It’s so easy to pack on the pounds when the holidays roll around, especially when you’re surrounded by tantalizing sweet treats. But this year, you can take a different approach and bring yummy, healthy desserts to your holiday gatherings. You will know that they are of a healthier variety, even if others don’t!

You could jazz up your traditional holiday with uniquely healthy and delicious desserts. The best way to increase the nutritional value of your desserts is by substituting in whole wheat flour for bleached white flour, focus on whole grain, substitute nuts milks for dairy (I’m a big fan of almond milk), and especially by using natural sugars instead of refined ones (think raw honey, pure maple syrup or agave nectar). How about oatmeal almond cookies, no bake chocolate chip cookies or pumpkin mousse, all simple to make and healthier than your average holiday dessert?

Come join me on Wednesday, October 26th at 6:00 PM and I’ll show you how! I am offering a fre*e, fun and interactive workshop at the New Haven Public Library. I’ll be whipping up some tasty holiday treats using natural sweeteners, nuts, seeds and grains – a healthier spin for the upcoming holidays.

We’ll talk about eating in moderation and more mindfully enjoying these treats so you don’t need as much to feel satisfied. And there will be lots of samples too.

Hope you can join in the fun! Click here to register for this workshop.

The truth, however, is that an estimated 20 % of Americans are sleep deprived and get less than six hours of sleep a night.  What’s keeping us up at night?  All those electronic devices – the Internet, cable TV, our non-stop email  – just to name a few.  Diabetes, heart disease and obesity have all been linked to too little sleep.  When we’re sleep deprived, we’re less productive, have shorter attention spans and are more likely to be in or cause an accident.  And lack of sleep has also been linked to higher cortisol levels – the stress hormone.  When we’re not getting enough sleep, our body responds with increased cortisol levels which can lead to weight gain. 

Burning the candle at both ends may work for a while but the reality is that can take a toll on our health. This was brought home to me as I watching Oprah recently. Bob Greene, fitness and health guru was discussing his new book, 20 Years Younger:  Look Younger, Feel Younger, Be Younger!  In addition to healthy eating, exercise and skin care, I was struck by the discussion of sleep and its impact on aging when we don’t get enough.  He suggests 7-9 hours a night.  Are you even in the ballpark?

I have been making a conscious effort to get more rest. I get up every day during the week at 5:30 and have a daily practice that includes tongue scraping, drinking warm water to activate my internal organs, meditating, chanting and exercising.  That’s a lot to do so early in the morning!  But what a difference it makes when I actually get enough rest and feel more alert when I wake up.  Here are three strategies I’ve been using to help me ease into more and better sleep – I’m far from perfect but I am much more self-aware of my habits and patterns:

• Wind down before you get in bed.  I need to have 30-45 minutes in the pre-sleep mode when getting ready for bed. I used to just pop into bed and expect to go to right to sleep, but your body needs time to transition.  For me this includes quiet time with no TV or Internet and reading for at least 15-30 minutes. I also include the usual things in this time frame too – brushing my teeth, washing my face, etc. but it means I have to plan ahead and be mindful of the time.
•  No TV in the bedroom.  For my entire life, I’ve never had a TV in my bedroom.  I can thank my mom for that awesome habit! TV sucks you in, promotes poor sleep and can even do a number on your sex life! TV can be just fine in other parts of the house but leave it out of the bedroom if you want to support a better night’s sleep.
•  Eat early and allow 3-4 hours to digest your food.  Going to sleep on a full stomach after a late night binge promotes poor sleep, not to mention potential weight gain.  Your body needs to rest and recover during the night and eating too close to bedtime keeps the body far too occupied.  Ease into earlier, lighter meals in the evening that won’t leave you feeling uncomfortable before bed.

 Are you a sleep champ, supporting your health with sufficient zzzz’s or do you have room for improvement? How can you start sleeping more? Leave your thoughts on the blog and let’s share some sleep-tastic ideas!

Ever notice that it’s so easy to overeat during this time of year when there’s a  bounty of food in front of us? I sure have been guilty of that in the past, but with a little pacing and some clean eating cooking tips and ideas, any of us can turn out a delicious meal that doesn’t have to pack on the pounds.

During the radio show, yours truly, the Clean Eating Coach, will be sharing tips on healthier versions of traditional Thanksgiving meals, the importance of clean eating, the best cooking techniques to reduce risk of weight gain, and suggestions on creating healthy leftovers after Thanksgiving dinner.

It’s going to be great fun and you can even call in live and ask questions! Join us and get your Thanksgiving, healthy meal plan in gear, before it’s too late.

You can check out more details here about Feel and Look Fabulous with Irina including the call in number for the show:  http://budurl.com/kdac

In fact, there’s a way to plan a beautiful and delicious Thanksgiving meal that’s all about high quality ingredients and manageable portion sizes that won’t have you struggling to button your pants!

With an idea to keeping our Thanksgiving dinner all about clean eating, I’ve already mapped things out.  For inspiration, I’ve turned to the November/December issue of Clean Eating Magazine, my mini-bible. They have the most sumptuous menu planned but with healthier versions of some of your favorite meals:

• coconut cardamom sweet potatoes instead of sweet potatoes covered in marshmallows
• Spiced pumpkin mousse instead of calorie and sugar-rich pumpkin pie
• garlicky Green beans with roasted chestnuts instead of green beans cooked with ham
• Mushroom and leek stuffing with whole grain bread instead of white

This is just a sampling of a few clean dishes that you can create. I encourage you to pick up the most recent issue to get the full scoop.  They even include ideas to help you plan in advance and figure out what dishes can be prepped before Thanksgiving arrives.

And there are lots of other great resources to create a healthy Thanksgiving meal using clean foods. I’m also a big fan of realsimple.com and they’ve got loads of ideas for a healthy Thanksgiving meal. To me, the focus should be on planning ahead.  It’s hard to keep things healthy if you’re only starting to make your list the day before.  If you get in gear now, you’ll avoid big crowds at the store, can determine what things you can prep in advance and you’ll save money too — no last minute purchases!

What’s your plan to create a clean eating, healthy Thanksgiving meal? How are you pre-planning to avoid last minute stress? What will you do to avoid holiday weight gain?

Speaking of avoiding holiday weight gain, be sure to join me on Tuesday, November 17 at 8 pm ET for my free call, Clean Eating During the Holidays: Outwit Holiday Overeating. Click here to sign up! http://bit.ly/109omL

And the grandaddy of fairs in our area, The Big E (covering the six New England states), is a weight watcher’s and clean eater’s nightmare, to be sure.  Each of the states has a statehouse with historical information, promotional material and all the foods the states are known for (think blueberries in Maine, chowder in Rhode Island, and maple syrup in Vermont.). People line up many people deep to place their order and gorge themselves silly.

All that high caloric, often fatty food begs the question about whether clean eating is actually possible at one of these fairs.  Is it feasible to think you can find some semblance of healthy food to balance out your favorite treats? Is there a way to leave a fall fair with some measure of clean eating under your belt that won’t leave you with several pounds of weight gain?

I’ve put together a few handy tips to help you navigate fall fairs more easily and at least keep clean eating on your radar screen:

• Eat before you go.  Have lunch or a healthy snack before you embark on a trip to your local fair so you’re less tempted to eat everything in sight.
• Scope out all the offerings before you dig in.  Check out the range of offerings and make  a  plan for the ones you’d like to visit.
• Find some balance. Not everything you eat has to be full of fat or fried.  How can you enjoy yourself and keep an eye on your weight?  At the Big E, I was thrilled to find fresh picked raspberries that were bursting with flavor  and super clean.
• Take a break in between treats.  Check out the 4-H exhibit or go for a ride and you’ll have a sure-fire plan to quell constant eating.
• Share with a friend.  Who says you have to eat the whole baked potato or bag of cookies? Share with a friend and you’ll do less damage.

What’s your favorite way to practice clean eating at a fall fair? What’s your strategy to keep it relatively clean and avoid lots of weight gain? Please share your thoughts below!

The good news is that I’ve finally gotten back on track and today I went to my new gym for my first workout.  And it was totally refreshing. The gym is large, bright and has some great equipment.  The weight machines are so much better than at our old gym, where half of them seemed ancient.  With lots of open space and multiple machines for just about every part of the body, there’s simply no reason why I shouldn’t be able to happily work on my definition and increase my strength. Not to mention that lifting weights helps to kick that fat burning into gear and supports healthy weight loss.

I also love that they have row after row of cardio machines (not that I’m such a huge fan of mindlessly using the machines.  I much prefer classes but they don’t offer them). Only downside is that as I was moving to a different treadmill today, I managed to step on the one next to me that my husband was on and didn’t see that it was moving! If you could have seen the spill I took and the scene I made as I, quite clumsily, fell to the ground, tumbled over and hit my arm.  The fact that I didn’t break anything is nothing short of amazing.  And thanks to the helpful gym staff I quickly got an ice pack on it minimizing the swelling.

Despite my little mishap, I have to say it was a great start at a new gym that’s got my very excited to maintain my motivation and stay in shape.

What have you done lately to get back on track with exercise when you were in a slump?

Even though I’m not exactly an angel when it comes to eating when I’m on vacation (I mean honestly, who really is?), there’s still a part of me that maintains some semblance of healthy eating so all is not lost when I get back home.

And that’s exactly how things unfolded this week when we were in Montreal for the jazz festival. Generally, I did pretty well. I’m not a big drinker so there weren’t lots of empty calories expended on that. And we walked everywhere, some days logging 5+ miles so that helped too. But i did indulge a bit with desserts. We came across some awfully good ones that I must admit I loved. The good news is that it was all in moderation.

So what’s the key to my success in averting weight gain while on vacation? It’s all about finding a few healthy snacks that are easy to carry, keep blood sugar stable and stave off hunger. My first order of business in a new city is always to scope out the closest market and we easily found the IGA about a 1/2 mile from our hotel. We stocked up on fresh fruit and nuts that powered us through our busy afternoons of exploring and listening to amazing jazz.

We also found the one healthy food stand at the whole jazz festival. Well actually, most of the food at this particular stand wasn’t the healthiest, but the big winner was the fresh mangoes on a stick that they featured. As soon as I saw someone eating one, I made a beeline to get my own.

Check out the video I created right at the festival with this yummy treat. It’s so easy, you can make it at home yourself!

What do you do to ensure that you don’t fall completely off the wagon when vacationing? What’s your success strategy to avoid weight gain? Do share what works for you.

During the holiday season with all kinds of temptations, standing up and saying no (or even politely murmuring it), is imperative to moving into January at a moderate weight.

Should you enjoy your food? Of course, but all within reason. And speaking up for what you don’t want to eat can make a huge difference. Take a listen to this week’s audio tip for two simple steps you can take to become more assertive about food choices during the holidays.

What can you do to be an assertive dieter this year?

So when I came across my buddy Kevin Gianni’s post-Thanksgiving workout on The Renegade Health Show, I just had to share it with you. Kevin and I run into each other periodically at our friend Glen’s raw food café, Catch a Healthy Habit in West Haven, CT (if you haven’t been there you must check it out). 

I love Kevin’s videos because his energy is contagious and he’s lots of fun as you’ll see – just what most of us need to get (or hopefully stay) on track!  Figure out where you can do these simple exercises. Given that I HATE the cold, I’m doing them inside in my cozy den.  But if you live in a warm climate, all the better to be outside.

Can you see the possibility of burning some fat and course correcting before you’re eating your way through the upcoming December holidays with a little too much gusto?

What’s your plan?  Do tell.

And back when I was in my 20s and 30s, it wasn’t such an issue to eat like that — no serious repercussions. But as I’ve gotten older and my body has changed, that Thanksgiving overindulgence that used to seem so great can easily signal the start of some serious holiday weight gain. And when all is said and done after the holidays, returning to a healthy diet, losing weight and feeling your best is never as easy as it seems.

So how can you enjoy Thanksgiving without feeling heavy and bloated the next day, let alone somewhat guilty? With a little forethought it’s not hard at all. Take a listen to this week’s audio tip for three simple steps to help you thoroughly enjoy Thanksgiving without the guilt of total overindulgence and to ease you into the holiday social scene with an eye to maintaining your weight.

What will you do this year to be mindful about Thanksgiving eating yet really enjoying your food. Share you thoughts below.