Small Steps to Health

Turn up the Heat in Our Fat Cells

July 31st, 2008 by asithi · 8 Comments

Tagged Fat Cells, Weight Loss, metabolism

Sometimes it is not about how much you eat and how much you exercise, but how effectively our bodies use the calories we ingest. Healthy eating and exercise is still important, but sometimes understanding how our bodies function allows us to focus on health rather than skinny. This post discuss our ability to lose weight when the body’s normal function to produce heat is hindered and how to boost our metabolism.

Camping Weekend and Starting a New Job

July 29th, 2008 by asithi · 2 Comments

Tagged Off topics, social eating

I just returned from a long weekend of camping with a group of friends. It feels so good to be able to take a long shower and wash all the dirt from the pores of my skin.
Camping is the perfect excuse to fit physical activity in. Since each family had to prepare only one [...]

Making the Commitment to Change

July 25th, 2008 by asithi · 4 Comments

Tagged Motivation, Motivation

Photo by: Sara Petagna

Steve’s post yesterday talked about keeping things simple when it comes to new health habits. It got me thinking that most of these weight loss programs require too much commitment from hopeful customers. It is sad that we rather let some program tell us what to eat, when to eat, and [...]

Women’s Hormonal Phases - Your Early 40s Through Your Early 50s

July 23rd, 2008 by asithi · 3 Comments

Tagged Aging Bodies, Hormones, Weight Loss, hormones

The Women’s Hormonal Phase series talk about the hormonal phases that women go through in their lifetime from their teens to beyond menopause. Each post will talk about what’s going on during each phase, the health challenges, and possible solutions. This third post will focus on the perimenopause years between our early 40s to our early 50s.

Behaviors that Intensify Feelings of Deprivation

July 20th, 2008 by asithi · 1 Comment

Tagged Overeating, Weight Loss, hunger, Overeating

Most diet programs are about the right food, the right amount of calories, or the right amount of carbohydrates.  Sure it leads to success if we are able to keep this up forever, but most of us will only get minimal success if we cannot control our feelings of deprivation.
Here are some behaviors that intensify [...]

Satisfaction and Hunger Signals

July 17th, 2008 by asithi · 4 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, Weight Loss, healthy eating, hunger

Do we know the difference between feeling satisfied and uncomfortably full? As I mentioned in a previous post, our stomach is the size of our fist. Though it might take a while before our brain and stomach registered that we are full, our eyes will always think we can eat more .

Satisfied
Uncomfortably Full

When [...]

Stomach Storage Capacity and Hunger

July 15th, 2008 by asithi · 5 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, Weight Loss, fat storage, hunger

The stomach is about the size of our fist. Like a water balloon, the stomach expands when we overeat. It can hold up to 33 oz of food when expanded. The problem is that when we constantly overeat, the stomach believes that the expanded state is the new normal. Obese individuals actually have more storage [...]

Women’s Hormonal Phases - Your Late 20s Through Your Early 40s

July 12th, 2008 by asithi · No Comments

Tagged Aging Bodies, Hormones, Weight Loss, hormones

This is the second part of the Women’s Hormonal Phases series. The Women’s Hormonal Phase series talk about the hormonal phases that women go through in their lifetime from their teens to beyond menopause. Each post will talk about what’s going on during each phase, the health challenges, and possible solutions. This second post will [...]

I Received an Arte Y Pico Blogging Award

July 9th, 2008 by asithi · 3 Comments

Tagged Off topics

I am excited that I received an Arte Y Pico blogging award from Sharon at Goodbye to All Fat. Sharon’s own words:

“There are so many blog posts on Small Steps to Health that have enlightened me I found it hard to choose Asithi’s best entries…

By the way, Asithi and myself are not having some [...]

Women’s Hormonal Phases - Your Teens Through Your Early 20s

July 8th, 2008 by asithi · 2 Comments

Tagged Aging Bodies, Hormones, Weight Loss, hormones

I have written in the past about the differences in the fat cells between women and men. That is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the differences in our genetic makeup. This post and its subsequent posts will talk about the hormonal phases that women go through in their lifetime from [...]

Dance Dance Revolution - Hottest Party for the Wii

July 4th, 2008 by asithi · 8 Comments

Tagged Fitness, Weight Loss, Wii Reviews, wii

Lately I have been obsess with playing DDR - Hottest Party for the Wii, to the point were I am neglecting my normal workout routine. For the last three weeks, I played that game at every free moment in hopes of passing another level.
Generally, I am not a big fan of cardio. I [...]

Got Milk? Are you ready for Weight Gain?

July 3rd, 2008 by asithi · 15 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, Weight Loss, calories

I love the “Got Milk?” ads of a celebrity with a milk mustache. I do not know whether these celebrities are regular milk drinkers, but they sure make drinking milk look sexy. And they also reinforce the idea that drinking three glasses of milk a day will lead to weight loss. That is as true as a fairy godmother.

Developing a Sense of Body Image

July 1st, 2008 by asithi · No Comments

Tagged Body Image, Body Image

Weight used to be a much less important issue. Fat used to be a normal part of body composition. A century ago, a woman’s belly can never be too round. Now, it cannot be too flat. I blame most of it on the media. But I also blame some of [...]