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The Low Down on Winter Weight Gain!

Most people are less active when it’s cold outside. Even though they continue to workout at the gym, recreational activity declines when the weather worsens.

Then ENTER THE HOLIDAYS!  Most people think of  two food-oriented holidays, but they forget about Halloween!  Halloween candy sitting on every desk and counter is beginning of what I call the “The Eating Season”.  The constant access to chocolate and candy corns makes it hard to resist and then the sugar cravings get out of control!

An additional factor leading to winter weight gain is lack of exposure to sunlight.  This can lower the levels of melatonin and serotonin, a neurotransmitter that’s linked with mood. So to make up for the low serotonin and improve your mood, you grab the sweets and high-carb foods with lots of calories and little nutritional value.

WHAT’S A GIRL TO DO?

Ø  Get outdoors and walk at least a couple of days / week – even when the weather is bad.   This will help you feel better and keep the SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) at bay.

Ø  Keep active – try to exercise every other day.  If you are really busy and cannot get a full workout in, crank up the intensity and make it count!  Even 20 minutes of high intensity exercise is well worth the time!

Ø  Make sure you strength train.  Cardio exercise, especially long duration medium intensity only burn calories while you are doing it.  Strength / resistance training and high intensity cardio burn more calories for up to 72 hours after the activity.

Ø  More reasons to strength train – the more muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate is.  As we age, we lose muscle mass which then lowers are metabolism and leads to age related weight gain.  Prevent this from happening – keep and build your muscles.  Your bones will thank you also.

Ø  If you are struggling with time to fit your exercise in over these hectic holidays, try one of these ideas to keep with it.  1 – reduce the duration of your work out - but really boost the intensity!  Working out harder can burn the same amount of c calories in less time. 2 – break it up into two or three sessions throughout the day.  Get a 10 minute walk or jog before work, 10 at lunch and 10 when you get home. Don’t let anything derail you from getting activity in.  It is the best way to keep the unwanted pounds away!

Ø  High intensity does not mean high impact.  Adding incline to the treadmill or elliptical or resistance to the bike does the job.  Find a neighborhood with hills and repeat them.

Ø  Enjoy the Day, the Family and the MEAL – then be done.  Move on.  The following day make sure you exercise to burn extra calories, drink plenty of water to avoid bloat, and eat clean – focus on lean proteins and fruits and vegetables.  AVOID PROCESSED FOODS.

Ø  GET YOUR SNACKS IN - Eat frequently to prevent hunger and over eating.

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Recovering and a Happy Halloween

I am still recovering from this weekend festivities!  All of the parties were so fabulous and lasted through the night so despite not drinking I still feel like I need this wedding hangover kit they supplied the guests with the night after:

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

I indulged in the endless amount of desserts that kept coming out at the wedding (I felt obligated to at least sample them all, right?--last count 7) so hopefully I can resist my Halloween candy!

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Then and Now: October

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a great month of October! Do you remember where you were a year ago?

In October 2010, I was literally half way around the world. It was a busy month, filled with adventures. I met a bunch of new people, had Everest in my sights, experienced the effects of altitude, got food poisoning, ate my first Mo Mo and had Pizza in Kathmandu.

This October I am back in the proper hemisphere, but things are still pretty busy! I finished up working in Missouri, spent time with friendsand family, took a trip to New York, ran a half marathon and am learning how to take better photos!

So here we have, in photo form, the WHO, the WHERE, and the WHAT of Then and Now. 

THE WHO: 

2010: 

Random Dirty Children, Yaks, Fellow Travelers, and yes, Mr. L and his Nasty Beard

2011: 

M in MA, Berreaux in NYC, Red and Lucy the Dog, Mouse the Cat, Mr. L *and a much more manageable beard

THE WHERE: 

2010: The Highest Mountain in The World

2011: The Highest Mountain in Missouri

THE WHAT: 

 Activities: 

2010: Lots of Trekking

2011: Lots of Running

Food: 

2010: Lots of Sherpa Stew

2011: Lots of Bratwurst

DRINKS: 

2010: 4000 gallons of lemon tea

2011: 4000 gallons of water

I am looking forward to seeing what November holds. I think it will be a lot of hiking, spending time with family, baking, cooking and eating, since I am currently staying with my Mom and have plenty of time on my hands (and no phone service or internet!) and lots of great people and places to see!

What were YOU doing last October? Have things changed? Or are they happily the same?

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Defeat Of France, Belgium And Holland: 1940 (LARGE IMAGES)

France was no mean power in 1940. But its defences collapsed like a pack of cards under the ruthless German offensive in May 1940. The British too had to hastily retreat from France. It left the world stunned. Why? Poor leadership both political and military. The Germans had provided a trailer in September 1939 in Poland. But the British and French learnt nothing. Blitzkrieg overwhelmed them. Below are some images of the defeat of France, Holland and Belgium in 1940.

 May 1940. German soldiers watch as a heavily bombed Rotterdam burns

 French soldiers industriously load a 220 mm artillery shell. But it was to be of no avail

A formation of German bombers, Dornier Do.17Z, flying over France, June 21, 1940.

 British bombs fall on German held French airport at Abbeville. June 1940

 Rotterdam in Holland burns

 A devastated Rotterdam. Germany saw such bombing on its towns by the Allies later in the war. Dresden was reduced to rubble in 1944.

The German ultimatum ordering the Dutch commander of Rotterdam to cease fire was delivered to him at 10:30 am on May 14, 1940. At 1:22 pm, German bombers set the whole inner city of Rotterdam ablaze, killing 30,000 of its inhabitants.

 The center of Rotterdam. destroyed. May 14, 1940 . The Luftwaffe razed it to the ground, one day after killing 900 and leaving 80,000 homeless in the largest port of the world then. Unable to break the resistance of the Dutch (who did not have any tanks or aircraft) on the ground, the Germans destroyed it from the air. In history the massacre has remained under the name of Rotterdam Blitz. The Germans made it clear that they would not stop. So to save Amsterdam and The Hague, the Netherlands capitulated.
It is surprising two of the highest building in Rotterdam - The White House and the Church of St. Lawrence were least affected.

Rotterdam again

 France was no more. A German officer with Spanish border guards at the France-Spain border. 1940

 May 25, 1940. A French tank moves to the front line

 Morose French POW of the colonial units

 German soldiers march on the streets of Paris

 Belgium. A broken down German tank is hooked to another tank to be towed away.

 Hitler poses against the Eiffel Tower. June 23, 1940

 Hitler shakes hands with Marshal Petain, the ruler of the German puppet Vichy regime

CBS correspondent, William Shirer files his report after France surrendered to Germany. In the background is the house that housed the railway car, in which was signed Armistice (November 11, 1918) so hated by all Germans. The car was then taken to Germany, where it was destroyed during a bombing raid.

The family of Belgian refugees in a tandem bike on the road to France

Tearful Belgian men big goodbye to the men going to the front. May 11, 1940

A British artillery in Belgian. May 30, 1940

The British infantry crosses the border of Belgium, near Roubaix May 10, 1940

A Dutch officer talks with the German. One of them is mighty amused at the conversation. Holland fell on May 14, 1940

 Exhausted Belgian troops on the road of Leuven, Brussels. 1940. All European armies except the British, used a large number of horses in 1940.

French prisoner-of-war in a makeshift camp. Summer 1940

German soldiers cross the river Maas (Meuse). May 14, 1940

 French refugees in the region of Leuven. May 1940

Refugees killed by a German air raid in France. The image was taken by German soldiers

 German soldiers in France. 1940

Stuka dive bombers (Ju 87 B2) in the French skies.

 A German tank burns in France

 Calais station. Destroyed British and French military vehicles

Captured vehicles being sent to Germany by train

 Dead french soldiers

French soldiers carry a wounded comrade in a Belgian city. 1940

German infantry in a Belgian street

 Dead British soldiers


 French POW of different nationalities

 French POW sit by the roadside

 French soldiers surrender. 1940


 The German flag flies over Paris


 Germans march in Paris

 Germans in the Belgian town of Bruget. May 6, 1940

 Luftwaffe Air Corps motorcyclist. In West Flanders, Belgium

 Heaps of French helmets. Stalingrad saw a similar scene 3 years later. Only they were German helmets.

The German general Fedor von Bock, and French General Henri Fernand Denz during peace talks in Paris on 14 June 1940....

The following images show French soldiers, POW belonging to a proud country, now defeated, walking in captivity...One feels seeing these images must hurt a Frenchman even today.

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