Kay Loughrey leads new weight management seminar

After months of planning, today, I’m announcing my new business, Whole Mind Wellness, LLC, a weight management educational services company.  I’m now completing the pilot of my new model weight management program, Slim Down and Win that will soon be offered to Americans across the country.

What is Slim Down and Win?  This new weight management system is designed to help adults shed excess weight permanently without giving up their lives.  The transformations include training clients to find their joy, enhance their vitality, and avoid diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

Along with my new business and weight management system, my blog will be moving to SlimDownandWin.com. On the blog, I’ll share with you ways to use the body, mind, and soul wellness strategies to win at weight loss. I’ll offer you more tips for shedding excess weight permanently without losing your life. Blog posts will be published on Thursdays. Please join me on the new blog and share your comments and thoughts. I love hearing from you!

I’d also like to invite you to join my FREE Teleseminar, Body, Mind, and Soul Secrets to Lasting Weight Management Success on December 1, from 7 – 8 pm, Eastern.  On this exclusive teleseminar I will share my top strategies for celebrating the Holidays without gaining weight and jump-start your weight loss plan in 2012.  Click here to register.

I’m so excited to announce that we have even more great ways to stay connected! I launched my Facebook Fan Page and Twitter profile today.

I invite you to visit all these wonderful ways to connect often, to receive timely ideas for using Body, Mind, and Soul secrets to fuel your lasting success at weight management.

Yours in Joy and Health!

Kay Loughrey, RD

Baked Apple Simplicity: A Treat from the Orchard

Jake eating a Pink Lady apple

What can you do with all of those luscious apples you’ve picked from the orchard?  

Here’s an easy recipe idea that will support your weight management goals courtesy of my husband Jake. He made baked apples the other day in such a simple way.  These baked apples taste as good to me as apple pie and they’re low in calories!.

Baked Apple Simplicity

Serves 4

• Wash 4 apples (Pink Lady) and cut each in half 

• Core apples by cutting them out in diagonal wedges

• Top each apple half with 2 teaspoons of honey and ground cinnamon to taste

 Cook in a toaster oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned and tender.

Bon Appetite!

What’s your favorite way to make an apple dessert that's not loaded with calories?

Yours in Joy and Health!

Kay Loughrey

Apple Picking at Homestead Farms, Maryland

Clearing Away Negative Thinking to Help Fuel Weight Loss

Kay at Impact & Influence Intensive

I’m with about 300 people right now in San Diego who are taking the Impact and Influence Intensive with with Lisa Sasevich.  I’ve joined many other workshop participants in making a commitment not to complain, criticize, and gossip for the next 21 days.  I made this decision because I knew from past experience that negative thinking affects my well being and that of those around me. 

What does staying positive have to do with losing excess weight permanently?  It’s no secret that losing weight and keeping it off takes resilience and a focus on meeting cherished goals.  Carping and negative thinking is like throwing a wet blanket on the joy and motivation that are so vital for shedding excess weight permanently without giving up your life.

The idea for making this commitment came from The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, A Simple Guide to Unlimited Abundance a book by Edwene Gaines that Lisa Sasevich sent to each of the workshop participants as a gift to read before the workshop began on Thursday.  Thanks Lisa!  In the book, Gaines issued a 21 Day Challenge as part of a “life changing” process for learning how to set goals.

How about joining me in making a commitment not to complain, criticize, and gossip for the next 21 days?  Please let me know how it goes.

Yours in joy and health!

Kay

Forgotten How to Relax? Try T’ai Chi

James Mao, T'ai Chi Master 

What was your earliest memory?  More than likely it was a time when you were carefree and didn’t fret or worry.  You played, ate, slept, and focused on what was before you.   Then challenges came along (after age 10 most likely) and you began to gradually forget how to relax. 

Are you interested in regaining this kind of relaxation?  If so, T’ai Chi Chuan may be for you.  I interviewed my T’ai Chi teacher Master James Mao for this blog post because of the many ways it has helped me achieve a greater inner resilience and feel healthier.

Master Mao has practiced the Yang Style of T’ai Chi for 12 years and martial arts for 35 years. During our interview, Master Mao observed that relaxation is the most important principle of T’ai Chi. The more relaxed you are, he said, the more you can tap into a universal energy.  This energy comes from using Chi that comes from the Dan Tien from just below the navel. 

Master Mao mentioned that he gained more energy, his body became stronger, and his tendon system was enhanced once he practiced the form correctly each day.  His students most often mention to him that they have a better temper, more energy, their muscles are stronger, and they feel healthier from doing T’ai Chi.

How did Master Mao get started with T’ai Chi?  He grew up in Asia where T’ai Chi is known as a very powerful martial art.  He studied a number of martial arts like Judo, karate, and wrestling. Then he studied with T’ai Chi Master Julian Ju whose internal power was so strong that James Mao became curious about how he could acquire this level of internal power. 

T'ai Chi Class with Master Mao

T’ai Chi is most beneficial when practiced the form 4 – 8 times each day.  The form comes with a warm up and a meditation (called Universal Standing).  The meditation is a way to harmonize with the universe by emptying your mind.   During the meditation, the head is suspended as if from the sky.  Your mind is expanded and freed to see things from many different angles.  Imagine you are in a 3 or 4 dimensional environment.  For example, “It’s as if you are in a park and see a tree, you become the tree, and then you see the tree again,” reported Master Mao. 

What you learn by observing things from different perspectives can be used in other areas of life such as in resolving disputes.  When two persons each insist on their respective point of view, they find no resolution according to Master Mao.  Minds become focused, limited, and can’t be calmed.  Resolution comes when you no longer insist on your opinion and can release the narrowed perspective.    

How to get started with learning T’ai Chi?  Master Mao advises that, “You need to be patient.  T’ai Chi isn’t a cure all, and is a long-term commitment.  Don’t expect to learn it quickly,” he said. He also mentioned that you need a teacher as a role model so that you can aspire to reaching his/her level. 

What are your comments or questions about T’ai Chi?

Yours in Joy and Health!

Kay

T'ai Chi Practice with Master Mao 

Be Choosy: Walking the Talk on Weight Loss

Kay working out

I just came back from the Saturday Farmer’s Market.  I bought home some baby Italian kale.  What I didn’t bring home was the Gluten-Free Chocolate Overload iced cupcake I bought and ate at the market.  Some people may think that I should feel guilty about this indulgence.  Yet, I savored every bite.  In fact, I have the Weight Watchers Points Plus available this week for this kind of splurge.  By now, I splurge like this with “a significant dessert” about once a month.

A premise of my approach to weight management for myself and those I coach is that we can include our favorite foods in our weight management program.  The challenging opportunity is to “be choosy.”  Being choosy means picking and choosing what, when, and how much to eat and drink.  And how wonderful it is to savor every bite and eat without guilt.

So, how am I doing on my own weight loss?  It’s been an all out effort since we came back from France in August to lose the 4 pounds I gained.  I’ve cut back on desserts, alcoholic drinks, and snacks.  I’ve really stepped up my aerobic physical activity, now just over an hour on most days.  

What do I have to show for all the effort?  As of this week, I’ve lost 5 pounds, and am within the normal range for my height.  I’m losing about ½ pound a week, my usual rate of weight loss. My goal is still to lose 3 more pounds, though not by October 15.  

I’m pleased about my own weight loss progress at a time when I’m starting a new weight management educational services company.  It’s my job to walk the talk! 

The first session of my new weight management seminar for Adventist Health Care System was last Tuesday.  Now, seminar participants are busy making time for weight management, establishing their food and physical activity goals, and monitoring what they eat.  So exciting!

How are you “being choosy” about what you eat and drink to manage your weight?

Yours in joy and health!

Kay 

What Does Active Aging Mean to You?

This week is Active Aging Week, an annual event initiated by the International Council on Active Aging.  It is a great time to try new activities that will help you stay energetic and healthy as you age.    


By the way, aging isn’t just for older people.  Aging is something we’re all doing every minute, whether we’re 5 or 85 years old.  Have you thought about physical activities that you’d enjoy but haven’t yet started?  Why not have some fun and do something today?  It can be as easy as grabbing a neighbor and going for a walk or taking those dance lessons you’ve been considering.

This year’s theme for Active Aging Week is Expand Your Experience.  It encourages you to try something new.  “Active Aging Week is a great time to connect with other people and activities,” advises Colin Milner, CEO of International Council on Active Aging. “The week’s focus is on what older adults CAN do, not on what they cannot or ‘should not’ do. By expanding their experiences, participants find the activities that have meaning for them, and maintain their health so they can pursue their avocations.”

What new physical activities will you begin this fall to reduce your stress, keep you vital, and help you stay healthy?  For more ideas check out the Be Active Your Way Tip Sheet.

Yours in joy and health!

Kay

Fast Food is Cheaper?

Krakow, 2011

I just can’t help but highlight Mark Bittman’s insightful New York Times article published this Sunday, “Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?”  The short answer is no.  Generally speaking he said, processed foods are more expensive than food cooked at home.  He showed that a meal for 4 persons at McDonald's is more expensive than 2 other meals prepared at home. Two Big Macs, a cheeseburger, 6 pieces of chicken McNuggets, 2 medium and 2 small fries, and 2 medium and 2 small sodas cost $28. Contrast the fast food meal with a home cooked roast chicken and vegetable dinner with salad and milk that cost about $14 or a home made meal of canned rice and beans flavored with bacon, green peppers, and onions along with milk at about $9.

True enough, one has to make wise choices when buying foods on a budget to cook at home.  But the food is not only cheaper as Mark Bittman observed, but it usually tastes better and can be prepared quickly. 

And as Mr. Bittman so aptly pointed out, the argument that persons on a budget need a cheap source of calories is wrong when more than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. These Americans need fewer rather than more calories!  Overeating also is costly in medical terms. The more than 40 diseases and conditions that are obesity-related cost an estimated $147 billion per year.  Now that’s expensive!

Check out the New York Times article for a thorough debunking of the myth that fast food is cheaper than real food.

What are your favorite low cost meals that you prepare at home?

Yours in Joy and Health!

Kay