Somewhere between cereal for breakfast and pizza for dinner, lunch got complicated. If there isn’t a neat container of last night’s stir fry or a sandwich constructed with 12-grain bread, honey ham, provolone cheese, creamy horseradish and mixed greens – fast food it and forget it.

The truth is, a satisfying lunch is easy to throw together at the last minute – no pre-planning or pre-constructing required.

So put down that $10 dollar bill for Chinese takeout. Speed away from fast food. Here’s what to do:

Munch-a-lunch. My kids’ school invented this for their hot lunch program – It’s basically a bunch of snackie foods called “lunch.” Grab whatever you can find: crackers, deli meat, cheese (even shredded), a dollop of hummus – dump in a container for lunch.

Simple salad. Grab a handful of spinach and drizzle with your favorite dressing. Toss on a topping – cheese, almonds, craisens. Extra credit: Add a scoop of cottage cheese.

Crackers and dip. Smother Saltines with peanut butter. Grab the whole jar if needed. Dip Graham crackers in yogurt (vanilla or Boston Cream Pie).

Double-up on breakfast. Instant oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, dry cereal, granola bars – if you’ll eat it for breakfast, you’ll enjoy it at lunch, too.

Leftovers that don’t match. Pizza and baked beans. Carrots and lasagna. Eat separately. Don’t get picky – get going.

Grab two. Two bananas are more filling than one. Two pieces of buttered bread. Two cupcakes (well, maybe not).

Take the whole box or bag. Forget about individual servings today. Just fill a bag with edible nosh on your way out the door.

Grab veggies whole. Wash and go – no need to shave carrots or chop into bite-sized pieces. Eat tomatoes like apples, bite by bite. Snip the ends of green beans as you eat.

Go nuts. They’re an incredibly satisfying filler food with any lunch – plain almonds are a favorite of mine.

What do you grab for lunch in a hurry?

Photo by Sakurako Kitsa

My mornings are on the right track thanks to 10-10-10 and love.

They aren’t perfect. But neither am I. Its a good fit.

Another area that needs help is my get up and go – something I usually refer to as a huge mug of “Melissa” coffee. Really really really strong stuff.

And while I’ll never be one to ban caffiene or alcohol or sweetsies, I have to tell ya I’m startin to consider it. I’m dang tired of being tired.

So with all this talk of love and simplicity and living in the moment, its time I practice what I preach. Because tired Melissas are rarely happy. Replace that with irritable, grouchy, moody, you name it, if its a symptom of lack of sleep, it fits.

Starting today I’m adopting these rules. I’m not sure if I’ll notice a difference. That’s what I love about this blog – its a perfect testing ground for my hypotheses. But I have a feeling I’m in the right direction. That’s the kind of life I’m lookin for.

Here’s how to give energy a kiss:

Take a vitamin D supplement. Here is Wisconsin, Mr. Sun has been hiding these days. Which doesn’t bide too well for my energy kisses, seeing that vitamin D deficiency causes a whole basket of trouble, include low energy and fatigue. I found a bottle of D’s for about $10. Here’s to 90 sunshiney little pills, my friend. Cheers.

Drink less, less late. The effect alcohol has on sleep is real – I have proof. Its a pretty simple test I conducted. First, I didn’t drink. Then, the next day, I felt refreshed and energetic. I’m not suggesting an alcohol ban (unless that’s your thing – up to you). But have a glass of wine with dinner instead of after the kids go to bed. Enjoy the health benefits of red wine without the sleep deprivation. Double cheers (and I don’t mean two glasses full).

Eat fruits and veggies. A lot. Five to 9 servings are recommended per day. Ever notice how sluggish you feel on the weekend? A couple drinks, pancakes for breakfast and pizza for lunch will do that to a girl. Start the day right with a fruit. Make it magical with mangoes. Enchanted with … el apple.

How about you? Are you ready to give energy a kiss? What will you do different?

Photo by .craig

Its starts with the best intentions – you really mean it. You’re going to lose weight – and keep it off – starting today.

Maybe it was an article you read or the latest episode of The Biggest Loser. Whatever started your quest, it inspired you in a big way.

But then: back to reality.

You don’t have time for a work out … again.

And rising early to hit the gym fizzles out after the first day. Is it normal to feel like throwing up on the stationary bike?

Whatever excuse you can think of to skip a workout, the real reason boils down to this: you haven’t found your comfort zone.

Its defeating to be around the hard-bodies at the trendy gym. Working out around men makes you uncomfortable. Or if you’re like me, the thought of downloading a Netflix yoga flick sounds fun, but you don’t have enough room in the basement for the moves.

Whatever the reason, dig it up. Think of every possible excuse and write it down. Is it the below zero weather? You just don’t like working out? Write it down. No excuse left behind. This should be fairly easy.

Now, debate yourself. What could you change to make working out more appealing? Here are some ideas.

- Purchase a treadmill or elliptical machine from Craigslist or ebay. Set it up in a convenient spot with access to some type of visual entertainment – a TV or window. Even a portable DVD player will work. You could also read.
- Rearrange furniture to free your cramped workout space.
- Buy a yoga mat.
- Find a women-only gym.
- Join an indoor volleyball team.
- Become a mall-walker. Take a friend.
- Download a different Netflix workout each week at home.
- Rent some aerobic DVDs from the library.
- Make up your own 30-minute workout. Running in place, jumping jacks, push-ups, squats, lunges, sit-ups – the variations are endless. Invite a friend to join you and make it a girls night in.
- Take dance lessons.
- Take your family to the gym for a game of basketball.
- Bundle up and walk around in the snow.
- Go swimming.
- Turn morning workouts into a treat. Give yourself more than enough time so you can get home and enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee before getting ready.
- Buy a workout outfit that makes you feel amazingly hot.
- Download some heart-pumping music from www.lala.com

I hope you find the answers you need.

See also: Snowball Fitness: Set Goals, Start Tiny

Photo by chishikilauren

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When it comes to fitness, most of us know what it feels like to get off track.

The skinny jeans start feeling painfully skinny. Suddenly, you’re at a crossroads: risk the chance of seeing a button go flying or buy bigger pants?

It happened to me. Nine years ago, I found myself 30 pounds heavier than I meant to be.  I had no idea where to start.

Maybe that’s how you feel today.

As Mr. Right and I have been cleaning up our finances using the Snowball Method, I wondered: Could this snowball theory work for fitness too? Could a person dump extra pounds like we dumped our debt?

If you’ve been feeling physically gross and out of shape, join me for a new kind of snowball.

For starters: Ignore fad diets and hype. Here is something I know to be true: if you eat properly and workout, you will lose weight. I lost 30 pounds – and kept it off, for the most part. I started small. Which leads me to:

Make a list of baby steps. What is your final goal? It could be to lose 30 pounds, or maybe you want to have shapely buns for the first time in your life. Let that goal be at the end of your snowball fitness list. What are the steps in between? This will take some thought. Some examples:

• Drink coffee black (without creamer)
• Have one beer (or chai tea or juice box) per day instead of two.
• Quit drinking soda
• Quit eating candy at work (a problem for me)
• Just say “no” to the kids’ Halloween candy (a problem for me at home)
• Bring a serving of veggies to work everyday
• Swap your Ranch dip for hummus
• Don’t eat fast food
• Eat 5 to 9 servings of fruits and veggies per day
• Workout 10 minutes each morning
• Do 20 squats per day
• Attend cardio kickboxing every Tuesday

and so on.

Create a list or spreadsheet. Organize your baby steps in easy-to-hard order, with your goal at the end.

Get the ball rolling. Start with your first baby step. Let the habit form – I’d recommend trying to stick with it for at least a week. If you get to the next step and find yourself reverting back from the first – stop. Get that one habit in hand. Start walking.

Build momentum. Think about the things you already do – how can you make them healthier? Can you start cooking healthy meals at home rather than going out to eat? Can you make veggies and fruit the main course of your meal instead of a side?

Consider your lifestyle. My fitness has taken a back seat since starting this blog for obvious reasons – I have less “me” time and more work to fill it with. But there are some not so obvious reasons, too. One is that I need to go somewhere in order to work during my lunch hour. I’m drinking more chai and eating more potato chips at cafes offering free wi-fi than ever before. This week, I’ve decided to do my work at the local library. Stupidity calories solved.

Know what you eat. You could start a food diary, but who has the time? Instead, try a fake food diary. Before you eat something (even a bite-size Snickers) ask yourself if you’d feel good writing that in your fake food diary. If you would, by all means, enjoy. If not – skip it.

Care about the looks you can control. Its easy to get lax about weight loss because it takes a long time to reach the final goal. Fix things that give you immediate results. Shave your legs, pluck your eyebrows, dab on a little eye makeup. The snowball method is all about feeling good and watching your success build.

Reclaim your health, one ignored Snickers at a time.

See also:

Project: Find a 10 Minute Workout

5 Fitness Tips for Lazy People

A Little Guide to Keeping it Tiny

Photo by millylillyrose

Find a new Project every weekend at Peace & Projects.

Today, I had to face reality: I’ve gained weight.

Its evident in a couple areas, but in one that really bugs me – my belly.

I can usually ignore my slightly double chin. And my flabby triceps – nah, they don’t really bother me.

But the belly is hard to ignore. Its always just looking right at-cha.

So in a quest to lose my middle, I’ve decided not to eat it.

“It” as in that tempting piece of candy, bag of chips or Cocoa Roos cereal I’m sure to crave. Instead, I’ll have a sip of water, brew a cup of green tea or take a short walk.

I’ll take a tiny step in the right direction.

Photo by Bob.Fornal

photo by Bruce Tuten

“Your kids are probably going to get the swine flu.”

This is not the phrase you want to hear from a doctor, especially after finding out both your kids have strep throat – which equals a drastically weakened immune system already.

If you haven’t heard, there is a lot of bad news about the flu these days. As Mr. Right and I found out, even doctors are cynical. But while I’m not one to buy into paranoia, I will say this: getting the swine flu would really suck. Times that by four people and it’s a formula for about a month’s worth of horror.

In an effort to help a body out, I wondered: what can I do?

Sure, there’s the obvious – washing hands, not touching nose, eyes and mouth – but what about my best bud – my immune system? How could I give her a little turbo boost, a little wash and wax? While the world is swallowing vitamin C and Echinacea tablets, what should I eat?

Here’s what the experts recommended:

-         Natural, unprocessed foods. So long potato chips – hello baked potatoes.

-         A laundry-list of the usual healthy suspects: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, as well as lean, nutrient-rich fish and poultry.

-         Total knockout: 5 to 9 servings of colorful fruits and vegetables each day.

Whoa… 5 to 9 servings per day.

If you’re wondering how your budget or veggie-hating kids will be able to survive the 5 to 9, fear not – further research defined the ever-ambiguous “serving:”

Presenting: A serving, defined.

1 medium fruit or 1/2 cup small or cut-up fruit

3/4 cup 100% fruit juice

1/4 cup dried fruit (such as raisins, dates, apricots)

1/2 cup raw or cooked vegetables

1 cup raw leafy vegetables (such as lettuce, spinach, kale)

1/2 cup cooked beans or peas (kidney beans, pinto beans, lentils)

Here’s what a sample diet of immunity boosting goodness would look like:

Breakfast:
-         ¾ cup Simply Orange juice
-         5 to 10 medium-size pieces of melon
-         Organic yogurt

Snack:
-         Banana

Lunch:
-         Sandwich topped with handful of spinach
-         5 carrot sticks (or radishes, one of my favorite veggie underdogs!)

Snack:
-         Granola mix with 5 to 10 dried apricots. Here’s a recipe, though it uses processed foods – feel free to substitute!

Dinner:
-         1 cup of cooked veggies with dinner entrée

Serving count: 8 servings!

For even more immunity power, make sure to include the three muske-tears: garlic, onion and ginger. Seek recipes containing their full-bodied flavors. My source also recommends 5 to 9 raw servings of each per day.

Just kidding.

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Sources: Mary A. Connelly MD ABFP, ABIHM, Medical Director, Bellin Health Center for Health & Healing, Green Bay, Wisc.

National Cancer Institute 5-a-day for better health campaign.

Good websites are:

www.drweil.com

www.eatingwell.com

www.5aday.org

If you like this article, pass it on. Thank you.

photo by Bern@t

Last week, I wrote about switching to only warm water for my skin care routine (no cleansers or moisturizers allowed).

Here are three things I learned:

1. Using only water to cleanse is very liberating. I felt like a rebel against conventional skin care and it felt awesome.

2. Apparently, you need to have very good genes in order for this regimen to work.

3. I am not one of those people.

At first I was hopeful – “This is actually working!”

But as the week progressed, I started to feel a bit… dirty. Acne was popping up, and by popping, I mean, multiplying at a rate I was not comfortable with.

As a silent observer to my skin care woes, Mr. Right said, “Wouldn’t it be funny to find out good skin has nothing to do with the quality of the products? That its all related to stress?”

I gave him a, “That would be HILarious” look. (He decided to go back to silent observation.)

So I’m back to testing my way to perfect skin.

If I ever find a magic potion, you’ll be the first to know. Until then, I’ll be using water to supplement my skin care rather than define it.

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photo by savor soaps

The secret to clearer skin is simply getting past your pimply prime – your teenage years… right?

That’s what I use to think before realizing words like nac-ne (neck acne) and ch-acne (chin acne) would pop up in my everyday speak as an adult. I funded my obsession for clear skin the American way – by investing hundreds of dollars into various creams, soaps and hydrating masks.

I took my first beauty plunge by investing my entire 18-year-old savings into Mary Kay products to start my very own business. Looking back I can’t say I regret the decision. Ok, maybe just a little. But at least I could put “independent beauty consultant” on my resume. (Which I did, and you can proceed to laugh now.)

Two hundred pink Mary Kay bags later, I decided to give up the business. The products weren’t working as they once had. I was having problem spots (like previously noted nac-ne and ch-acne), not to mention the products didn’t rank very well on the cosmetic database.

Enter my organic crazed year of 2008.

I lived for organics. Or should I say, I turned my moneybags upside down for the stuff and barely winced.

Problem was, my acne was still surfacing. No amount of transformative cleansing clay seemed to help.

Enter phase desperation, or the current year. Yes, some of my acne is self-inflicted from stress over things that matter, but what of the pure gold I’m dotting, scrubbing and hardening onto my face?

I finally found a way to ask a local business owner how she keeps her face looking so fab – the girl seriously has the complexion of a supple princess, all glowing and dewy.

Her answer?

“I just use warm water and a wash cloth. Oh yeah, and drink tons of water.”

I twisted my hands….

“But what about moisturizer? What about masks? What about eye repair balm?”

Her answer? “I really should be better…”

My jaw dropped.

Warm water.

Washcloth.

What?

SO – I’m testing it for a week. I’m skeptical, but I can do free.

Full report to come!

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by heza

There are some days I simply do not want to workout; I’d give anything to avoid letting my feet hit the cold, horrible ground.

Instead, I slam the “snooze” and snuggle back into my fluffy cloud.

Instead of letting the guilt of a missed workout consume me, I’ve found a 10-minute workout I can always fit into my morning schedule. I highly recommend finding a similar one. (Mine is a yoga routine from O Magazine.)

I love this 10-minute workout because:

• It only requires a floor mat. In fact, don’t even need a fancy mat – a throw blanket works just fine to save my knees from pain.
• Since its yoga, it’s a great way to start my day. Deep breathing and easy stretches are a perfect morning combination.
• It’s interesting. I don’t have to hold a single pose for longer than 5 breaths.

If you’re not into yoga, there are plenty of other machine-less exercises to turn into a customized 10-minute routine. Here are a few to consider:

-         Sit-ups. Work on your six-pack the old-fashioned way.

-         Push-ups. Tones biceps, triceps, forearms, chest and much more.

-         Jogging. Calorie killer!

-         Leg lifts. Tones inner and outer thigh.

-         Lunges. Strengthen and tone legs and buns.

-         Plain old stretching. Increases range of motion, which makes everyday tasks easier.

-         Jumping jacks. One hundred of these little jumpers can burn 200 – 240 calories.

What am I forgetting?

More fitness help: 5 fitness tips for lazy people

When it comes to fitness, put me in the Prefer to do as Little as Possible with Hot Results category.

I wasn’t always such a fitness slacker. Like most brides, I worked out obsessively before my wedding. It was one of the few times I actually took a weight-lifting class where I pumped iron to the beat of Shakira. To this day whenever I hear that song, my arms go weak and I have an intense urge to run away.

Lifting weights is the worst thing ever.

I’m afraid my ecstatic, “I signed up for a weight lifting class” days are over. It just doesn’t seem worth it. Sure, I eat fairly healthy and workout regularly, but you won’t find me in line for any exercise boot camps that inflict unbelievable pain, like my weight class did.

Here are a few lazy ways to look fabulous – without Shakira shoulder presses.

1. Wear long scarves. I recently discovered the best fashion camouflage – long, flowy scarves. They’re even worn in summer – bonus for all those tight tanks. They create a distracting line from neck to waist.
2. Pushups are the second worst thing ever. I get tendonitis from “real” pushups. Start small by doing 10 wall pushups. Then graduate to the couch for pushups as intense as you please. NOTE: Pushups are a great arm alternative to weight classes. They’re free and you can do them on commercial breaks.
3. Stop hunching. When we don’t feel in shape, our silhouette shows it. Stand tall, find something to be proud of, feel powerful. Not arched-back teenager stuff. Just stand up straight, shoulders back.
4. Don’t let your weight be an excuse for bad fashion. I see so many plus-size women wearing horribly loose clothes, primarily in stretch cotton. Seek out items with structure. Accessorize boldly. The only thing sadder than being out of shape is doing it in sweatpants and an oversize t-shirt.
5. Squash negativity. When you see a body part or area that makes you depressed, say aloud, “I can work on you.” Then, take action by starting a food log or committing to a workout schedule. You can even post your goal as a comment below to help hold yourself accountable for a fabulous new beginning.

What do you want to work on?