Pumpkin Spice Protein Smoothie

 

Smoothies are a mainstay for our family. During the summer months our breakfast is a fruit smoothie. We may make fewer smoothies during the colder months but it is still fun to explore a variety of options and ingredients for smoothies. Pumpkin makes us think of the fall, pumpkin patches, the turning of the leaves and the festivities to come.

Pumpkin is also a great healthy resource to include in the recipes we make including pancakes, muffins, chilis or smoothies. Rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, pumpkin is incredibly healthy. What’s more, its low calorie content makes it a weight-loss-friendly food. Its nutrients and antioxidants can boost your immune system, protect your eyesight, lower your risk of certain cancers and promote heart and skin health. Pumpkin is very versatile and easy to add to your diet in both sweet and savory dishes. Incorporating pumpkin into your diet is a wonderful way to reap health benefits. Below is an easy recipe for a pumpkin spice protein smoothie.

Pumpkin Spice Protein Smoothie

Ingredients

• 5 1/3 ounces nonfat plain Greek yogurt 
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 large frozen banana
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice 
  
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 cup ice cubes
  

Directions

1. Place all the ingredients in the blender. 
2. Blend until smooth.

Serve immediately. 

 

Nutritional Information 

Serves: 1. Serving size: 1 glass. Calories: 331; Fat: 2g; Sodium: 99g; Carbohydrate: 47g; Dietary Fiber: 7g; Protein: 33g.

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Top 8 Blogs Focusing on Our Emotional Health and Weight Management

More and more we are recognizing that the key to our success in living a healthy lifestyle is addressing our emotional health as well as the classic attention grabbers of portion control and exercise. In fact, many professionals are now realizing we can’t make long term change without paying attention first to our mental health and the roots of our physical health challenges. To live healthfully our body and mind need to be on the same page.

Livliga’s mission is to help people live healthier lives. Our product is designed with science and psychology in order to support people on their healthy lifestyle journey. In fact, we have 3 patents, one of which is specifically based on the psychology of eating. We know how important it is to address the psychology of eating as well as the amount of food we eat. They go hand in hand.

We are so excited to announce that the next ebook we will be launching this fall will be in partnership with Connie Stapleton, Ph.D., who specializes in helping people live life fully, free from the mental and emotional shackles of constant thoughts (and guilt) related to food and weight. Look for more information on this much-needed ebook in October!

To provide inspiration and helpful tips in positive support of our emotional health and weight management here are our Top 8 Blogs Focusing on Our Emotional Health and Weight Management from our Live Vibrant Blog:

Live…Laugh...Love...Learn—finding your own “om”

De-stressing is hard for many of us to achieve. It is one of the cornerstones to living a healthy lifestyle. It is as equally important as eating right, building in exercise, getting the required sleep we need, and drinking enough water.

Nutrition For The Soul

Finding time to both prepare nutritious meals and also find time to nurture our souls seems nearly impossible. How do we find the time? Perhaps part of the secret is in not thinking of them as separate activities or as mutually exclusive.

The Secret to Avoiding Destructive Eating Habits at Restaurants

I have been in a long search to discover the secret to avoiding destructive eating habits at a restaurant. Recently my family has been eating more meals out in restaurants. I have found myself wanting to drift back to old, destructive habits. It is hard to break old habits. No one understands this better than I do. But it is possible.

5 Tips for Living a Life of Gratitude—for our Health and Happiness

Gratitude, in particular, has been shone to have a powerful effect on our outlook on life and our ability to manage the stresses and strains of our everyday lives in addition to the extraordinary circumstances of the holidays. The list of positive effects of gratitude is long. It includes improved heart health, reduced stress, improving our sleep, enhancing our relationships, fortifying our resilience, and boosting our self-esteem. It also helps us with our stick-to-itiveness, allowing us to keep to our exercise routine and other good healthy habits. It helps us with our overall sense of life satisfaction.

Seasonal Signs of Depression

People who find they have mild to severe depression in fall and winter, when the days grow shorter, may have seasonal affective disorder (SAD) — sometimes called the winter blues. Women, especially those in their twenties, are most susceptible to seasonal affective disorder, but it can affect men and people of all ages, including children and teens.

Being Thankful for a Healthier Lifestyle

I have been considered overweight most of my life. My mom put me on a diet in the 2nd grade! I have 3 children and a husband who have also faced their own weight issues. Our weight struggles challenged me to learn how to cook more healthfully.  One outgrowth of my journey to better health was starting a blog. Being thankful for a healthier lifestyle has been years in the making.

Starving Your Fears Is The Key To Change

I find I get motivation and inspiration wherever I roam on the internet. Recently I read a very truthful post from Kurt Smith that I wanted to share with you. Made me think about how I use food and make the same excuses. Fear can suffocate our motivation and dreams. Let's make this the year to feed our souls and starve our fears! Are you with me!?!

Impulse Eating—Grazing While fixing Meals

I have a lot of issues when it comes to eating. I have come to understand I am not alone in this reality. As I focus on my Year of Intention I have committed to unveiling my eating quirks to look at them, understand them better, be mindful of them and ultimately switch things up so I can continue to advance in my journey of an ever improving healthy lifestyle.

Our emotional health is so important but not always easy to address when we may have deep-rooted issues that have become embedded in the way we approach our food and eating. Fortunately, there are many professionals today who specialize in helping us with our relationship with food and our weight challenges. Check out the people and businesses we highlight on our Community Commitment page on our website or talk to your primary care doctor to ask for a referral.

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Weight bias is real...and very personal

I remember feeling different from a very early age. I made a joke of it saying “I was born big." In fact, I was tall from a young age and therefore bigger than any of the kids in my class, including the boys. I stayed the tallest until high school when I then shared being tall with a few others. My body developed early. I will never forget my second grade teacher having a meeting with my mom and telling her that I needed to wear a bra. Second grade! Then in fourth grade I got my period. All of this made me feel different; but what caused people to be cruel was my weight.

From about age six on I was slightly overweight...it wasn’t until after college and the Peace Corps I became obese. I recognized I was a very imperfect human from a very early age. It was made clear to me just how imperfect I was by how I was treated, the derogatory comments people would make about my size and weight, and the negative experiences I had because the world around me didn’t know how to include a big kid like me. I got the message loud and clear.

During second grade my best friend and I were picked up for lunch from school so we could be taken home and served “diet food.” Oh how I remember having to eat grapefruit and choke down calves liver. I hated every minute of it. My friend and I felt like flunkies... and we were only 7!

Probably the worst and most humiliating experience I had was when I was thirteen. My mom, out of apparent exacerbation and probably in hopes of shocking me into weight loss, took me to a maternity store to buy me clothes, including bathing suits, prior to going on a spring vacation. Describing my reaction as mortified doesn’t come close to how I felt. It seemed so wrong, and I was so hurt. But I deserved maternity clothes, right? After all, I was a fat person and deserved what I got.

www.ObesityCareWeek.org

As someone who has looked differently and felt differently I have always empathized with the underdog or those who have been ostracized or treated unfairly. I want to protect those who need protecting, fight for what is right, and take action to make things better. It feels wonderful to be part of a growing community of like-minded individuals. Each of us is taking steps to promote change and make a difference.

I started Livliga to make a difference and help people live healthier lives. In order to achieve this goal means supporting a world free of weight bias. Each of us deserves to live in a world where we can live our lives to the fullest in our healthiest form...mentally and physically.

National Obesity Cares Week is all about fostering a community that raises a unified voice rejecting weight bias while demanding those living with obesity receive the care, support and access to information that can make an important difference in their lives.

Like so many, my experience may have scarred me but it has also empowered me to not want someone else to be treated in the same horrible way. Each of us can make a difference. Each voice matters. There is so much good we can do together.

Let’s not have one more generation suffer from teasing, bullying, abuse or ignorance. Let’s help each child live well and live vibrant! Let’s start by making a difference now. Take the pledge.

You can join us and take action to change the way that you care about obesity by taking the Take 5 Pledge. The Take 5 Pledge is intended to inspire action by addressing the 5 reasons to care and encourage us to change the way that we care about obesity Visit www.ObesityCareWeek.org to take action and change the way that we care about obesity.



#Take5Pledge
#ItStopsNow
#metoo
#OW2017
#NOCW2017
#NOCWvoices

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10 Tips on how Livliga can help you Lose Weight

Sheila and Walt before losing weight

We designed Livliga to help people live healthier lives. Not only does it help us eat healthier and in right-sized portions, but it can also help us lose weight.

When I was designing the dishware, I initially created hand-painted prototypes at the local Color Me Mine pottery studio. As we tested the prototypes at home, we found that we were losing weight. Just by right-sizing our portions we were losing weight. We weren't on a diet but we were eating much healthier and using standard serving sizes, the ones I  built into our plates and dishes. I lost over 50 pounds and my husband has now lost over 60 pounds. Our daughter, who was living with us at the time lost 25 pounds. All we were doing was using Livliga dinnerware.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walt and Sheila after each losing 50 pounds

Livliga now has 3 patents and 3 national awards. We are unique because we have built in a lot of psychology as well as simple measurement into each dish. Below are our tips on how Livliga can help you lose weight.

10 Tips on how Livliga can help you lose weight

1.Reminds you of a balanced meal—the circles on each plate signify one of the food groups that make up a balanced meal to make sure we are mindful of what we eat as well as how much we should eat

2. Design helps make specific portion sizes look plentiful—every dish has a specific size to make the food placed in or on it look plentiful so you don't feel like you are serving up less than you should.

3. Shape of each piece of Livliga helps make measured food look like enough so you don’t feel deprived or denied--take a look at our plate of food compared to the typical dish used today.

4. Colors support taking time and enjoying a meal—we have developed a Livliga palette of non-trigger colors that includes hues of blue since blue has been proven to be a appetite suppressing color helping you feel fuller faster on right-sized amounts of food.

5. Provides measurement built right into the plate—and we always provide a map on the back of each dinner plate to show you what those measurements are for each dish—the serving sizes are according to the USDA MyPlate.gov for which Livliga is a National Strategic Partner.

6. Helps you be mindful every time you consume foods or beverage—because everything we create has fill lines built in you can choose how much you consume.

7. System to help —from the very moment you want to prepare and serve up your meal Livliga has you covered for right-sizing your meals including our LivSpoons and Aveq serving bowl, to the map on the back of each dinner plate to remind you what each measurement is, to a full suite of tableware that provides you with the perfect dishware, glassware or serveware for whatever you want to consume.

8.Designed so you can use it for every meal and with your family and friends so you don’t have to feel isolated or different.

9. Inspires you to keep going—you want to use these beautiful dishes because they make you feel good and better about the food you are eating. Livliga incorporates psychology of eating in each piece, and Celebrate even inspires you with words so you can positively affect your mood and be more in control of what you eat.

10.Works with any reputable diet plan—Weight Watchers, Paleo, Vegetarian, Whole30, South Beach, DASH, LowCarb, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Mediterranean, plus others!

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Healthy Lifestyle & Weight Loss

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12 Tips for Losing 50 lbs or more

About five years ago I went on a journey that ultimately caused me to create what is now known as Livliga, a healthy lifestyle company, focused on mindful eating through right-sized tableware and subtle portion control. It was my way of figuring out how to live a healthier lifestyle. In the process I lost 50 pounds and have been successful in keeping it off.

My Before and After Photos when my husband and I both lost over 50 pounds

To lose 50 pounds or more requires a little different approach than if you only have 10 pounds to lose. Below are my 12 tips for losing 50 pounds or more:

1. Have the long game in mind but break it down into small steps. You need to have the ultimate goal in mind but look at it through a daily lens. Planning is key from what you eat to your exercise to your nightly sleep. Creating healthy lifestyle routines will help you keep to the plan to reach your goal.
2. Weekly menu planning and grocery lists help you stay organized and focused, and avoid bad decisions after a long day when you’re tired and yet still have dinner to prepare. The easiest way to stay in control of what you eat is to start cooking more at home. Include the others in the household in planning and fixing meals. Cooking can be fun, especially when the responsibility and time spent is shared with others…this includes children.
3. Right-size your dinnerware. Our dinnerware in the US has grown over 51% in the past thirty plus years. The bigger the plate the more you want to put on it to make the plate look plentiful to your eyes. Don’t eat off a plate that is bigger than 10.5 inches and make sure your plates have rims. Better yet, invest in dinnerware that has been designed to make right-sized amounts of food look plentiful and also helps you measure the food you want to eat—Livliga!
4. Set up a healthy food environment. Make sure the first things you see on your kitchen counter top or in your refrigerator and food pantry are healthy and support your diet. Avoid buying any prepackaged snacks. Instead have fruits in a bowl on your counter; place cut vegetables, lowfat yogurt and hard-boiled eggs at eye level in your refrigerator. In your pantry stock water-packed sardines and tuna next to your protein powder and PB2. Visually hide crackers, prepackaged cookies and snacks so you don’t see them automatically.
5. Keep track of your food, exercise and sleep with photos and an app like Fitbit or Apple Health. Accountability is key. We have to keep our mind honest by taking the time to log our food, exercise and sleep. With out keeping track it is way to easy to forget and slip up.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Work on Mindfulness which will help you get more in touch with your body and mind—YOU are the priority and SO worth it! Consider Tai Chi, yoga and meditation to help you become more present. It was shocking to me to discover how unmindful I was. So much of life we spend in an automatic mode and do by rote…especially when it comes to overeating. The best way to combat it is to be present in our own lives.
7. Build in ongoing exercise and physical activity. Invest in an exercise tracker like a Fitbit—⅔ of your work out should be cardio and ⅓ resistance training. Make a goal for how much exercise and “steps” you want to achieve each week and schedule it in. It won’t happen if you don’t plan for it.
8. Document your progress in photos, blogs and Facebook. Taking photos is a great way to share your success and take a moment to see how far you have come and how much you have changed.
9. Find a buddy to join you on your journey. You are more likely to succeed if you don’t do it alone. Make friends at the gym, join a support group, or create your own. Having friends in your life that share in the desire to live a healthy lifestyle can make all the difference in your long-term success.
   
   
   
10. Forgive yourself for slip-ups and remember tomorrow is a new day. None of us are doomed to fail but we are human and should not expect to be perfect. There are days we will fall back into our old, bad habits. You have to own it and forgive yourself to move on.
11. Reward yourself for your successes. Create new rewards that are not food related and have a list that includes things you enjoy that don’t cost money as well as treats that do. Among my favorites—watching my favorite movie curdled up in my cozy clothes and then I love getting a massage. Both are delicious and give me the lift I need to keep on track. One doesn’t cost money, the other does.
12. Acquire an Attitude of Gratitude. Bad moods and feelings drag us down and make it seem impossible for us to achieve our dreams and our goals. Gratitude actually makes it easier for all of us to do what we need and want to do, especially when it comes to weight loss. Keep a Gratitude Journal or use an app like fiveminutejournal.com to document your gratitude and be able to access it when you most need it.

When you have 50 pounds or more to lose and have struggled with losing weight for a long time, you may want to consider medical weight loss programs and/or weight loss surgery. These are important options to consider depending on your health issues, age and the place you are in your life. Discussing your options with your primary care doctor and a weight loss specialist, like an endocrinologist, can help you make the best decision for you.

To Your Success! Live Vibrant!

Download Our Free eBook:
Healthy Lifestyle & Weight Loss

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Learning How to Run Again

I will never forget the day I realized I had forgotten how to run. Don’t jump to conclusions, I was never a REAL runner who trained and ran races. What I am talking about is the simple basics and ability to revv up the engines and blast forward in a run…for fun, to move quickly out of the way, to chase after a kid running in the street, etc… I realized I had resorted to scurrying, something in between walking and running.

How did this happen? When did I forget how to run? I think it has a lot to do with the sedentary lives we lead and then as we gain weight we tend to avoid those activities that put more strain on us and our bodies. You can be plenty busy and not have to run. Most moms who have given birth and gained weight know what it is like to tend to the kids, be plenty busy, yet not spend any time “running.”

It occurred to me that running is an important skill to have and maintain. You never know when you might need it and its important to know you can easily engage the skill when you do need it--like riding a bike or knowing how to drive a clutch car.

Being able to run is also important for our health. It is great for our hearts, lowers cholesterol, boosts our immune system, expands our lung capacity, improves our mood through releasing endorphins, and even enhances bone density. Running can assist us with weight management. You don’t have to be a long distance runner to access the benefits of running. You just have to do it and practice it regularly.

The key is getting started. When I first decided I had to figure out how to run again I was the most overweight I had ever been. I had three small children and a lot on my plate. I FELT physically heavy. I wasn’t sure how to revv up my body to get to a run. The first time I tried it out was on the sidewalk in front of my house. It felt awkward and uncomfortable. I really didn’t feel myself. I only managed a sprint across the front lawn. Something inside of me refused to give up. I couldn’t accept that I could no longer run. I was way too young for such a thought.

I kept practicing. I set slightly longer goals for my short runs. It started to get easier, even though I still felt awkward and I was always out of breath. I played “running” tag with my kids. I played counting games with myself. It started to become easier and easier. I realized the biggest barrier to my success was my embarrassment over not being able to run and how I imagined how I looked when I ran. Ultimately it was more important to me to know how to run and feel better because of it than the embarrassment over not knowing how to run and what I looked like doing it.

In my research I came across a woman, Julie Creffield, who started a website challenging the notion that people are “too fat to run.” I even wrote a blog about it. My favorite phrase is “Running has no size!” It is true.

It is now a number of years later, I have lots of running/cross training shoes, and I run a couple of times a week outside, on the treadmill or on the track at the “Y.”  Weather doesn’t stop me! It feels great. It does improve my mood and my numbers are in great shape, and although I am no skinny woman, I am 50 pounds lighter than I was when I learned how to run again. Running does help me maintain my weight.

I’m glad I wanted to face the reality that I had forgotten to run. I am proud of myself for persevering. It meant putting something about me first. When you struggle with weight there is an inherent self worth issue. We should all remember we deserve to conquer our demons because every inch and pound of us is worth it!

If you are wanting to start running in earnest, check out my blog, #TooFatToRun: New Runner's 6 Tips for Success, or the many other resources out there to help you get started. My one important tip—make it fun and all about the adventure of a healthy lifestyle.

To Your Health! Live Vibrant!

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