Habit 4 Health Holiday News!

Happy Holidays to you all!

There's a lot of you traveling the country, getting ready for a house full of friends and family, and wondering just how much you're going to go off your diet!

The best advice we can give you is DO NOT go all day saving your calories for that big meal at the end of the day. Savour each bite and eat moderate portions throughout the day. Stick close to the relish tray but be sure to grab one of those sugar cookies that your mom or grandma only makes once a year!

Know you will work off those cookies at our 'Kick Start Healthy Habits' Fitness Boot Camp starting January 11, 2010 at 6:10AM at the North Liberty Recreation Center.

BIG HABIT 4 HEALTH NEWS!!
A new evening 'Kick Start Healthy Habits' is now available. It's 5:30-6:30 PM beginning January 11, 2010 at the North Liberty Recreation Center.

AND

if you enroll in either the morning or evening class by December 31, 2009 you get 2 FREE workouts! If you and a friend enroll by December 31, 2009 you each get 5 FREE workouts!

Happy Holidays to you all!

Better You in 2010!

Randi and I recently attended a Go Red for Women event with the American Heart Association (AHA). We both have the same goal of helping others to create healthy lifestyles in order to prevent heart disease, a top five cause of death in the United States. We'll be doing a lot of partnership work with the AHA in the future so be sure to check back often because we'll pass educational information on to you!

BETTER YOU IN 2010 Quick Tips:

1. Think lifestyle, not solely diet. The small choices you make each day make a HUGE difference!

2. Write your physical activity time on a calendar. make an appointment with yourself - and DON'T break it!

3. Check food labels for the number of servings per container as well as calories.

4. Help someone else develop healthy habits. It will make you feel good and help you stick to your own plan. Enroll yourself and a friend by December 31, 2009 in our 'Kick Start Healthy Habits' at the North Liberty Recreation Center and get each get 5 FREE workouts!

5. Set a realistic weight loss goal: 1-2 pounds per week.

6. Don't let your mood control your food. Figure out why you want to eat before you snack.

See you in class and safe travels over this holiday season!


Brooke and Randi

Schedule Fitness Success!!

Exercising in the middle of the day keeps your adrenaline pumping so you're alert until the day's end. But what if you find it hard to start moving in the first place? Tiny timing tips can make all the difference.

• Set an appointment to exercise. It's easier to stick to a workout if it's slotted into your day like any other to-do item. And Prepare a backup time to deal with any exercise barrier that may arise.
• Power up with a snack 60 minutes before exercising. A 200-calorie nibble that's high in complex carbs-such as whole-wheat crackers with peanut butter- will provide a steady source of energy so you zip through a workout.

Cold Weather Casseroles

Most casseroles take time-time to prepare, time to cook, and time to eat! So what better time for casseroles than those days when you cannot get the car out of the garage because of the 5 foot high snow drift!

Casseroles, stews, and soups: These are all good ways in cool weather to sneak more nutrition into your eating plan.

Dried beans and peas like navy, kidney, black or split, provide fiber, protein, iron, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, potassium, carbohydrates and other B vitamins. In addition, dried beans and peas are low in fat and cholesterol-free.

Plan ahead! Soak dried beans overnight, drain and add fresh water, then cook for two to three hours or until tender. Add rice or pasta, vegetables and lean meat for increased flavor and nutrition. If you use canned beans in soups, add less salt.

You can also experiment with different spices to change the character of your entree.

Enjoy your winter casseroles, soups, and stews!

Fitness Tip of the Week: Are You Changing Your Cardio Workouts?

How often do you change your cardio workouts? Every other workout? Every week maybe? Once a year? Here are a couple of great tips on how to change up the cardio routines you do to get the greatest benefit for your body.

Cardio machines take up a lot of space in most gyms due to their popularity and since they generally are easy to use, they are a simple way to get your heart rate up, burn some calories, and work on your lung capacity and endurance. Cardio machines are great but Habit 4 Health's 'Kick Start Healthy Habits' Fitness Boot Camp can do all this with no machines! We are a great way to mix up your cardio workout!

Remember though, each form of stimulus has both positive effects on the body as well as negatives. Look at the recumbent bike for example. What are the positive outcomes of using one for 20 to 40 minutes a few times a week? Well, it gets your heart rate up and burns calories. From a muscular standpoint, however, there can be some negative effects on your body if you never change up this one repetitive stimulus. For one, the constant seated position is like putting a cast on t he muscles of the hips. yes, the quads are getting lots of stimulus, and it gets your heart rate up, but as you may know, we cannot enough emphasize the importance of balancing the muscular system. Getting out of the seated position and giving your muscles a variety of stimulus will improve your overall fitness.

Change up your cardio routines often to give your muscular system new and different forms of stimulus. There are all sorts of ways to get different forms of cardio training. Treadmills, row machines, elliptical machines, running stairs, going out for a run, getting on the bike, jump-roping, swimming. Try not to to choose the most comfortable one and do it over and over again. CHALLENGE yourself and change up your routine.

Habit 4 Health's 'Kick Start Healthy Habits' Fitness Boot Camp focuses on cardio two days of a five day boot camp. In this class you will learn a variety of cardio exercises that you can do just about anywhere because the only requirements are your body, your mind, and self-determination! Enroll now through our Contact Us form at http://www.habit4health.com/ and you'll experience exactly what this fitness tip recommends!!

Look Thinner and Feel Better By Christmas with Interval Training!!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to get serious! Just think...you could be the one showing up at Christmas 5-7 pounds lighter than you were when everyone saw you at Thanksgiving!

I was talking on the phone to a new client and she asked me 'What is circuit or interval training?' What a perfect question!

Interval training involves alternating high intensity exercise with recovery periods or active recovery (low intensity). Ratio is adjustable according to relative level of fitness and comfort.

How do I set up interval training?
Time is measured periods of work followed by measured periods of rests. An example would be 1 minute of high intensity work (such as a sprint), followed by 2 minutes of low intensity exercise 9e.g. walking/strengthening) and alternating that several times for 15-30 minutes.

Distance is measured distances of work followed by measured distances of rest. Example would be high intensity work (sprint) for one block, followed by low intensity (jogging/strengthening) for 2 blocks for 15-30 minutes.

What are the benefits of interval training?
The great thing about strength training and intervals for fast weight loss is 'efficiency.' Because you are working harder, the signal to your body to change is stronger. You cut time when you increase intensity and you burn fat faster.

Benefit #1: Even if caloric expenditure during exercise is equal, higher intensity exercise rather than continuous aerobic activity, may further aid weight loss due to an acute increase in energy expenditure up to 24 hours following exercise.

Benefit #2: These findings have been confirmed by researchers from the University of Alabama, who showed that 24-hour energy expenditure was 160 calories greater in subjects performing high-intensity interval training rather than continuous exercise.

Benefit #3: The key to fast weight loss and breaking through plateaus is shifting to a slightly higher intensity in order to cut time from your workout. But the workout also goes faster, and much more importantly, you will get more results and better fitness from these methods.

Benefit #4: KEY idea: 'weight loss' = 'FAT loss' with interval training. There are some workouts that will cause you to lose both fat and muscle tissues. Losing muscle tissue is not a good things as muscle will give you that desirable shape and muscle itself will burn fat for you even at rest.

Benefit #5: You only need three hard fat burning workouts per week. You don't have to be in the gym six days per week.

Benefit #6: On your off days, it's important to stay active for at least 30 minutes, but these days should be unstructured and revolve about being active with your friends, family, or hobbies. Think of them as fat burning, stress reducing activity days!

Almost all of our programs are structured around interval training- it's fun, fast, efficient, and effective! So when you come to class plan on applying your new found interval training knowledge! Enroll in our programs today via our Contact Us form at www.habit4health.com

Can anyone beat this Thanksgiving record?

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Enjoy the holiday and we wish you safe travels!

Thanksgiving Turkey Competition

A Minnesota man basted a 72-pound turkey to defeat his sister in their annual sibling rivalry over who can prepare the biggest Thanksgiving bird. rich Portnoy roasted his enormous turkey in his 36-inch-wide, chef-calibre oven on Thanksgiving Day to top the biggest bird his sister had ever cooked by 25 pounds. Big turkeys are a tradition in the Portnoy family. Rich said his father cooked birds of 20 pounds or more years ago. Last year, Andrea Portnoy cooked a 47-pounder to take the lead after her brother could only find a 37-pounder, even though he lives in the nation's top turkey-producing state.

This year, Rich Portnoy approached the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, which helped him find an 85-pound breeding tom that, at 59 weeks old, was near the end of its useful life. He bought the turkey for $30, loaded the live bird into the back of the family's car, and drove it to a processor, where it was made oven-ready at 72 pounds. Portnoy and his wife, Charlene, invited 26 people to Thursday's feast. They weren't sure the big old tom would be edible so Portnoy also cooked a 19-pound 'backup turkey' on a backyard grill.

Interesting Fact: Minnesota is the top turkey producing state. In 2008, Minneosta produced 46.5 million turkeys while Iowa came in 10th producing 9 million turkeys.

~If you have any friendly Thanksgiving records in your family please share with us by commenting to this blog!

The First 5 of 25 Ridiculously Healthy Foods

I Can't Believe These Foods are Healthy and Yummy!

Most, minus my sister, will tell you that I love to share. So I'm sharing with you my experiences to eating healthy- these foods fend off serious diseases like diabetes and cancer and heart problems fortify your immune system; protect and smooth your skin; and help you to lose and maintain weight.

1. Eggs

I want the entire egg...not just the yolk or the egg white and believe it or not the ENTIRE egg is good for you! The yolk is home to tons of essential but hard-to-get nutrients, including choline, which is linked to lower rates of breast cancer (one yolk supplies 25% of your daily need) and antioxidants that may help prevent macular degeneration and cataracts. though many of us have shunned whole eggs because of their link to heart disease risk, there's actually substantial evidence that for most of us, eggs are not harmful but healthy.

How many eggs should I eat? People with heart disease should limit egg yolks to two a week, but the rest of us can have one whole egg daily; research shows it won't raise your risk of heart attack or stroke. Make omelets with one whole egg and two whites, and watch the cholesterol at other meals.


2. Olive Oil
I switched from vegetable oil to strict extra virgin olive oil about two years ago and I love the difference. My food has more natural flavor. Olive oil is full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) which lower 'bad' LDL cholesterol and raise 'good' HDL cholesterol. It's rich in antioxidants, which may help reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, like Alzheimer's.

How do I use olive oil? Look for extra virgin oils for the most antioxidants and flavors. Drizzle small amounts on veggies before roasting; use it to saute or stir-fry, in dressings and marinades, and to flavor bread at dinner in lieu of a layer of butter or margarine.

3. Avocado

My introduction to avocados came during a business meeting at Randi's house. I have them rarely as they are high in calories. But to avoid weight gain, use avocado in place of another high-fat food such as cheese or mayo. Avocados are smooth, buttery fruits that are a great source of not only MUFAs but other key nutrients as well.

How do I incorporate avocados into my diet? One Ohio State University study found that when avocado was added to salads (my absolute favorite way to eat avocados!) and salsa, it helped increase the absorption of specific carotenoids (plant compounds linked to lower risk of heart disease and macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness). Avocados are packed with heart-protective compounds such as soluble fiber, vitamin E, folate and potassium.

4. Broccoli

My entire family loves green stuff! I would touch anything green until a year ago. I strongly disliked the taste of anything green. But Randi told me it was okay to add a little lite ranch dressing with it and now I'm hooked. I have it in the fridge on most days!

Pick any life-threatening disease- cancer, heart disease, you name it- and eating more broccoli and its cruciferous cousins may help you beat it, Johns Hopkins research suggests. Averaging just four weekly servings of veggies like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower slashed the risk of dying from any disease by 26% among 6,100 people studied for 28 years.


Try this! For maximum disease-fighting benefits, whip out your old veggie steamer. It turns out that steaming broccoli lightly releases the maximum amount of sulforaphane.

5. Apples

I have always loved apples. My family and I typically go to the orchard every fall and my favorite are the gala apples for eating and honeycrisp for baking. Apples are one of the healthiest fruits you should be eating.


The Iowa Women's Health Study, which has been investigating the health habits of 34,000 women for nearly 20 years, named apples as one of only three foods (along with pears and red wine) that are most effective at reducing the risk of lung cancer and type 2 diabetes- and even help women lose weight.

Unhealthy use of apples v. healthy use of apples: One of the only things that could make an apple unhealthy is mixing it with sugar, flour, and butter and stuffing it into a mile high pie. Instead, have one as an afternoon snake with a tablespoon of peanut butter, or add slices to sandwiches or salads. I love apples in my salad but I also recently found a new combination (Thanks Randi!) of apples and low fat skim milk mozzarella cheese sticks.


If you have any healthy food ideas to share, please feel free to comment to this blog! This is your chance to help yourself and help others get healthy and stay healthy!

Healthy Holiday Eating Tips!

Let's face it...the holidays are the worst time to stay healthy!

But where there's a will there's a way!

Diary Products: Many holiday foods include dairy products.

• use skimmed milk and other 'low' or 'no' fat dairy products in your recipes whenever possible. Look for low fat cheeses (my favorite is mozzarella!), ultra-light cream cheese or cheddar cheese with only 7% fat.


• If you use spread that are high in fat such as butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, spread them very thinly or use only a small amount.
  

The Meat Dish:

• Choose leaner cuts of meat. Turkey is one of the leanest types of meat- typically white meat is leaner than dark meat so choose the breast meat of a chicken or turkey rather than the drumstick.


• Trim the visible fat off of meats


• Remove skin from poultry


• Choose fish more often-cold water fatty fish such as turn and salmon have 'heart healthy' types of fat in them.


• Prepare meats in ways that reduce the fat content such as broiling, stewing, or baking


• Drain the excess fat off of meats after cooking


• Cook meats on a rack so fat can drip away


• Cool soups, gravies,stews before serving and then remove the hardened fat that collects at the top

Vegetables: Fortunately, most vegetables contain little or no fat. It is what we add to the veggies that increase their fat content.

• Avoid smothering veggies with think creamy sauces or butter. Potatoes contain no fat. They do contain very little salt and are a good source of Vitamins B and C and potassium. Potato skins are a good source of fibre (fibre helps to decrease cholesterol levels, and reduce the risk of colon cancer). Leave the skins on the potatoes when you mash them and try whipping the potatoes with skim or 1% milk or low/no fat sour cream or yogurt.


• Include 2-3 veggies with your meal- steam, bake, or microwave them. Dark green veggies (broccoli) and bring orange veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes) are high in antioxidant vitamins, folic acid, and fibre. Antioxidants (as vitamins A, C, and E) can be protective agents against heart disease and cancer. Folic acid may reduce risk of heart attacks and strokes. Pick the veggies darkest in color to ensure maximum nutrition.


• Have a salad with low fat dressing
  

Stuffing

• If your stuffing recipe calls for meat or giblets, replace half of the meat with dried fruits such as cranberries, raisins, or apricots.


• Cooking Tip: Rather than cooking stuffing inside of poultry or a roast, cook the stuffing in a casserole dish or aluminum foil in the oven. This reduces the amount of fat considerably.

Gravy

• Make gravy from a low fat broth rather than drippings from the poultry is a good way to reduce fat. If your gravy recipe calls for milk, use skim milk.


• Cooking Tip: If you use drippings for the gravy, pour or skim the fat off the top of the drippings before using.

Cranberry Sauce: cranberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C. Unfortunately most of the Vitamin C is lost when cranberries are processed.

• Make your own cranberry sauce. The recipe can be found on the back of the Ocean Spray cranberry bag. It's great. I make it every year!


• Cooking Tip: When making cranberry sauce, add sugar after cooking the cranberries to maintain the tenderness of the skin.

Dessert

• Mix applesauce with mincemeat to reduce the amount of fat and serve with frozen low fat or fat free yogurt


• Angel food cake contains little or no fat and can make a great dessert when served with fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, or a fresh fruit salad


• If making pumpkin pie- use evaporated skim milk and top with low fat or fat free ice cream or frozen yogurt. Also try 'crustless pumpkin pie'.


• try to make 'wise' dessert choices rather than deny yourself.


• Have a smaller portion and savor every mouthful.


• Opt for desserts that are lower in fat and sugar (choose the sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies over the shortbread cookies as they tend to be lower in fat).

Beverage

• Mulled cider or low fat eggnog are good alternatives to high fat eggnog.


• If you choose the eggnog, have a smaller amount and dilute it with skim milk or use low fat or fat free eggnog.


• Diet carbonated sodas can make a very festive drink when added to your favorite fruit juice- try cranberry or grape juice with soda


• nonalcoholic or de-alcoholized wines are improving all the time and make great beverage alternatives.

Kick Start that 2010 'Get Healthy' Resolutions by utilizing these healthy holiday eating tips! Then we'll see you at our next 'Kick Start Healthy Habits' Boot Camp to make that resolution stick well into 2010!

Healthy Cheeseburger Pasta

Family-Favorite Cheeseburger Pasta

If you were a dinner guest at either Randi or Brooke's table, you would very rarely, if ever, see anything on the table made out of a box. We think its important that you understand you can have good tasting healthy meals in a matter of minutes! We expect to share these recipes with you during our Boot Camp classes and every now and then we'll post them to our blog.

Here's one of my favorites! Serve with a salad with lite salad dressing and a fruit and it'll be a complete meal!

25 minutes start to finish!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat penne pasta

3/4 pound lean ground beef

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 can (14.5 ounces) no salt added diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons dill pickle relish

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 teaspoon steak seasoning

1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

chopped green onions, optional

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Drain pasta; add to meat mixture.

2. Stir in the tomatoes, relish, mustard, ketchup, steak seasoning and seasoned salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes

3. Sprinkle with cheese. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand until cheese is melted. Garnish with green onions if desired.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 1/2 cups equals 391 calories, 12 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 57 mg cholesterol, 749 mg sodium, 43 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber, 28 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 3 lean meats, 2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1/2 fat.

Source: Taste of Home Magazine: Healthy Cooking

Physical Inactivity, Overweight, and Obese: An Unhealthy Relationship

What do physical inactivity, over weight, and obesity mean to you?

It's hard to answer this question without knowing what these buzz words mean so let's start with definitions.

Physical inactivity: lack of any regular pattern of physical activity beyond that required for daily functioning. Physical inactivity is the primary cause of being overweight and/or obese.

Overweight: generally defined as having more body fat than optimally healthy.

Obesity: a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse affect on health leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems.

Here's a bit of information as to how physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity work together to create health problems. Don't become or continue to be part of these obesity facts, enroll now in Habit 4 Health's Boot Camp programs or contact your employer for us to bring our programs to you at work!

Problem: 67% of Americans are overweight and of them, 50% are obese. Therefore, 33% of American adults are obese. (Center for Disease Control)

Solution: Enroll now in Habit 4 Health's Boot Camp program and talk to your employer about Habit 4 Health bringing our successful programs directly to you and your co-workers at work! We will teach you not be another overweight and obese statistic by introducing you to fun physical activity and healthy eating!

Statistics

What causes me to be overweight or obese?

• behaviors such as eating too many calories or not getting enough physical activity.
• environment and culture (bigger portion sizes, using a car to get everywhere rather than walking, little time to exercise or cook healthy meals)
• genes

What are the health affects of being overweight or obese?

- heart disease - stroke -Type 2 diabetes - high blood pressure -breathing problems

- arthritis -gallbladder problems -some kinds of cancer

What is the best way for me to lose weight?

Be physically active and make healthier food choices! Habit 4 Health's Boot Camp programs help you accomplish both!

According to the CDC, a physically active lifestyle can reduce your risk of early death from a variety of causes. There is strong evidence that regular physical activity can reduce your risk of the negative health affects mentioned above (heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, etc).

Regular physical activity can also improve your cardiorespiratory (heart, lungs, and blood vessels) and muscular fitness as well as improve mental function.

Regular physical activity also helps:

• improve functional health
• reduce waistline size
• lower risk of hip fracture
• lower risk of lung cancer
• maintain weight after weight loss
• increase bone density
• increase sleep quality

Make healthier food choices.

• focus on fruits
• vary your veggies
• get your calcium rich foods
• make half your grains whole
• go lean with proteins
• limit saturated fats

Kick Start Healthy Habits today and do NOT become one of the negative statistics above! Be sure to post comments and help each other succeed at this goal!

Kick Start 2010 By Kicking These Bad Habits Goodbye

The health care question of 2009 is how do we get out of this health care crisis? The answer lies in your 2010 kick start of healthy habits (our suggestions are in orange)!

10 Habits That Make You Unhealthy

1. Too busy to exercise.

You're not alone! Americans live a more sedentary lifestyle than we have in past generations yet our minds seem to be racing from everything we have to do. Sitting in traffic, clocking hours at our desks, and plopping in front of the TV in exhaustion at day end, exercise often goes by the wayside. Habit 4 Health can fix this! Complete our Contact Us form and ask for information on our next boot camp. Then join us for 8 weeks of serious and fun fitness success!

2. TV Watching

Prolonged TV watching is a strong predictor for obesity. Recent research has proved that people who watch around 2 hours of TV per day are much more likely to be overweight than those who watched only half an hour per day. When you watch TV you are virtually motionless. Your heart rate, blood pressure and metabolic rate decline, resulting in burning 20 to 30 calories less per hour. Multitask! Watch the Biggest Loser on NBC on Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm while running on the treadmill.

3. Task Snacking

Eating while doing other activities increases your odds of becoming overweight or obese. Snack on carrot or celery sticks. Kids love celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins on top (ants on a log) so why shouldn't you?

4. Frequent Fast Food Consumption

One of the big reason we're seeing more obesity in our society is because we are too stressed and busy to make healthy dinners at home, often opting for fast food at the drive-thru. Fast foods compromise the quality of the diet by replacing more healthy foods. Fast foods are known for high content of saturated and trans-fat, low content of fiber, and massive portion sizes, all leading to obesity. Make dinner with your family therefore creating family time and then pack the leftovers for lunch the next day.

5. Eating to Manage Feelings

Experts estimate that 75% of overeating is caused by emotions. How many times have you found yourself scouring the kitchen for a snack, or absently munching on junk food when you're stressed, but not really hungry? Snack on healthy foods such as an apple or broccoli with a bit of ranch dressing or spend some time doing something you love and you'll forget about whatever it is that was leading you towards eating.

6. Your Friends Can Make You Unhealthy

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that obesity may be 'socially contagious.' The study was conducted on more than 12,000 people over 32 years, and concluded that having an overweight friend, sibling, or spouse increased one's risk of obesity by 37 to 57%. Make new friends by walking your neighborhood at night. Before you know it you will have many new walking friends.

7. Lack of Sleep

Sleep deprivation can increase your risk of obesity by boosting ghrelin (an appetite stimulating hormone) and lowering leptin (an appetite suppressor). The study from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom found that, compared to an eight hours of shut-eye, each one hour decrease in sleep duration was linked to almost 3% more body fat. Make sleep a priority!

8. Unaware of Calories and Fat

Being unaware of calories and fat leads to weight gain and unhealthy eating habits because you easily consume twice the normal calories required to maintain your weight, let alone lose weight, if you don't know how many calories you are eating. Become a Habit 4 Health blog follower! We are always blogging nutrition education. Plus we include it in all of our Boot Camp programs!

9. Missing Meals

Research shows that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight, and that morning meals seem to help those who've lost weight keep it off. Denise Bruner, MD, obesity specialist and former president of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, says that skipping meals of any kind results in a 'tremendous bout of compensatory hunger.' Plan your meals in advance and prepare them with friends and family.

10. Uncomfortable Clothing

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse found that casual and comfortable clothing workdays promote increased physical activity-study participants took an average of 491 (8%) more steps on Jeans Day than those days in which they wore normal business attire. It's estimated participants burned an average of 35 additional calories on Jeans Day with the extra steps and miles walked. Wearing casual clothing every day for 50 weeks of work translates into burning an additional 125 calories per week and 6,250 calories per year. Promote business casual days at work and share your new comfortable clothing knowledge with friends and family.

Kick start your 2010 resolutions by kicking these bad habits goodbye!

Boot Camper of the Month: Amy Winegar

"There is always opportunity to reinvent yourself, ALWAYS." ~ Randi Burt

"After losing a parent to reoccurring cancer in 2007, I was ready for guidance with losing the weight I had gained from emotional eating. Randi's credentials were exemplary and spoke for themselves. It was her quote that remained with me. Two months later, I am able to attest it is never too late to reinvent yourself. Under Randi's personal guidance and training, I was able to achieve my weight loss and personal fitness goals. I will be forever grateful; it is the best gift."

~Amy Winegar

Welcome to Habit 4 Health!

We are so impressed with your interest in getting fit and healthy!

This is your chance to help change the world...one person at a time! Help us help you change this sick health care system to a proactive and preventative health care system.

Once you take personal accountability for your health, the rest is easy. You'll have more energy to chase your kids, grand children, and the neighbor kids out of your yard. You'll be more productive at work and at home. You'll be happier on a daily basis. These are the benefits you will feel but cannot be measured.

If you're into measuring results, let's work together to decrease your weight, trim down the inches, and decrease body fat percentages.

We offer the tools. We offer the experience. We offer the motivation. You put forth the hard work, determination, excellent attitude, tears, guts, and sweat and you'll accomplish your desired goal of fitness and wellness success.

Join the ride to a healthy future and help change the world one person at a time.

Feel free to explore our website, check back for updates (our blog will be a place to share ideas and become educated on health and fitness), and join our fitness and wellness programs.

If you have any questions or comments we are here for you!

Brooke Pettengill and Randi Burt

Co-founders of Habit 4 Health