I, Joan O’Keefe, hereby admit that I HATE to be cold. I am a California girl and I despise the cold. However, I’ll be the first to tell you that the weather is NO excuse for not exercising.

I’ve said it before – exercise is vital. You must do something every day. The benefits of exercise are only 25 hours long. Of course, exercise will help you lose weight, but the benefits of exercise are more than just the calories burned during your workout. Exercise makes you calmer, lowers stress hormones, it blows out the cobwebs, letting you think more clearly and making you a nicer person – Just ask my husband. There are times when he will get this look on his face and say as kindly as can be, “Joan, maybe you need to go exercise.” I am crabby, grumpy and generally unpleasant to be around if I haven’t exercised. He can tell if I need to lower my stress hormones!

Exercise also improves sleep and builds muscle. Building muscle is huge. If you are not exercising and using your muscles, you lose muscle and if you lose it, you’ll have to eat less because you’re not burning calories. Exercise increases your metabolism for the next 24 hours and you’ll burn more calories all day. Exercise + following the Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle + CardioTea (my personal secret weapon) + portion control all equal weight loss.

So, what’s a girl who hates the cold to do all winter long? Move the workout indoors. You always have a choice. Say you have four kids and you’re stuck indoors in an ice storm with no chance of making it to a gym. What do you do? Run your stairs! Do it for 30 minutes. I’m not talking taking laundry up a couple of times, I want you to put on your sneakers, start in the basement if you have one, and head to the top floor. Go downstairs and repeat – for 30 minutes straight. You’ll know you’ve done something after this.
I also suggest trying new classes. Winter is the perfect time for this. Many gyms run the best promotions of the year in January. Get in there and try a new class – you’re guaranteed to be with other beginners this time of year. Try yoga, pilates, even spinning. Just be sure to shake it up. Do something Tuesday/Thursday and something different the other days. Make it fun. Join an indoor pool. Let the kids play and then swim some laps yourself.

Now, if you don’t mind the cold, options abound for you. My husband, a North Dakota native, loves the cold. He finds early morning frigid temperatures exhilarating. So, if you’re like James and the cold doesn’t bother you, bundle up, get out there and skate, run or walk, or better yet, try interval training. Walk a block, run two, etc.

Please take my advice and don’t let old man winter keep you from exercising and being the best you can be!

By Joan O’Keefe

Thanksgiving at the O’Keefe house is festive and fun, yet healthy. Sure, we splurge a little, but our menu is still colorful and fresh. Below is the O’Keefe Thanksgiving meal plan:

Turkey
You can’t go wrong with this healthy source of lean protein.

Mixed Green Salad
I like to mix baby greens, spinach, hearts of palm, cucumbers, tomatoes, anything to add color into a salad. Drizzle the salad with light vinaigrette (olive oil and balsalmic vinegar), sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese and garnish with pimento.

Fruit Salad
Another easy way to add color, not calories to your meal. Slice fresh, colorful fruits like strawberries, blueberries, grapes, pineapples, cantaloupe, even apples and bananas (the more color the better) and serve chilled.

Green Beans Almondine
Again, simplicity is key. I simply use chicken broth in the steamer instead of water and steam green beans as usual, when done toss with Benacol and sliced almonds.

Sweet Potatoes
My kids have never been fans of sweet potato casseroles, but baked sweet potato sprinkled with cinnamon is a healthy option.

Pumpkin Soup
A simple recipe, as delicious as it is nutritious. See the recipe in the section below.

Cranberries
While festive, most cranberry sauces have far too much sugar. I recommend making your own, but only using 1/3 the sugar from the recipe on fresh cranberry packages – try adding some sliced apple to tame the tart.

Whole Grain Rolls
We serve these warm, on the side, and not before the meal!

Pumpkin Pie
We do serve the traditional pumpkin pie, but I do use only nonfat condensed milk and a lowfat pie crust. Just remember – portion control!

Red Wine
For the adults, of course. One drink per day will reduce abdominal fat and help your HDL, but anything more than two drinks daily accumulates in and around your belly.

Thanksgiving and the holiday season is a time to celebrate and food is a big part of the celebrations. If you choose to indulge, follow my three bite rule (see it below) and our holiday party survival tips.

By Joan and James O’Keefe

Americans are eating more and more meals away from home. With the holiday season fast approaching many of you will have a handful of holiday parties and dinners to attend at restaurants. You must be careful not to sabotage your weight-management plan when you eat out, so here are a few important tips to help you dine sensibly away from home.

Tips for eating out at restaurants:

1. Do not show up at the restaurant famished. Eat a piece of fruit or a drink a large glass of water before leaving for dinner.

2. Start drinking water or tea when you sit down at the restaurant.

3. Tell the waiter not to bring bread to your table.

Below you can download eight more tips for eating out at restaurants.

By Joan O’Keefe

Download the recipe for Joan O’Keefe’s protein pancakes. A delicious and nutritional recipe that is kid-tested and approved!

Download the O’Keefe’s omelet recipe. Only 128 calories, the omelet is protein filled, heart healthy and great for the waist line.

Joan O’Keefe, RD

It’s amazing how many people say to me, “I’m doing everything right and just can’t figure out why I’m not losing weight.” Have YOU ever said these words? I’ve got one word for you: Honesty.

It’s not that people are lying or trying to cover-up their diet and exercise mistakes, it’s simply that they’re not aware of their dishonesty. The only way to be absolutely honest with yourself about what you’re truly doing for your health is to journal. A diet and exercise journal is a requirement of all of my clients. Journaling forces us to be honest with ourselves, especially when we’re trying to live healthier lifestyles. Studies show that those who journal lose more weight and keep it off better than those who do not. So, what are you waiting for?

A nutrition and exercise journal should be simple. Carry it with you everywhere and every time your fingers go to your lips with food, write it down. Journal everything you eat, drink, sip, or taste-test. Write down your physical activity and how much sleep you’re getting. Then when you say, “I just can’t figure out why I’m not losing weight,” we can go back, look and say, “Oh yeah, I see it now.”

Losing weight:
Diet has a lot to do with it. Make sure you’re getting plenty of color and protein in your diet. I recommend CardioWhey and CardioTea daily for all of my weight loss clients. Write down absolutely everything you take in. Record your physical activity. Do something every day. You will not reach your goal if you are not active every day. Even if it’s just 20 minutes going up and down the stairs in your house, make sure it’s something every day.

Sleep: Don’t underestimate the value of sleep. You need 7.5 hours every night. If you’re not sleeping enough, stress hormones will increase and so will your appetite. Record your sleep in your journal and you’ll be able to spot patterns.

The only way to know if you’re on track to reach your goal is to journal. When you don’t lose weight one week, we can say, “there’s the extra cookie and glass of wine, a missed workout, etc…” Journaling is the best way to stay honest with yourself.

Last summer, Joan and I took our family to La Ciotat, a small village on the Mediterranean coast in southern France. This is the home of the real Mediterranean diet and we found it to be the most delicious and healthiest cuisine we have ever experienced. I also could not help but notice that the women of all ages tended to have small, sexy waists, and smooth and beautiful complexions. And it wasn’t that these people were fitness buffs. There was only one gym in town, and it was used only for playing squash. They didn’t get their toned abs from doing hundreds of sit-ups daily or taking some weight loss supplement. No, their beautiful flat tummies with the pierced belly buttons are the byproduct of an active lifestyle and a diet that keeps their hormones in the healthy youthful ranges. In contrast the average overweight American continues his or her futile struggle with the ‘Ab-blaster’ machines and Metabolife supplements while eating synthetic food loaded with trans fats and sugar and drinking soft drinks full of high fructose corn syrup and spending most of his day in front of a TV/computer screen or behind a windshield.