Generous. Smart. Caring. Real.  We can’t say enough about our guest bloggers Sue and Angelle of NourishMD. They’re back this week to share another tool to help you keep it real at the grocery store:

In last week’s blog, you learned how 20 minutes a week spent on planning out your meals and snacks will increase your health.  You focused on adding more REAL food to your daily diet.  Now that you have your plan, it’s time to create your shopping list.  Taking 15-20 minutes to create a list will keep you on track when you get to the store.

Our free downloadable form will help ensure you have a good variety of Powerful Proteins, Friendly Fats and Colorful Carbs.  When your list is made, then you are ready to go shopping. Read the rest of this entry »

Sue and Angelle of NourishMD are back this week with the real story behind real food and how you can make your next shopping trip a “real” adventure:

We want to eat healthier.  We intend to most days.  Work, kids, appointments, and all the other daily responsibilities often get in the way of these good intentions.

There’s no way around it.  Eating REAL food, the food that our bodies thrive on, takes some planning.  Planning takes time and we don’t have a lot of time.  The good news is you don’t need a lot of time – maybe 20 minutes per week – and you will be on your way to creating better health for you and your family.  We can all squeeze in 20 minutes a week for better health, right? Read the rest of this entry »

We want to welcome the fantastic ladies over at NourishMD – Sue and Angelle – to the SqueezeItIn guest blogger family! NourishMD is to food what SqueezeItIn is to exercise: NourishMD strives to create a vision of how to feed your family REAL food and incorporate healthy living into your busy life, everyday.  Read on and “get real” about what you’re eating:

Want to feel healthier in just a few weeks?  Squeeze more REAL food into your days!

REAL food is the food that your great-grandmother would have had in her kitchen.  It’s the food that has always been here – long before the era of artificially flavored, sweetened and colored genetically modified foods.   REAL food comes from nature, not a scientist in a white lab coat.  REAL food is what our bodies thrive on:  vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains and high quality animal proteins.  These can be categorized as Powerful Proteins, Fabulous Fats and Colorful Carbs and can be enjoyed on their own or combined in a zillion ways to make delicious meals and snacks.  For lots of REAL food recipes click HERE.

The opposite of REAL food is fake food and it is what we are bombarded with these days.  When you pick up a packaged food, look at the ingredients.  If you see words like enriched flour; high fructose corn syrup; partially hydrogenated oil; artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners or any words you can’t pronounce, you’re looking at a fake food. (Think white lab coat.) Fake food promotes illness.  Leave it on the grocery store shelf.  Click HERE for more information on fake foods and how they impact your health. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Melissa McCreery is back with more of her verbal Valium this week, talking us all off the ledge of overwhelm and overeating.  If you’ve been there or know someone who has, this post could be a life-changer. Thank you Dr. McCreery for the wonderful work you do to keep us all happy and healthy!  Read on!  (And be sure to visit Dr. McCreery’s fabulous website TooMuchOnHerPlate.com)

Emotional Eating: How to Avoid the Busy Women’s Overeating Trap

by Dr. Melissa McCreery

Did you know that one of the major causes of overeating and weight gain is something that diets don’t even address? Many women—especially busy women with a lot on their minds, overeat because they are emotional eaters—they use food as a way to respond to (or avoid) certain emotions or feelings. Diets or food plans don’t address this problem. That’s one of the reason so many smart capable women get stuck in patterns of yo-yo weight loss and dieting.

Are you…

• eating when you aren’t really hungry?
• struggling with stress or “nervous” eating?
• circling the kitchen because you can’t find “the thing” that will satisfy you?
• eating when you are bored, tired, frustrated, or procrastinating doing something else?
• hungry all the time–no matter what or how much you eat?

If so, it’s worth considering whether emotional eating is getting in the way of your healthy eating and weight loss goals.

Apply these strategies to break free of the emotional overeating cycle and start walking a different path. Read the rest of this entry »

In the meantime, check out the latest wisdom from Dr. Melissa on great habits that lead to good health:

Squeezing in Stress Relief: How to Take Control of Stress Before it Takes Control of You, Your Life, or Your Eating

By Dr. Melissa McCreery

We all know the stress of too much on our plates–too much to do, too much to think about, too many things and people and responsibilities to take care of. Whether you choose to have a lot on your plate or whether you feel like there is no other option, stress and overwhelm may be a reality–and they take a toll.

Stress and overwhelm prevent us from being and feeling and behaving as our best version of ourselves.  Stress not only feels crummy; many of us react to stress and overwhelm by cutting back and dropping some of the self-care and comfort strategies that benefit us the most and allow us to really shine.

Stress and overload can also lead us to habits such as stress eating, comfort eating, drinking and smoking too much, and sleeping and exercising too little.  And the stress that creates can lead to more of the same—a vicious cycle.

Want to do something different?

Here are 4 tips for taking control of stress that you can implement today: Read the rest of this entry »

SqueezeItIn.com loves moms and we want to help you celebrate Mother’s Day with this special offer:

This Mother’s Day give mom the gift of fitness from SqueezeItIn.com.

With your minimum purchase* of $25 we’ll enclose a signature SqueezeItIn.com Grocery Girls Tote with your order free of charge. These convenient and 100% recyclable totes feature six exercises that can be done at the market. Inside you’ll find a Clip ‘n Carry exercise card with descriptions of each exercise to take along or share with a friend.

Help the moms in your life put themselves – and their health – back on their to-do lists with the dozens of clever and effective do-anywhere exercises on the SqueezeItIn.com Workout DVD.

Moms know it’s true:  Life’s a gym. Work it out!

Now mom can wear one of our favorite phrases on our soft black scoop neck tee or our here-comes-summer orange ribbed tank.

Order now!  Free gift with purchase Mother’s Day offer good only through May 9, 2010.  Quantities limited.

* Minimum purchase is based on merchandise total after application of coupons, promo codes, or other discounts and does not include shipping charges. While supplies last.

Dr. Melissa McCreery of TooMuchOnHerPlate.com is back with more slimming secrets!  And while the findings below are very exciting, they’re meant to put you to sleep.  Check out this dreamy way to keep the weight off:

Could squeezing in more sleep help you lose weight?

Women who are short on time and juggling many responsibilities often scrimp on sleep. You know it’s not the best way to go, but sometimes it just seems like the easiest solution.

Here’s something you need to know: going without sleep is likely to sabotage you BIG TIME. You probably know that lack of sleep affects your mood and your concentration, but did you know that sleep deprivation alters your body chemistry and sets you up for weight gain? Missing out on sleep can actually cause you to BE hungrier and skimping on sleep appears to cause weight gain whether or not you eat more! It’s not just in your head. Short-term sleep deprivation leads to lower levels of leptin, a hormone that tells us when we are full, and increase levels of the hormone ghrelin, which promotes appetite. Have you had the experience after a night of little sleep where you feel like you can eat everything in sight and never feel full? That’s the low leptin, high ghrelin effect. Read the rest of this entry »

When we discovered an expert on emotional eating (we all do it) who specializes in helping “smart busy women” (hey, those are our peeps!) we knew we had to get her to guest blog for SqueezeItIn.com and share her absolute best tips for squeezing in good nutrition.

Luckily for us, she agreed!  Here’s the first of four top notch posts that will change the way you look at food and the way you look in the mirror forever!  Thanks Melissa!

Squeezing in EASY Weight Loss

by Dr. Melissa McCreery

What if you could lose 18 pounds this year by making one small change?

Our eating (and overeating) is influenced by many cues that are unrelated to how much food we really need to feel satisfied. Packaging and other related factors have a big effect on how much we actually eat. Did you know that fifty percent of the snack food bought in bulk (such as from your local warehouse club) is eaten within six days of purchase?  We tend to finish what we have in front of us (regardless of the size of the portion). Are those huge bags of chips still looking like such a good deal?

Here’s another tip that can have a huge impact on your “bottom line.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tuck in more than the sheets with this challenging move and you’ll be able to bounce a quarter off your abs!

Lay across the bed, hips aligned with edge of the mattress, feet pointing to the floor. (See video.) It is important to keep head, neck and spine aligned throughout this movement. Grabbing your bedspread for support, slowly raise both legs up until your body forms a straight line and point your toes. This movement originates from your abs. Keep abs engaged throughout this exercise.  Once your legs are raised, hold and squeeze for a 3-count of “Squeeze-It-In” before slowly lowering them back down.

Variation: Bring only one leg up at a time.  Keep movement slow and controlled engaging your abs throughout.

Wondering how you can squeeze more produce into your diet? This week registered dietician Elizabeth M. Ward, M.S., R.D. and author of Expect the Best, Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, & After Pregnancy is showing us how:

Pack in the Produce. Fruits and vegetables are filled with fiber and water to help you feel fuller for longer. Resolving to eat at least five servings a day of fruits and vegetables combined will likely crowd out the higher-calorie foods you’ve been noshing on for the past few months, and it will help you take in more vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.  Here’s how to squeeze in the fruits and vegetables you need: Read the rest of this entry »