Merritt Clubs Blog

Cooking at home is a great way to incorporate healthy foods into your diet; however, reviewing recipe ingredients and instructions can have you questioning what is actually healthy and what is in need of a health makeover.  Here are six tips to aid your search for healthy recipes.

For everyone hoping to adopt or maintain a healthy lifestyle, the summer months are prime time to fill up baskets with blackberries. Despite their small size, the seasonal fruit really packs a sweet punch when it comes to nutritional value. To strengthen our position, here are five beneficial things that blackberries have in abundance:

Do you consider yourself relatively fit but still have trouble getting through an entire group fitness class? If so, the problem could be a matter of diet rather than a lack of resolve. With that said, try adding the following energy boosting foods to your menu rotation:

Healthy snacking is just as important to a diet and living a healthy lifestyle as is eating a healthy meal. So while reaching for a bag of chips and a soda during a break once in a while won't completely ruin your diet, sticking to a calorie count that suits your metabolic needs is what is more important. One right choice will not only fill your day with the power your body needs, but it will also lead to other positives, and not just ones that are health-related.

Nowadays, it seems to have become hard to lead a healthy lifestyle because you get a lot of conflicting information from different sources.  Egg yolks are constantly going in and out of fashion.  Some health gurus recommend high protein diets while others encourage you to go for diets high in fat (Atkins).  Even when it comes to exercise, there’s usually some new fad you keep hearing about, from Zumba classes to kettle bells.  So how do you weed through all this information and keep the stuff that you need?  Consider the following tips:

We all know about Thanksgivings “Battle of the Bulge” but do we know how to fight it? Here are a few tips to help us fight this enemy as Thanksgiving draws closer…

24 hours before Thanksgiving: Hit the gym. Skip your normal routine and just focus on doing cardio instead.

16 hours before Thanksgiving: Get a good night of sleep. Stay away from bar-hopping with your friends and hit the bed early. Our body burns fat much easier when we are well rested.

6 hours to Thanksgiving Dinner: Eat a good healthy, hearty breakfast. Don’t starve your body while you prep for the big meal. Your body needs a jump start in the morning or your blood sugar and insulin levels will fall.

3 hours to Thanksgiving Dinner: Don’t just sit around and watch football with your family, get out and play a game of football together. This will allow you to burn calories before your big meal.

2 hours to Thanksgiving Dinner: Grab a few apples that contain their peel and eat them as a quick snack. Apple peels contain a compound that can help curb an out of control appetite.

Thanksgiving Dinner: It is finally here!!! Don’t just throw food down your face J Take time to socialize with your company and enjoy what you are eating. This will allow your body to feel fuller faster.

I hope these tips will help you as you prepare for the big Turkey Day Meal. Have a safe and happy holiday!

Written By: Maria Miller