The Ezine For Every Woman Struggling For The Body She¡¦s Always Dreamed Of!

June 23, 2003

Issue # 17

Hello,

Thanks for subscribing to the Forever Slim newsletter. I hope you enjoy the reading!

If you like this e-zine, please forward it to a friend.

Contents

1. You don't have to exercise hard to lose weight

2. How to avoid injuries ?

3. Rice Pancakes

4. The Negative Calorie Diet

1. You don't have to exercise hard to lose weight

Some people love to exercise. You see them at 7:00 am every morning, racing around the block. If you're one of them, you probably won't be reading this newsletter. ;-)

Because for most of us, the word "exercise" just brings up all sorts of negative thoughts and feelings. We just don't like the idea of getting up in the early morning and forcing ourselves to do some kind of activity we hate.

Well, think about this for a second. Do you like to dance? Bowl? Play golf? Go for walks in the evening to enjoy the spring flowers, summer crickets, or fall colors?

If you look in any book about exercising, you'll see that all of those activities are burning calories.

The things you enjoy doing are actually exercise -- just in another form!

That's the key to the whole thing. To lose weight, you know that you have to balance the calorie intake (food), with the calorie burning. It's that easy: if intake is bigger than expense, you'll gain weight, and if expense is bigger than intake, you'll lose weight.

The key here is that when you bowl, golf, play with the kids, or ride your bike to the park, you're engaging in fun movement.

If you're sweating on a Stairmaster or lifting heavy weights and you're not enjoying it then you will most probably not stick to it.

But just moving our bodies is natural and easy. You don't need to spend time in the gym. You can move your body in a way that feels good to you and by just adding more movement into your daily activities you will soon start losing weight.

Off course, this will be a slow process. Don't get impatient. It will be slow, but steady. And the best of it: you will keep your weight, because you have changed your way of life. No more jo-jo effect.

Action:

Forget about "exercising" -- look at the activities you enjoy, and see how you can use them to add more movement and play into your life.

Also, there are little things you can do as part of your daily routine that don't take additional time. Carry your grocery bags out to the car instead of using a shopping cart. Or, do some stretching while you're lying down on the sofa watching television.

Take some baby steps and see if you enjoy moving a bit more than you currently are moving.

2. How to avoid injuries

Some of the most common running ailments - shin splints, heel spurs and plantar fasciitis (inflammation of tissue on the bottom of the foot) ¡V are actually caused by calf muscles that are too tight. In the case of shin splints, for instance, the shin muscles have to work extra hard during a run when the calf muscles aren't supple enough, and shin pain results from this overexertion.

Fortunately, this is a problem that's easy to resolve. Stretching your calf muscles frequently can help prevent these running-related problems. Here's a simple calf stretch you can do almost anywhere: Standing backwards on the bottom step of a staircase, slide one foot back so that your heel extends off the step. Then stretch your ankle downward slowly so that you feel your calf muscles stretching from the ankle to the back of your knee. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, then alternate to the other foot.

Tight calf muscles are not the only cause of problems like shin splints, heel spurs and plantar fasciitis. If stretching does not help these problems, talk to a doctor or personal trainer.

3. Rice Pancakes

Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked wild or brown rice

1/2 cup whey or eggwhite protein powder

1/2 cup fat-free egg substitute or 4 egg whites

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup corn

1/4 cup green peppers, diced

1/4 cup green onions, chopped

2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

Directions:

Cook wild rice according to the package directions and allow to cool.

Blend together the flour, egg substitute or egg whites, and milk until smooth. Add the wild rice, peas, corn, green peppers, green onions, and parsley. Stir to mix well.

Coat a pan with nonstick cooking spray (nonfat), pour 1/4 cup batter onto pan. Cook over medium heat until golden brown. Flip and repeat. Serve with plumb or sweet and sour sauce.

Nutritional Information:

Serving size: 3 pancakes

Calories: 170

Fat: 1 g

Cholesterol: 1 mg

Protein: 14 g

Carbohydrates: 20 g

Fiber: 3 g

Sodium: 200mg

4. The Negative Calorie diet

I have recently had the opportunity to read the book "The Negative Calorie Diet". This diet is based on scientific research about how your body digests food. And it has been found that there are about 100 different foods requiring your body to burn more calories processing these foods through your digestive system than the actual calorie content of the food itself.

This means that you can eat as much as you want (of the recommended foods) and still lose weight. Even some prominent stars like Liz Hurley are using this diet.

The book is written brilliantly and it can help you to administrate your calorie intake in a better way, even though it is not recommendable (in my opinion) to do the diet for prolonged times. But in order to start your weight loss program and see some fast results the Negative Calorie diet is just perfect!

Just keep in mind that you have to change your way of eating in order to have long term results!

If you want to read the book you can get it here:

The Negative Calorie Diet

If a friend forwarded this e-zine to you and if you like what your read, please subscribe by visiting: Low Fat Digest.

Comments? Ideas? Feedback? Articles you have written and want to be published? Please tell me. I¡¦d love to hear from you. Just reply to this e-zine and tell me what you think!

Marion