Holiday gift ideas

Christmas is no longer about draining our pockets with STUFF. Christmas is now about caring about and encouraging small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. When we care about others, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine.

Do you really need another shirt or perfume? How about thinking outside of the box and keeping the money circulating within our community? If you have those bucks to spend, leave the mailman, trash guy or baby sitter a nice tip so the money turns over in our community.

Here are some gift ideas

Everyone gets their haircut and nails done. How about gift certificates from your salon?

Gym membership, tickets to a movie, play, the city zoo, or green Fees for a few holes at the golf course. Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car shined/tuned up or oil serviced? A grateful gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter by a local contractor. House cleaning service, computer service, dance lessons, local crafts/jewelry all help support our community. Don't forget local restaurants offer gift certificates as well.   

Until 1/5/2013, So You is doing a gift certificate holiday special. Buy any service and get the 2nd one 1/2 OFF. Call or email, we can mail it to you so you don't have to come by to pick it up! Stress FREE holiday!

Having your cookie

It starts out innocently...You head to the office and low and behold someone has brought in holiday cookies.  It is Friday afternoon and you justify that you have been 'good' all week so "why not?" 1 somehow turns into 3 and you further reason that Annie from accounting has eaten 6 already so you must be much more disciplined.

According to the U.S.D.A., 1 shortbread cookie contains 105 calories with over 45 of those calories coming from fat.  Your 3 cookies added up to 315 extra calories - you chalk it up to a long work week.  When you come home you have a martini and then some wine with dinner.  You begin to relax again and feel at ease.  A small to medium vodka martini has approximately 127 calories.  A glass of wine has approximately 100 calories.

Alcohol confuses the body and prevents the liver from producing glucose.  When alcohol is combined with sugar the body will have an insulin spike followed by a rapid crash or an attack of hypoglycemia.  This causes a cycle of needing another 'hit' of sugar to come up again.

    

Just two extra cookies or a holiday latte each day for one week can add up to 3500 calories which is equivalent to one pound of fat.  Once our body creates new fat cells it cannot ever lose them, they can only shrink.  This is why scientists suggest that gaining and losing weight over and over again is very hard on the body.

The Holidays offer many opportunities to consume extra sugar and alcohol-I too struggle with saying NO! To be in balance is to have the health to support the life we want to live and occasionally, as in once per week, having that cookie, is fine as long as you are aware of how to offset the sugar coursing through your veins. Take your POWER back by understanding your relationship with food and reminding yourself of how good it feels in the "after-effect."  Here are some tips:

Tips for Dealing with Sugar

• Have one 'cheat' day once per week and allow yourself to indulge.  Make sure you exercise on that day.
• Eat mindfully.  It takes the body at least 20 to register fullness and in that time you can consume a lot of calories.  Savor each morsel, breathe and be aware.
• Combine your sugar with a protein.  This will slow down the conversion to blood glucose.  As a kid you probably had cookies and milk and then went to run outside and play.  The same holds true though I recommend that if you do have something sugary that you have ½ a protein shake.
• Eat before you go to the party.  Have a small handful of organic raw almonds, a glass of sparkling water or ½ a protein shake.
• Avoid combining sugar and alcohol.  You will feel the effects.  If you choose to drink keep the sugar and the alcohol separate by at least half an hour or longer.
• Focus on your goal.  Is it worth it to have a second, third or fourth cookie? 
• Take a multi-vitamin that contains chromium.  Chromium is a wonderful nutrient that helps to regulate blood glucose levels.
• Never consume artificial sweeteners.