Blog Posts by FitSugar

FitSugarSource: From Ranch to Hummus: 10 Healthy Dip Recipes

It's not really a party until the dip shows up. Good with veggies, fruit, and pita bread, the sheer variety of dips make them an easy crowd-pleaser. If you've got a party coming up and want to get crazy with the dip but also want to keep calories and fat down, we've got 10 recipes for you to make!

• Creamy Peanut Butter Dip: Serve fiber-filled fruit like apples or pears to eat alongside this creamy peanut butter dip. The natural sugar of fruit won't have you crashing the same way a soda will, and the protein from the nut butter will help sustain your energy through the day.
• Chipotle Hummus: Give hummus a spicy twist by whipping up a batch of chipotle hummus.
• Nonfat Yogurt Dill Dip: This tangy yogurt dill dip is made with nonfat Greek yogurt, making it low in calories and high in protein.
• Roasted Tomato Hummus : Whip up a batch of roasted tomato hummus - you'll be making it well beyond Super Bowl

Source: 3 Moves to Heighten Your Heels

When it's time to dress up, putting on a pair of heels is an instant game changer. Aside from your favorite kicks, they are the ultimate way to boost confidence and complete a look. But heels are also an accessory that can show off your hard-earned time in the gym by giving your calves center stage. If you're looking to sculpt and define your legs for a special event or just want to to strengthen your calves to rock a pair of heels, consider adding these three exercises to your next workout.

• Raise that leg: Calf raises will shape and sculpt your lower legs in no time! Facing a wall for stability, begin with your feet flat against the floor; slowly raise both heels three inches off the ground, and then slowly lower yourself back down. You can do these alone or in between intervals during a circuit or running workout. Standing on a step with your heels partially extended out from over the stair will increase the challenge.
• Step on

Source: Dear Diary, Let's Talk About Food

If you're looking to make food swaps, track down the culprit of your upset tummy, or stay accountable to your weight loss goals, then a food journal is your answer. An easy and inexpensive solution to make the most from your meals, a food diary will help you to track, analyze, and alter your diet. Grab a pen and journal and get tracking with these helpful hints that will have you seeing results in no time!

• Remain honest and accountable: First line of business is staying honest with yourself. After all, this is why you started journaling. If you forget to mention the handful of candy you grabbed on the way out the door, then you will miss out on the truth. Once you realize your patterns and habits, it will become easier to make a change. And, while most of us have daily food patterns, it is important to track your meals over the course of a few weeks, not days, for the best outcome.
• Consider the details: Like with any fitness

Source: Women's Health 101: How to Relieve Bad Cramps

When bad cramps strike, it's hard to put your head in a positive place. Cramps that double us over in pain are caused by uterine contractions and are often exaggerated from emotional stress. Since this special time happens every month, it's hard when this pain gets your spirits down or cramps your style. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to deal with the pain and general malaise of pesky cramps.

• Bring the heat: To increase blood flow and ease the pain, apply heat to the pain. While some people love drawing a big hot bath, using a heating pad can be a much easier - and faster - solution.
• Go for easy exercise: A little gentle activity like walking can help alleviate your cramps. If you don't feel like moving too much, try some relaxing yoga poses that open your hips and stretch out your lower back and abs.
• Open the medicine cabinet: If your pain is really bad, take some ibuprofen instead of acetaminophen.

Source: How to Breathe When Running

Ever wonder why some days you feel like an energizer bunny and can keep running and running, while other days your legs feel like lead and you have zero stamina? Certainly the amount of sleep you got the night before, stress levels, and diet play a role in how you perform during your runs, but how you regulate your breath during your jogging session also effects your energy levels. Here's how to power your muscles with fresh oxygen on each stride.

• Learn to breathe deeply: Your lungs are just a bit smaller than your ribcage, but we all tend to use just the top third of the lung. One reason being that, like all muscles, the intercostals, which run between the ribs, can get tight and inflexible, limiting the expansiveness of your lungs. When you take a deep breath, you are expanding the lungs, pressing down the diaphragm, and causing your abdomen to expand as your lungs fill with air. Learning to breathe this way helps you take in lots of oxygen

pantrySource: Set Your Kitchen Up For (Healthy) Success

Food starts with the kitchen. By setting this essential room up the right way, it will be easier to make healthy eating choices. You might even surprise yourself with these new snack choices. Here are some tips to improve your home as well as your health.

• Showcase fruits and vegetables: When you surround yourself with healthy options you not only feel better but are more inclined to use them. Simple tip: get a variety of fruits and veggies to place in a large fruit bowl. Choose colors that look vibrant and complement each other. This will look great on your kitchen counter and give you fresh meal ideas. And if nothing else, you'll reach for them over chips.
• Organize your grains: Unwrapping all of those healthy whole grains like rice and placing them into individual containers will make you excited to incorporate them into your meals. They are easier to reseal and look great on display. You can do this with your lentils

FitSugarSource: 25 Things That Are Keeping You Overweight

Even if you've kicked off a fitness routine and you're choosing healthier food, you may not be seeing the weight come off the way you'd hoped. While there are plenty of other healthy accomplishments to celebrate, you're probably wondering what's not working. One or a few of these 25 weight-loss culprits may be all that's standing in the way of your weight-loss goals.

• You Overeat Healthy Foods: Nuts, avocados, whole wheat pasta, olive oil, and dark chocolate are all natural and healthy, but they aren't void of calories. You still need to watch how much you eat of the good stuff. For example, avocado offers a ton of health benefits, but an entire fruit is over 200 calories. Find out what the serving sizes of your other favorite healthy foods are here.
• You Don't Eat Breakfast: Skipping breakfast may seem like a great way to save calories, but your body will actually hold onto fat because it thinks it's being starved. Keep

Source: Healthy Eating Tip: Mix Ground Meat With Tofu

Whether beef, chicken, or turkey, homemade burgers make for a simple weeknight dinner or football-Sunday crowd favorite. For a healthier twist to your burgers, add crumbled tofu to your ground meat mixture the next time you whip up a batch.

Replacing part of your ground meat mixture with tofu helps keep the dish moist, especially helpful if you are using a lean meat. It's heart healthier too: replacing some of the ground meat with tofu saves on the overall saturated fat content of your dish, keeping cholesterol and calorie counts low; one ounce of tofu is around 20 calories, while one ounce of 85 percent lean ground beef is about 61 calories.

The tofu won't affect the flavor of your meat, but you should make sure you drain it thoroughly before you crumble it into your meat. Also buy soft tofu - firm or extra firm may be too hard to completely mix into your meat. For a healthy, low-calorie way to use this method, try this herb