Maximum Gratitude, Minimal Stuff

Binge-worthy.  What does that mean to you?  What is most likely to entice you to take in more and more and more, until you are stuffed, exhausted, or depleted? For my 97-year-old mother-in-law, it's Gunsmoke .  Her favored cable channel plays a lot of old TV shows, and back-to-back Gunsmoke is their offering from 5:00 until 9:00 every evening.  No matter what, Mom never misses a minute of James Arness and the gang in several of their 635 episodes ( Gunsmoke was on the air for 20 years).  If we're visiting, we have to be quiet and watch it with her.  When that evening's binge is over, she goes to bed. Maybe you binge on a TV show, like Mom.  Or maybe social media grabs your attention and won't let go.  Maybe it's shopping – even if you don't buy much, it's easy to spend hours looking, comparing, reading reviews, researching prices, and more. Or maybe your binge is food.  My sister-in-law can't get enough of salty things.  She struggles ...

Guess what?  "Grandma hobbies" are growing in popularity, and they might even help you lose weight! These cozy hobbies include things like knitting, crochet , embroidery, baking, and gardening.  You could also add "Grandpa hobbies" such as jigsaw puzzles, whittling , and leatherwork. (I'm not trying to be sexist, but I know plenty of men wouldn't try embroidery, and a lot of women wouldn't consider whittling.  Whatever.) Even if you don't become a master of any hobby, scientists say there are a lot of benefits gained by pursuing them.  "When people immerse themselves in a hobby, they often find an escape from daily pressures, creating a space where they can unwind and recharge," says Patricia S. Dixon, a licensed clinical psychologist from Florida. Of course, many hands-on hobbies allow you to create useful and beautiful items for yourself, for your home, or for gifts.  That's why many of us craft jewelry or make candles.  With the simp...

You know, the hardest part of losing weight isn't choosing what to eat.  I mean, we all know that we should avoid a lot of fried foods and greasy snacks, that eating a lot of candy and baked goods isn't doing us any favors, and that it's important to include plenty of vegetables and fruits for optimal health. There's really no mystery to what we should be eating.  And there's no question that either stuffing ourselves or relying on a cup of coffee and half a piece of toast to replace a full, balanced meal is a bad idea. No, the real challenge may be changing how and why we eat.  Many of us don't rely on hunger cues very much (or at all).  Instead, we eat because we're bored, lonely, sad, irritated, or anxious.  And we don't always think while we eat.  We're distracted or in a hurry. All of this leads to mindless eating.  We operate on auto pilot and don't pay attention to how we feel – physically or emotionally. That's where mindfulness co...

When I came home from the hospital back in early March, I was looking for ways to make life simpler and easier .  I needed to rest and recover, and while my husband was able to take several days off work to be with me, I didn't want him to spend all his time and effort cleaning, cooking, and otherwise maintaining our home.  And once he went back to work, I still didn't have the stamina to do all my normal tasks.  So things like personal grooming, laundry, and food needed to be streamlined as much as possible.  After all, those maintenance jobs become much tougher when you're feeling tired and weak.  Yet when we don't manage the tasks, home can become cluttered and dirty very quickly, which is not just inconvenient, but depressing. One area we wanted to simplify was the kitchen.  It was easier to eat the same things for every breakfast and lunch, with the only variation coming at dinnertime.  It not only shortened the grocery list, but it also made meal...

After the most recent Season of Excess (Halloween through Christmas and New Year's to Valentine's Day), some of us swear that we will (really, honest) lose weight. But long-term calorie restriction is extremely hard to maintain, and also slows your metabolism because your body finds ways to store energy (read: fat) more efficiently to stave off the famine-like conditions you're simulating.  Likewise, removing whole food groups from your diet, such as with low-carb regimens, can be difficult to stick with long-term. (On a personal note, I have several times succeeded at losing more than 10% of my body weight with low-carb diets, but got very tired of going without fruit, oatmeal, and even beans.) A minimalist option I've been looking into a concept I call a No-Diet diet, which may be the best way to lose weight and keep it off. It's not a typical diet, because you're not counting calories and you're not removing certain food groups from your plate.  It's ...

If you're like me, you find excuses for why you "can't" do without a flavored latte in the morning, a post-workout smoothie, "just a small serving" of dessert, an evening glass of wine, or waffles with the family on Sunday morning. And now Sugar Fest – I mean Halloween – is almost here. These behaviors are normalized and celebrated in our society.  We joke about how we're "addicted," perhaps not realizing that we really are . We can do hard things. It might seem almost impossible to get healthier and fitter in today's society.  Fast food and junk food are everywhere, all filled with some combination of sugar, salt, and fat that we find hard to resist.  We're overscheduled, sleep-deprived, and sedentary. There's a ton of health and fitness information on the web, in books, even on TV.  It can feel overwhelming to try to wade through all of it, which might just make you feel like giving up and ordering a pizza.  (I know I've had ...

We hang on to clothes that clutter our closets for all the wrong reasons.   I'm in my early 60's.  As far as clothing sizes go, I've worn everything from a size 5 (briefly) to a 3XL.  I can relate to someone's desire to hold on to their skinny clothes until they fit again.  After all, you spent good money for them.  They remind you of your younger days, and they're still in good condition.  Yes, I know all the excuses. Home organizer Bonnie Borromeo Tomlinson is blunt about it: Hands down, the number-one reason most clients hold onto clothes that they no longer wear is the agonizingly inaccurate "incentive" mentality – the holding onto of clothes, one-to-several sizes too small, as inspiration to get thin.  It's a popular tool, and one that rarely if ever actually works.  Of all the motivational measures you may find to lose weight, this isn't it. The awful truth In the meantime, that old pair of jeans is working against you.  Consider t...