualized process and one needs to determine what activity best suits them.

N: Nutrition: Stressful events can trigger un-healthy eating and Talbott describes that a few small changes in diet can have dramatic effects. Eating a Breakfast that combines a blend of carbohydrates and protein and a little fat is a great way to start your day. Furthermore, Talbott explains that each meal (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner) should be made up of one fist sized helping of carbohydrates (pasta, bread, cereal), one fist sized helping of protein (fish, poultry, tofu, legumes) and one or two fist sized portions of fruits and vegetables.

S: Supplementation: Talbott lists many supplements throughout the book which may help in fighting stress. Again, taking supplements is highly individualized. Talbot does say that a good multi-vitamin is essential.

E: Evaluation: We must continue to re-evaluate the ways in which we manage stress and determine what approach works best.

Hope this helps.

Fiber for Fullness

Not only is fiber a great complex carbohydrate for disease prevention but it is also a substance that will allow you to feel full longer thus reducing your need to eat more. It should be noted that there are two types of fiber, insoluble which mainly speeds up the passage of material through the digestive tract, so it may be a good idea to ingest insoluble fiber when a lavaory is nearby. Soluble fiber which includes oatmeal and legumes seems to be the type of fiber that makes you feel fuller longer. Some great sources of both soluble and insoluble fiber that should be incorporated into the diet daily include:

1. Oatmeal (Soluble) - No bathroom needed right away

2. Oatbran- (Soulble)- No bathroom needed right away

3 wheatbran (insoluble)-Be close to a bathroom as things can move quickly

3. Whole-Grain Pasta (souluble)

4. Fruits and vegetables (insoluble and soluble)- Bathroom close is not a bad idea

5. Legumes (Soluble)

6. Nuts and seeds

I believe it is recommended that adults get around 35 grams of fiber daily, so oatmeal in the morning is a great way to start your day and keep you full for a while. It is cheaper to buy whole oats or quick oats in the bulk section of your grocery store VS. buying them in the container, and the instant oatmeal is typically filled with lots of sugar so I would suggest if using those packets to add it in with some regular dried whole oats. Adding raisins, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and walnuts can make the oatmeal that much more fulling. As the old saying goes, Eat breakfast like a King and Dinner like a peasent.