It Doesn’t Have To Be Bad For It To Be Good For You!! Chocolate, Caffeine, and Sleeping In!

It Doesn’t Have To Be Bad For It To Be Good For You!! Chocolate, Caffeine, and Sleeping In!


For most of my life I believed that if something was good for you then it had to taste awful, leave me feeling hungry, and send me to some horrific exercise regime that left me in the back of the class breathing hard and near dead. I can recall years and years of running (and hating every second), eating funky icky foods, trying every new diet, and even not eating all in a bid for that perfect body (there is no such thing). As I got older and did some research I learned that you can like something and it can still be good for you! Keep in mind that moderation is always the key I believe. Sure you can reach for a mini Snickers bar if you want just don’t reach for ten of them and justify it to yourself that well although you had ten they WERE minis (this is what I do and I do know better but the lure of the Snickers is powerful for me).

Here You Go….

-Sleep , sleep, sleep- People who sleep seven to eight hours nightly are twice as likely to reach a ripe old age as those who get less shuteye, according to a study out of the U.K.’s University of Warwick and University College London. When you don’t get enough sleep your body’s production of the appetite suppressing hormone leptin is disrupted- raising your risk of life-shortening obesity. It also triggers blood sugar imbalances that can lead to type Two diabetes. (re-Woman’s World).

-Chocolate-mmmmmmmm-Nibble on dark chocolate (really? Yesssss really!)- Dark chocolate has flavonoids, which destroy the free radicals that cause inflammation. Just two squares of a dark chocolate bar, two Hershey’s Kisses or a dozen semisweet chocolate chips cuts inflammation by 17%. This is great news because chocolate is DELICIOUS and you can help beat chronic inflammation which is behind many illnesses-including heart diseases, Alhzheimer’s and diabetes!!!! Chocolate lovers have also been known to have lower levels of stress hormones in their bloodstream. Say hello to chocolate (remember, in moderation-hard for me but a must).

Caffeine- "Caffeine is starting to get attention because it may prevent skin cancer as discussed in the February issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Consumption of caffeine has been shown to be associated with lower incidences of nonmelanoma skin cancers in several epidemiological studies (Jacobsen et al., 1986; Hakim et al., 2000; Abel et al., 2007; Rees et al., 2007). However, too much caffeine can actually pack on the pounds so keeping it to 16 oz of diet soda with caffeine or 1 or 2 cups of coffee is probably best. One study of over 93,000 women showed that drinking coffee decreased their risk of skin cancer. Other research suggests that both oral and topical caffeine may offer powerful anticarcinogenic benefits."

And………….

According to Supermodel Elle McPherson’s trainer James Duigan author of, “The Clean and Lean Diet” exercise is really not about killing yourself everyday for hours (thank heavens) Instead - “Duigan's motto is work smarter, not harder.Understanding that many people have busy lives, he has devised an eight-minute workout of resistance exercises to be done twice a day. This can be extended with a walk or by attempting the more advanced workouts in the book.

“You should never really be working out for longer than an hour. Any longer than that and you haven't been working smart enough in that hour and you're really just putting your body under unnecessary stress,” he said.

“I'd say if you can do a good metabolic resistance circuit for about 10 minutes in the morning, which is an achievable amount of time, and then 10 minutes in the afternoon or evening, then you'll see good results with your physique.”

And as I have said above, it is really about moderation and balancing so that you can enjoy the things you love and be healthy. I say this as I am eyeing the bowl of fun size Snickers across from me. If only will power came a little easier to me.