MikePilcher – BIM Diamond

4 Healthy Eating Tips While Traveling

Sometimes traveling on the clock can be fun. Coming back five pounds heavier isn’t. Devour these tips and come back no worse for wear.

1. Avoid Temptation
Face the facts; we don’t always eat our healthiest while traveling. When dining out, try this: skip the menu. It’s a given that most restaurants have chicken, vegetables, salad, etc. Request the basics, keep it simple and you’ll thank yourself later.

2. Your Attention, Please
If you’re driving, you really shouldn’t be eating in the first place. But since we’re not your mother or the highway patrol, consider pre-packaged, fresh-cut vegetables and fruit. It takes just as long to grab these in a supermarket as it does to wait in line at a drive-thru. No excuses.

3. Switch It Up
Opting for room service? When ordering your meal, make sure you get a salad and go easy on the dressing. Eat half your entrée and then fill up on the salad. By making your healthy salad the main course, you’ll satisfy your appetite with lettuce, which naturally makes you feel full and makes you less prone to residual snacking.

4. Danger: Avoid Dessert!
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, or a newsletter writer, to know that skipping dessert is a good idea. But did you know passing on all that caramel-soaked, chocolate-filled debauchery can actually keep you safe? A filling meal that ends with a sugary dessert can make you feel sleepy—bad news when driving long distances. Let your passengers indulge. Then make them pay for gas. Healthy Eating is always the way to go!

Are you happy with your place in life? Not living the life you were intended can be more stressful than a faltering 401(k), says Andrew Sherman, author of the book Road Rules: 12 Essential Rules for Navigating the Road of Life.

“While it’s very frustrating when the market is down, it does not measure your effectiveness as a parent, spouse, friend or sibling,” Sherman says. “It’s just one gauge. We need to remind ourselves of that from time to time.

“If you don’t like your life, recast your story. We are a great country and we have great resources to change our lives if we want,” he says. “Write your own story.”

A lawyer and expert in strategic business growth, Sherman says that even if people aren’t entrepreneurs, they can apply the principles of entrepreneurship to their lives “and develop a vision of something larger.” Here’s what he says you can do now:

• Establish clarity of vision; know where you’re going.
• Have the right cargo and passengers; surround yourself with the right resources and team.
• Have a finely tuned engine; have good mental and physical health.
• Make sure you have a full tank of gas; have energy, enthusiasm and passion.
• Establish a plan of navigation; have a game plan for your life.
• Define your destination; have goals and a source of purpose.
• Have an unobstructed ability to use rear-view mirrors; keep your past and experiences in your mind, but don’t let them define you.
• Understand the needs of other drivers; share the road.

7 Days to a Healthier You – Health and Fitness

Don’t put off your health and fitness goals. A week is all it takes to get serious about improving your health. Here’s how:

1. Sunday

Buy a pedometer and aspire to meet the American Heart Association’s standard of walking 3,000 steps per day.

1. Monday

Are you out of breath after taking a couple of flights of stairs? Turn stairwells into your fitness friend by choosing the steps instead of the elevator. Whether it’s two flights or 10, watch how quickly your breathing improves.

1. Tuesday

When you’re trapped at your desk or stuck on a plane, do calf raises. By flexing and pointing—first lifting toes, returning to a flat foot, then lifting your heels and squeezing your calf muscles—you are pumping blood up your legs and improving your circulation.

1. Wednesday

Give up the perfect parking space. Forever. By parking farther from the store, office or gym, you are burning more calories. Little walks add up.

1. Thursday

Eat natural. Take a day to give up processed food filled with preservatives and sodium. Choose food that looks the same as when it was harvested. Stick to the outer perimeter of the grocery store when you shop.

1. Friday

Cool down. Tough week? Take one day to do an activity to soothe your mind. Read a book. Enjoy a sunset. Take a bubble bath. Listen to your iPod.

1. Saturday

Let your dog think you’re indecisive. Take your dog for a 10-minute walk, then jog for two minutes. Try a new route. Walk down a different street. Play at a new park.