How to lick your sugar habit
The average woman consumes about 30kg of the sweet stuff every year. Cut back on those empty kilojoules with some simple strategies without short changing your sweet tooth.
Instead of 2 tblsp bottled honey mustard salad dressing TRY 1 tblsp fat free mayo with ½ tblsp each honey and lemon juice SAVE 2 gr sugar
Instead of ½ cup tinned peas TRY ½ cup frozen peas SAVE 6 gr sugar Instead of 1 cup of ready-made pasta sauce from a jar TRY 1 cup crushed tomatoes with 1 tsp each basil and oregano.
The sweet truth about sugar
Soft drink (340 ml) = to 8-9 tsp sugar
Sports drink (500 ml) = to 7 tsp sugar
Flavoured water (500 ml) = to 5 tsp sugar
Chocolate bar (50 g) = to 6 tsp sugar
3 tsp fat
Jelly sweets (75 g) = 12 tsp sugar
Drinking yoghurt 300 ml - 6 tsp sugar
Stuck to your chair?
The benefits of not sitting still
Stand up for an additional hour each day. You'll burn an extra 5,000 calories over the course of a year.
Every 20 steps, you burn one calorie.
Accumulate 30 minutes of movement each day for increased energy, lowered stress levels and more restful sleep.
Stop sitting
Stand up two or three times an hour
If you spend the majority of your day sitting, make it a goal to get up and do something a few times every hour, even if it's just stretching, taking a walk through the office, orgetting a drink.
When the phone rings, get up
Intermittent calls can prove an easy and frequent reminder to get up. Try standing for the duration of the call.
Cut back on long meetings
Reduce time spent sitting by suggesting a standing meeting policy for weekly updates or staff meetings. Standing meetings communicate that you're going to hit the high points, coordinate necessary action, and then move on. Or, if possible, have a walking meeting, which lets you be productive in more ways than one.
Move through a mental block
If you're stuck on an idea, a project, a problem - take a few minutes to leave your work space and do a more physical task that lets you get up and move (like going through your mail or cleaning your office). Taking a physical and mental break can help refresh your senses and renew resolve.
The beauty of living in a wireless world is that you're no longer chained to one spot. When you're listening to your voice mail or talking on your cell phone, make it a point to stay in motion, even if you just pace back and forth.
Pick up the pace
Want to ramp it up a bit? Squeeze even more physical activity out of an opportunity by quickening your step or climbing those stairs faster. By upping your effort you maximise this opportunity.
Lighten your load and increase your trips
Rather than risking injury by carrying too much at once, go for the lighter load. Carrying fewer bags of groceries at a time or making an extra run to the car when packing for a trip not only may prevent potential strains but will also build a little more activity into your day.
Do a prime-time stretch
To break up longer periods of watching TV, use commercials as a reminder to stand up and move - whether it's to stretch or throw in another load of laundry.
If you spend a few hours reading in the evening, make it a point to stand up at chapter or section breaks.
Do errands on foot
If you live or work in an area that's pedestrian-friendly, take advantage of this and walk to places such as the post office and pharmacy. Rather than doing one huge shopping trip every week, make a daily trip to the market and pick up just what you need for that night's dinner.
Do some layover laps
Instead of parking yourself in a chair at the airport terminal or the train or bus station, walk around while waiting to board. The same goes for killing time at the doctor's office, pharmacy or waiting for a table at a busy restaurant.
Make a thoughtful Valentine's gift
If you are the sentimental type, get a heart shaped gift box and fill it with 52 love notes or just wonderful things that you can say about the one you love. Send it along with a card and don't forget to explain that they can only read one message a week for the next year.
Love is in the air but do you love yourself? By Allyson Milne - IOL website
We are so busy focusing our attention on others that we put ourselves on the backburner, thinking we will get around to ‘focusing on me' later.
The sad truth is that our ‘later' never seems to come and we end up neglecting ourselves, creating insecurities and false paradigms. We end up with an emptiness and spend much time searching for the perfect someone in the hopes they will fill the void. What we really need to do is build a relationship with ourselves to fill that space
Most of our insecurities boil down to lack of self worth. When we are in the ‘I am not worthy' zone, we are not capable of being kind to ourselves and do not feel we deserve any kind of forgiveness or leeway. Unfortunately, it is human nature to self-sabotage, and we do it so well. We have been programmed into believing that loving ourselves is a bad thing and others will see us as conceited.
When you don't love yourself, you are telling the universe that you are undeserving of any love or positive outcomes that have the same vibrational match as love.
So how do we tap into that part of ourselves that allows us to see the true splendour of who we really are?
Be kind and positive: Nurture yourself. Think kindly and positively about yourself, accept your flaws and know that you can change. Look in the mirror and fall in love with yourself. Give yourself positive affirmations and show gratitude for all that is good in your life.
Trust yourself: Have confidence in your abilities. Know you have the ability to make changes for yourself.
Forgive yourself: We all make mistakes. If you have been carrying emotional hurt from a childhood trauma, learn to forgive yourself and know it is not your fault.
Find your inner truth: Loving yourself requires you to acknowledge and be truthful about your feelings. Do not bury negative emotions. Acknowledge what you feel.
Grow spiritually: When you spend time growing spiritually, loving yourself is automatic. You become more peaceful, connected, kind, loving and compassionate.Relax, have fun and learn to see the beauty around you.
Eliminate self-criticism: Do you continuously berate yourself over the tiniest thing? Make every effort to stop.
Low fat milk tartlets
Makes 12 individual tartlets
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
6 sheets phyllo pastry
60 ml low fat margarine, melted
750 ml fat free milk
1 cinnamon stick
2 egg yolks
30 ml flour
80 gr (100 ml) sugar
Ground cinnamon for dusting
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut the phyllo pastry into 36 squares large enough to fit into a muffin tin hole and stretch slightly up the sides.
2. Brush each square lightly with margarine. Layer three squares on each hole and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool and dab and dab off any excess oil with paper towel.
3. Slowly heat the milk with the cinnamon stick until nearly boiling. Mix together the egg yolks, cornflour, flour and sugar to form a paste. Remove the cinnamon stick from the rest of the milk and whisk in
the paste mixture.
4. Simmer for 10 minutes until thick. Pour the hot mixture into the phyllo cups and sprinkle with cinnamon.
5. Leave to set and serve.
Source: Your Family 2009