Feel Better in Your Body by Jovanka JoAnn Milivojevic

During the holidays eating less may or may not be on your mind. While there’s nothing wrong with the occasional treat, consider a portable healthy treat perfect for this time of year: seasonal oranges such as tangelos, blood oranges, and Clementines.

GOODNESS INSIDE

Oranges are the number one citrus crop in the world.  And they come in many varieties. The navel, so named for the bellybutton-like shape on the blossom end, is the world’s most popular eating orange. Another the holidays, blood oranges make into markets. They get their vibrant color from high concentrations of anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant. Another holiday arrival are Clementines, seedless members of the mandarin family (Citrus reticulata). Clementines are a hybrid cross of a tangerine and a wild North African orange. The compact easy to peel fruits are perfect pick-me-ups any time of the day.

In addition to antioxidants, oranges are a good source of potassium and folate, a B vitamin; both help protect your heart. A medium sized orange contains about 130% of the daily recommended value of vitamin C. Studies have shown that the pectin, found in the white pith helps reduce appetite – making them an even more important fruit to have around during holiday snack bowl season.

BY THE NUMBERS :

• 130% – the RDA percentage of vitamin C contained in one medium orange.
• 80 calories in one average-sized orange

SELECTION AND STORAGE

Pick fruit that is firm and feels heavy for its size – it’s a juicer choice.  The skin should be bright and colorful. Avoid those with bruises or discolored skins.  A bit of green doesn’t mean the fruit is not ripe. It’s the natural color. Some growers dye the skin to make the fruit more uniformly orange. The FDA requires them to post a sign stating “color added”.

Create a seasonal centerpiece in your office by lining a large bowl with evergreen branches. Arrange a variety of oranges in the bowl such navel, tangerines, mandarins and Clementines. Oranges can be kept at room temperature of several days. They can also be frozen. Encourage your staff and clients to enjoy the sweet treat before or after a massage. The sweet citrus fragrance that fills the room is added bonus that every can enjoyed by all.

Juice Tips
Fruit at room temperature gives up more juice. Roll the fruit on the counter top with the palm of your hand to break the juice sacs. Cut in half crosswise and ream out the juice using a hand or electric juicer.

Check out this refreshing Grapefruit and Orange Cooler

Love,

Jovanka JoAnn Milivojevic

A pound has about 3,500 calories.  To lose a pound a week (considered very reasonable and doable by most dietitians) you need to reduce 500 calories a day.  That could be a combination of diet and exercise – the best way to go.

EASY WAYS TO CUT CALORIES: (each tip about 100 or more)

• use nonfat milk instead of whole milk and a no cal sweeter such as stevia or truvia in your coffee
• skip the bagel and have a banana, hard-boiled egg or English muffin instead
• substitute high fiber, high protein extend crisps for potato chips
• use yogurt or mustard instead of mayo
• half the rice or pasta and double the veggies
• eat an open face sandwich with only one slice of bread

EXERCISE WISE

Most people burn about 400 calories/hour when at a moderate rate on the treadmill.  You an break that up into 2 30-minute sessions or 3-20 minute sessions in any given day.  Just ensure you’re at a high enough heart rate. An easy way to gauge is if you can talk but not sing while you’re exercising.

DOING THE MATH

exercise 4xweek = 1,600 calories burned

cut 300 calories daily = 2,100 calories saved

total: 3,700 calories (or at least a pound a week down)

Play with these concepts and come up with your own food and fitness plan so that will not only fit in your jeans come Jan 1 you just might be flaunting it in your skinny jeans!

Love,

Jovanka JoAnn Milivojevic

Eating healthfully is an evolutionary process – a gradual shift in your food choices and eating behaviors over time.  Naturally, the food you eat and enjoy changes as you grow from a child into an adult. However, young children can teach us a lot about how to eat sensibly as they are born with built-in appetite wisdom. Like the gas gauge on your car that tells you when it’s time to fuel up and when it’s time to stop, children intuitively know when they are hungry or full – they are masters of self-regulation with food.

It is very telling when a child only eats a little and loses interest in food – the child is full. That’s the end of the story regardless of how long you’ve slaved in the kitchen! Fast forward 20 years – that child (now an adult) most likely will keep eating that gourmet meal because it’s not only delicious, but it’s there. Studies have shown that grown-ups tend to eat what is put in front of them – even if it’s too much.  Most of us shut off our internal cues of hunger and fullness – because our natural appetite instincts are overridden by the allure of second helpings and tasty desserts. The danger in this is obvious – overeating and weight gain – not great for health!

So what are some strategies to successfully rewrite your eating script to live a healthier, happier life?  Take a look at the check list below for some sure-fire ways to rethink what you eat and drink forever.

• Avoid meal skipping, especially breakfast.  While all meals are a chance to get valuable nutrients, breakfast truly is the mac-daddy of your daily meal triad!
• Do daily food jotting by keeping a notebook or your phone with you to write down what you eat and drink 24/7.  You’ll be surprised where excess, empty calories are coming in!
• Swap sliced chopped or diced vegetables for refined carbs snacks like white flour-based crackers, cookies and chips.
• Banish the regular soda for mineral water or zero-calorie fruit infused water.
• Aim for the better butters such nut butters like peanut or almond butter.
• Go meatless at least one day a week (it’s better for you and the planet!).  Make meals with plant foods like as tofu, beans, nuts, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.

Excerpted from The Essential Guide to Healthy and Healing Foods by

Victoria Shanta Retelny, RD, LDN with Jovanka JoAnn Milivojevic

Do you want to lose weight? Stress less?  Exercise more?  Thrive instead of just survive?  A wellness coach can get you there.

I know you’ve heard these promises many, many times before.  Weight loss is a multi-million dollar industry.  There are countless books, seminars, and workout DVDs that promise you’ll lose weight and feel great.  Some with outrageous claims like lose weight while you sleep, or the all chocolate diet.

Why does wellness coaching work where other programs fail?

Because it is designed specifically around you. Wellness coaching inspires you to reshape your life using your personal strengths, motivations, and passions.  It’s about looking at what’s right, what’s working and how to use that positivity to fuel your wellness goals.

YOUR PERSONAL COACH

An athletic coach helps athletes reach their highest athletic potential; a wellness coach helps you reach yours. Wellness coaches are specially trained professional who help you design and reach goals specific to you. No one-size-fits-all diets, fitness, or stress-reduction programs here.  The whole process is designed around you.

How?  By asking the right questions and setting the right goals at the right time.  For example, what motivates you to lose weight?  Motivations are personal and include everything from desiring to play with grand children to feeling sexier to walking pain-free during exotic hiking treks. Motivations inspire your journey. Your existing strengths empower to stay the course.

USING YOUR UNIQUE STRENGTHS

It’s exciting to discover your unique strengths.  Everyone is good at some thing.  At many things really. In wellness coaching, we use these strengths to catapult you toward reaching your goals.  For example, perhaps “love of learning” is strength for you.  Then reading articles about health and fitness; experimenting with new fitness routines; and/or trying new food combinations might be relevant to you.  Or perhaps “passion/zeal” is top strength.  Discovering what you’re passionate about and using that as tactic will help you reach your goals in way that is interesting and fun.  To discover your top strengths, take the VIA questionaire. (scroll half way down the page for quiz)

WHAT TO EXPECT

The process of wellness coaching progresses through several stages:

• You provide background information through a well-being assessment so that you and your coach are well-informed on the key issues, including medical considerations.
• During the first 60-90 minute coaching session, you identify your priorities and develop a personal wellness plan including a vision, three month goals and the first steps.
• In subsequent 30-40 minute weekly coaching sessions you and your coach review the progress toward your vision and goals, explore and resolve the most pressing issues, learn something new, and then agree on a set of goals for the following week. You will enjoy plenty of ah-ah insights along the way.
• By the end of three months, you can expect to reach more than 70% of your three-month goals and feel energized and confident to embark on new areas with or without your coach.

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

We all need someone to believe in us, help us, and inspire us. I believe that we can reach our wellness goals. But we need to give ourselves a true chance. We need to accept that long lasting changes require time, patience, a sense of a sense of humor, and lightness of being.

I’ve helped clients make inspiring discoveries about their motivations and be surprised by their capabilities. As a wellness coach, I can help you uncover and use your strengths to get you where you want to be.  It’s an exhilarating journey!

If you’d like more information or a free mini-session, contact me at JoAnnMil@comcast.net

In Health,

Jovanka JoAnn Milivojevic

We diet to lose weight, seek to exercise more,  to quit smoking, to reduce stress.  But what about your mental health? Thoughts drive how we feel and how we interpret the world.  When was the last time you actually sought to bring more positivity into your life?  It’s about more than feeling good, it’s about more than surviving,  it’s about thriving….

HEAD GAMES

Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, and distinguished professor at UNC-Chapel Hill has deeply studied the role positive emotion plays in life.  It goes way beyond pleasure (but what a bonus side effect that is!) As it turns out, positivity (joy, happiness, love) helps you broaden your outlook and build your life.  When it comes to survival it is as important as appropriate fear, anger, and sadness.

In study after study, she and her colleagues found that those with more positivity saw the bigger picture and more available options. Those with more negativity, saw fewer options and got bogged down in details (not seeing the forest for the trees so to speak).

Being scientists, they crunched numbers and found the ideal ratio of positive to negative emotion is 3 to 1.  We need both in our lives.  but most of us dwell more in the negative – so we’ve got some work to do (and it’s interesting and fun too)

You can think of positivity as levity and negativity as gravity.  Too much levity and we’re floating around, flighty, ungrounded; too much negativity and we crash to the ground in a miserable, weepy heap.  As Fredrickson points out in her book, Positivity; appropriate negativity grounds you in reality; heartfelt positivity opens and uplifts – enabling you to flourish.

All we need to do is get a grip on our thoughts, tune in to the positive more and see what happens.  If you’re like most people, the results will inspire and amaze.  At very least you’ll enjoy more life and so will the people around you.  First you need to assess where you are so you can  build a working plan. Just like learning to eat better and exercise more, we need guidance, goal, and daily actions. Check out positivityratio.com

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR POSITIVITY

Set your self a goal of increasing positivity in the next 21 days. Here’s a few ideas:

• Employ mindfulness. check in with your head – what are you thinking, feeling? curb negativity’s fascist grip by not indulging or suppressing – but by letting it go (it takes practice!)
  
• Avoid gossip and sarcasm. we all like to take jabs at others every now again, but reconsider. This kind of focus drags you down along with the person your undermining.  What kind of positive things can you say instead?
• Savor Goodness. Good is good.  Drink it all in. Relish every nuance, taste, sound, sight.  Share it if you can.
• Play. My personal favorite!  Whether it’s dancing, doing somersaults,  painting, playing chess, or reading.  In which activity do you lose yourself?  Does time stop?  Where self-consciousness ceases? This is play.  This is flow.  Find it, do more of it.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – it’s in our constitution.  You have the right to be happy.  With every right there is responsibility.  Yours is to give positivity a heartfelt try.  You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Love,

Jovanka JoAnn Milivojevic