Okay, here we go! A new year full of …………….excuses?
Websters defines the word excuses as such:
a. To explain (a fault or an offense) in the hope of being forgiven or understood.

Of all the faults, weaknesses, or vices that make obtaining our fitness and wellness goals, I believe “excuses” is the biggest stumbling block. Excuses creep subtly into our lives and provide the justification for why we are overweight, not as succesful or why we don’t strive to tap into our true potential. Having played collegiate sports and professional basketball in France for almost 9 years, I was constantly surrounded by excuses! My wife will even tell you that she heard the, ” if I was two inches taller I’d be in the NBA” excuse from me all the time. Yet there are numerous players in the league that are shorter than my 6’4″ frame!
So why is it so easy to continue along in the ever deepening rut of excuses. I mean let’s face it, the goals and dreams we set for ourselves are real and truly desired, but yet it amazes me everyday that we choose to choose the depressed, frustrated, empty companionship of Monsieur Excuses!
How do we recognize where those excuses are coming from? The thing I like to do is write down all my goals, dreams and aspirations. Once those are layed out in front of you, now you can start to list the excuses or stumbling blocks to each of those goals. This can be eye opening and a little painful too, be honest and true to yourself because this exercise is about CHANGE!
The biggest excuse when talking about exercise and wellness issues is that we often think we are too far gone, helpless. Here is the trick, just like baby steps. We can have an end goal BUT we cannot, must not focus on the end result. We need to focus on a small, accomplishable, obtainable action. For example, we want to, need to lose 50 lbs. Immediately we want to start a diet and exercise everyday, the problem here is that most have NEVER ever done this before so we are just setting ourselves up for failure and MORE excuses right?
Instead of focusing on exercising everyday and the end result, because let’s face it there will be lots of days when we won’t feel up to it, something more important comes up, or whatever! We have to say to ourselves, ” the only thing I am going to do is get myself inside those gym doors.” that’s it, let your trainer take care of the rest!
” all I am going to do is get home after work without stopping at the local fast food joint”
Once we start stepping over these small but damning stumbling blocks we will start to learn how to leap over them and even SQUASH the excuses that have chained us to a lifestyle we are not happy or satisfied with!
Here at LinkFit we strive to help each of our clients meet their goals for fitness and wellness. Let us all have a greater desire and commitment in achieving Our dreams and overcoming our excuses. Heres to a New You in this New Year of 2012!
NO EXCUSES!!

I have parents often ask me to suggest ways they can get their kids to eat healthier. The first question I ask them is: How do they eat themselves? The answer is telling, as many parents confess to not eating as well as they should.
As a parent, I know only too well that children will instinctively learn from you, both the good and bad. If you know a lot about food and eat a variety of natural and healthy foods, your children will pick up on those habits. If you don’t set the right example, by eating a healthy diet yourself, then you are setting the stage for your children to eat poorly. To ensure that your child develops a healthy mindset towards eating, it is up to you to lead by example. Good eating starts at home!
Here are 3 tips to help you incorporate more vegetables into your family’s diet. It is well documented that families who consume plenty of vegetables tend to have a healthier lifestyle in general. Share these healthy eating tips with your children. When preparing meals let them help pick ingredients and participate whenever possible.

1. Set the tone. If you hold your nose while you eat a broccoli stalk, do you think your kids will want to eat it? What if you make comments like, “yuck” or “How could something that tastes so bad be good for you?” Act as if you are enjoying the experience. This will obviously work better with vegetables you actually do enjoy, but remember that words and thoughts are powerful. You can learn to like new things if you try them a few times. Emphasizing the positives about vegetables, and expressing that at the dinner table, will resonate positively with you and your entire family.

2. Disguise your vegetables. This is a good one for anyone with especially picky kids at home. One idea that works well is to blend vegetables into fruit smoothies. Tossing some fresh veggies in a morning smoothie along with fruits (strawberries, oranges and blueberries work well) and whatever smoothie base you like (almond milk, yogurt, fruit juice, etc) is a great way to get vegetables in at breakfast. Spinach works especially well, as does kale, avocado, wheat grass, carrots and cucumbers. Experiment and blend up a few different combinations of fruits and vegetables until you find a concoction you really like. Let your kids pick the ingredients and help in the experiment. If they absolutely refuse to eat vegetables, you don’t have to tell the kids what’s in the “fruit” smoothie. Keep the fruit-to-vegetables ratio on the sweeter side (more fruit) at first. Gradually work in more veggies as everyone gets used to the taste.
You could also chop up vegetables and add them to omelets, cassaroles, meat loaf, etc. You could mix carrots and peas in mashed potatoes. There are many ways to add vegetables to different kinds of food. Check out this website for more great tips and recipes – www.doitdelicious.com.

3. Make it easy. Eating fresh vegetables bought that morning from the local farmer’s market is the healthiest option, but can be hard to fit in to a busy working schedule. I’m a big believer in organic frozen vegetables, which are available now in most grocery stores. They’re convenient, easy to prepare, come in many varieties and can taste pretty good. Stick with the flash-frozen kind that are just veggies and contain no added sauces. You can add your own spices and a touch of butter to make them extra yummy. Corn on the cob (who doesn’t like corn on the cob?) and baked sweet potatoes are two other easy ways to prepare vegetables. For corn, fill your pot with water, add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, drop in your corn, bring everything to a boil, let it boil for 6-8 minutes then remove from the water and let it cool enough to eat. For sweet potatoes, rub olive oil on the skin then pierce the potato once or twice with a fork. Wrap it in foil, place on an oven tray and bake in a preheated oven at 400F for 40-60 minutes. After 40 minutes, give it a poke once in while with a fork. When it feels nice and soft it’s ready. Let it cool then enjoy!

The potential harms, caused mostly by too much caffeine or similar ingredients, include heart palpitations, seizures, strokes and even sudden death, the authors write in the medical journal Pediatrics. They reviewed data from the government and interest groups, scientific literature, case reports and articles in popular and trade media.

Dakota Sailor, 18, a high school senior in Carl Junction, Mo., says risks linked with energy drinks aren’t just hype.

Sailor had a seizure and was hospitalized for five days last year after drinking two large energy drinks — a brand he’d never tried before. He said his doctor thinks caffeine or caffeine-like ingredients may have been to blame.

The report says some cans have four to five times more caffeine than soda, and Sailor said some kids he knows “drink four or five of them a day. That’s just dumb.”

Sailor has sworn off the drinks and thinks other kids should, too.

The report’s authors want pediatricians to routinely ask patients and their parents about energy drink use and to advise against drinking them.

“We would discourage the routine use” by children and teens, said Dr. Steven Lipshultz, pediatrics chairman at the University of Miami’s medical school. He wrote the report with colleagues from that center.

The report says energy drinks often contain ingredients that can enhance the jittery effects of caffeine or that can have other side effects including nausea and diarrhea. It says they should be regulated as stringently as tobacco, alcohol and prescription medicines.

“For most children, adolescents, and young adults, safe levels of consumption have not been established,” the report said.

Introduced more than 20 years ago, energy drinks are the fastest growing U.S. beverage market; 2011 sales are expected to top $9 billion, the report said. It cites research suggesting that about one-third of teens and young adults regularly consume energy drinks. Yet research is lacking on risk from long-term use and effects in kids — especially those with medical conditions that may increase the dangers, the report said.

The report comes amid a crackdown on energy drinks containing alcohol and caffeine, including recent Food and Drug Administration warning letters to manufacturers and bans in several states because of alcohol overdoses.

The report focuses on nonalcoholic drinks but emphasizes that drinking them along with alcohol is dangerous.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers adopted codes late last year to start tracking energy drink overdoses and side effects nationwide; 677 cases occurred from October through December; so far, 331 have been reported this year.

Most 2011 cases involved children and teens. Of the more than 300 energy drink poisonings this year, a quarter of them involved kids younger than 6, according to a data chart from the poison control group.

That’s a tiny fraction of the more than 2 million poisonings from other substances reported to the group each year. But the chart’s list of reported energy drink-related symptoms is lengthy, including seizures, hallucinations, rapid heart rate, chest pain, high blood pressure and irritability, but no deaths.

Monday’s paper doesn’t quantify drink-related complications or deaths. It cites other reports on a few deaths in Europe of teens or young adults who mixed the drinks with alcohol, or who had conditions like epilepsy that may have increased the risks.

Maureen Storey, senior vice president of science policy at the American Beverage Association, an industry group, said the report “does nothing more than perpetuate misinformation” about energy drinks.

Many of the drinks contain much less caffeine than coffee from popular coffeehouses, and caffeine amounts are listed on many of the products, she said in a written statement.

Caffeine is safe, but those who are sensitive to it can check the labels, she said.

A clinical report on energy drinks is expected soon from the American Academy of Pediatrics that may include guidelines for doctors.

Dr. Marcie Schneider, an adolescent medicine specialist in Greenwich, Conn., and member of the academy’s nutrition committee, praised Monday’s report for raising awareness about the risks.

“These drinks have no benefit, no place in the diet of kids,” Schneider said