Tips About Anything

Archive for July, 2009

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Instead of hitting the vending machine for a candy bar, which has empty, non-nutritious calories, eat nutrient-dense snacks.  This will take a little planning including a trip to the grocery store and remembering to bring it with you. 

Here are some healthy snack substitutes:

1. instead of a bag of fruity gummy candy, try 1/2 cup unsweetened mixed dried fruits (like apples, nectarines, figs, apricots)
2. in place of a slice of applie pie, try one diced apple tossed with 2 tsp broen sugar and spices, microwaved and topped with toasted oats
3. instead of a milk-chocolate candy bar, try 2 medium strawberries dipped in dark unsweetened chocolate.
4. instead of a fast-food cinnamon roll, try one packet of instant plain oatmeal flavered with 1 tbsp pecans or walnuts, 1 tsp cinnamon and if you dare, add 1 tsp maple syrup

Walking will get you fit and you may even loose weight.  If you do not have time to work out at the gym or for an hour, try walking a few times a day/week in 10 minute increments.  You can add walking to your every day tasks without making time for it.  When you go to work or the store, park farther away from the entrance.  This can easily add 5-10 minutes of walking to an activity you already planned for. 

At the end of the work day, try walking for 10-30 minutes.  Walking will help relax you and releive some of the stress the work day may have brought.

Like me, if you are struggling with loosing those last 5-15 pounds, here is a tip that will slowly, but permanently, help.  At meal times, fill your plate half full with fruits and vegetables and the other half with equal parts grains and protein.  This will cut 10-30% of calories and with exercise, you will see the pounds drop.

Drip filter coffee makers need to be cleaned monthly to remove hard water deposits (scale), leftover coffee oils that become rancid, and other impurities. Washing the pot just isn’t going to cut it: what about the internal components? Follow these steps to clean your coffee maker thoroughly and you’ll taste the difference.

1. Make a mixture of 1 part white vinegar to 2 parts water– enough to fill the pot. For a stronger solution (which might be necessary if this is the first time you’ve cleaned your coffee maker since you got it  years ago) make a mixture that is half vinegar and half water instead.
2. Put a filter in your coffee maker, as usual.
3. Pour the mixture into the coffee maker where you would normally add water.
4. Turn the coffee maker on and let the mixture run completely through.
5. Discard the filter and mixture.
6. Rinse the coffee pot.
7. Repeat all of the above twice, but this time with plain cold water. This will make sure all of the vinegar and water solution is completely gone.