The Good Stuff
March 31, 2009
Written by Jonathan Aluzas
The Good Stuff
Just a quick little something for you today. Nothing Earth-shattering, just a bit of good news. Healthy lifestyle isn’t just about doing push ups and eating okra, it’s also about staying clean with your thinking and not getting dragged into the morass of fear with which the economic doomsayers would consume you. We’re not circling the drain, folks, the economic apocalypse is not at hand. It’s challenging right now, but there are signs of life if you look deeply enough, and I don’t care how small these signs are; they matter. So, from time to time, I’m going to bring these signs of positivity to your attention. I’m going to bring you The Good Stuff, and for Tuesday, March 31st, 2009, here they are:
- The Consumer Confidence index is up from last month.
- “The administration’s efforts, along with some faint signs that economic conditions are stabilizing, helped improve the sentiment on Wall Street. Stocks posted strong gains for the week despite a selloff on Friday.” (From CNN.com)
- Sales of newly built homes rose 5% from February.
- The NASDAQ rose 10.9% in March, it’s best March ever since it’s inception in 1971.
- The Dow is up in March after posting losses in the six previous months.
So, there you have it. A ray of light for today. I recommend that all of us take some time each day to seek out The Good Stuff, because in tough times we need strong, healthy minds. Oh, and Happy Birthday, Mom!
Have a great week.
Jonathan Aluzas is the owner of Arena Fitness in Encino, California.
Quick Tip: Skip Breakfast If You Want to Stay Fat
March 20, 2009
Written by Jonathan Aluzas
Quick Tip: Skip Breakfast If You Want to Stay Fat
The front lines of the battle against weight gain are drawn first thing in the morning. Remember the old adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Well, it’s true, and for a number of reasons. Still, I can’t tell you how many people I interact with who believe that coffee qualifies as breakfast. It doesn’t. And, even worse, these people tend to refuse to believe that their failure to eat breakfast has any negative repercussions. AND, even after being told about the negative ramifications of skipping breakfast, their responses tend to be something like:
“I’m just not hungry in the morning.”
Or,
“I feel sick when I eat breakfast in the morning.”
Fine, but here’s the deal: Your body NEEDS breakfast, whether you feel like eating it or not. Here are the facts:
- 78% of people who have successfully maintained a weight loss of 30 pounds or more for at least a year report eating breakfast every day, and 90% report that they eat breakfast at least five days a week.
- Research shows that women who eat breakfast regularly consume fewer calories daily than women who do not eat breakfast regularly.
- Eating early in the day keeps you from “starvation eating” later in the day.
- Research suggests that breakfast eaters are leaner than those who skip breakfast.
- Skipping breakfast is associated with a FOUR-FOLD increase in the risk of obesity.
Okay, I can go on and on. The bottom line is:
If you skip breakfast you can pretty much forget about losing weight.
But don’t take my word for it. Please click on the links below to see what WebMD and the Harvard Medical School have to say about it.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose-weight-eat-breakfast
https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/weight_loss_healthy_breakfast
Jonathan Aluzas is the owner of Arena Fitness in Encino, California.