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• Stress, the Holidays, and Christmas Cheer
• New Success Story: Brandon G.
• Chat Live with Teigh and Gillian!
• Tip of the Week: Mixing Medications
• Recipe of the Week: Rainbow Salsa
• New Year, New You! Win CASH and Other Cool Prizes!
• WOWY™ Now!
• Do You Have a Good Post of the Month?

"We can learn nothing except by going from
the known to the unknown."

Claude Bernard

During the holidays, your life is extra stressful, which for some of us can ruin the most festive time of the year. Stress can lead to more than dreaded holiday weight gain. It disrupts our ability to function at work, messes with our moods, and can upstage the things around us that we should be grateful for. It demands attention. And with attention, stress gains power in what can become a vicious cycle of reacting to stress and building on it. But we needn't be a slave to it. By addressing the issue with a proactive mind-set, we can head stress off at the seasonal pass.

The common lore is that extra vitamins and minerals will solve the problem. After all, you can buy "stress tabs" at most any market. But according to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), "It's a common myth that our bodies use more nutrients when we're under mental stress. Although pressures at home or work sometimes cause people to neglect eating well, we do not use any more or fewer essential nutrients while under stress." So your first tip should be to eat well over the holidays. Hmm, more easily said than done.

However, Leo Galland, M.D., author of Power Healing (Random House, 1998), reports, "Chronic stress depletes the body's essential supply of magnesium, the nutrient most important for handling stress and contributing to sound sleep; relaxed, healthy muscles; and staying calm."

Dr. Galland goes on to say: "The fight-or-flight syndrome causes magnesium to pour out of the cells, which makes you more vulnerable to anxiety's negative effects. What's more, the substances we often reach for when we're tense—caffeine, sugar, high-fat foods and alcohol—leech even more magnesium from the body. Leafy vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, on the other hand, are full of this nutrient. Load up on these foods if you're under a lot of stress. And it's not a bad idea to consider taking a magnesium supplement."

Judith Wurtman, Ph.D., a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, adds, "Complex carbohydrates are champion stress-fighters, too, because they boost the brain's level of the mood-enhancing chemical serotonin. These include an array of vegetables (broccoli, leafy greens, potatoes, corn, cabbage, spinach), whole-grain breads and pastas, muffins, crackers and cereals. Bananas also help quell anxiety."

So while the need to supplement is debated, there is no denying that eating better can reduce stress, and that poor eating facilitates the need to supplement your diet. Both the ADA and practitioners of holistic medicine recommend certain teas to reduce stress as well. Many herbal teas, like chamomile, peppermint, and others, have ingredients that have a calming effect.

The safe assumption is that if you eat healthier and pay closer attention to the details of eating, the level of stress in your lifestyle will most certainly decline. And if you know you're not eating well, adding supplemental vitamins and minerals, particularly magnesium, will most likely help.

But there's more to the holiday de-stress puzzle than the knowledge of what you should be doing. A well-thought-out proactive lifestyle change will help you more than anything. Here are a few steps that will make it easier to stay on track over this holiday season and beyond.

1. Take time out for a healthful breakfast. It will help you get going for your busy day and will keep you from feeling hungry just when you need to be gaining momentum. Hence, this should help you . . .

2. . . . Limit bingeing. As part of the above, if you have some planned healthy meals starting with breakfast, you'll be far less apt to grab whatever is in sight—which is usually a lot of junk at this time of year. If food has ever altered your mood or made you feel sluggish, you'll understand the importance of this step.

3. Plan meals in advance. If you have stress-related time constraints, as is the case with most of us, try planning meals ahead of time. Even many canned or frozen meals are better than the smorgasbord of baked goodies that you'll be tempted with at the office. Order in if you have to, but try not to skip meals. Hunger makes stress feel worse, as does bingeing, and then you're in a cycle that gets worse before it gets better.

4. Exercise. Exercise makes your engine run smoother, removes toxins from the body, lowers anxiety, makes you feel good about yourself, and reduces your cravings for junk. If you want stress relief, try going for a long walk, a jog, a bike ride, or anything that raises your heart rate. Nothing regulates the body as well as exercise.

5. Stop and Breathe. Not everyone has time (or interest) to work on meditation, but there is no doubt that more meditation would lead to a less-stressed world. Mini-meditation sessions focused on breathing are great stress reducers. It's as simple as taking a minute from time to time and just concentrating on your breathing. Sitting or standing quietly, take a deep breath, filling your belly with air as you inhale. As you exhale, silently count "one" to yourself and empty your belly of air. Continue inhaling and exhaling until you reach the count of 10; repeat as often as you wish. It works.

6. Stretch. Yoga would even be better, but any type of stretching will help with stress relief. Starting each morning with two or three minutes of light stretching as soon as you get out of bed can do wonders for your outlook on the day. Go very easy and just hold a few different light-stretching poses for 20 to 30 seconds each. You will find that this gets your blood flowing, regulates your breathing, centers you, and makes you more alert. Adding a stretch to step 5 might be all you need to get right back in the holiday spirit.

7. Drink Water. Not only does water regulate and flush your system when it's overrun with holiday goodies, it will also make you less hungry. Forcing yourself to drink a glass of water a few times a day is the simplest body regulator there is.

So now you know how to eat, drink, and be merry without setting your body back six months. Have a great holiday season!

New Success Story: Brandon G. Congratulations to our December Success Story! "Today, day 90 rolled around. I went from 190 to 149 pounds! My waist has shrunk from the pushing-40 pants to the I-need-to-go-get-a-smaller-size-soon 30s. My body fat went from 24% to less than 10%! I look at least 10 years younger, and I can even run harder and faster than when I was on the cross-country team 15 years ago. I'm 34 years old and feel like I'm 16. " Read the rest of Brandon's Power 90® Success Story.
			AFTER

Get a jump on your New Year, New You! resolution success by participating in a live chat with the original Yoga Booty Ballet™ goddesses, Teigh McDonough and Gillian Marloth. Join them this Monday, December 20th, at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET, to ask personal questions, share your fitness experiences, and learn everything you always wanted to know about this empowering, one-of-a-kind workout series.

If you think Teigh and Gillian are fun to watch in the Yoga Booty Ballet videos, wait till you catch them LIVE in the Beachbody Community Chatroom. Don't miss this exciting opportunity to chat with the experts. We guarantee you'll get plenty of extra knowledge and motivation to launch your fitness regimen into the New Year with a full head
of steam.

Yoga Booty Ballet is a trademark of Goddess in Training, Inc.

Beware of mixing over-the-counter medications without realizing the possible consequences. Always ask your doctor when receiving a prescription about any possible combinations that you may foresee in the future. You can also send for a free brochure published jointly by the Council on Family Health, the National Consumers League, and the Food and Drug Administration. Visit the following sites for details: http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/ or http://www.cfhinfo.org.

This week's recipe is compliments of Amber D., who's come up with a south-of-the-border treat that's both tasty and beautiful: Rainbow Salsa. It'll be all the rage at your next party when served with baked tortilla chips. Or, as Amber suggests, try it on your next salad.

Thanks a lot, Amber! Your new Beachbody T-shirt may not be as colorful, but we hope you love it just the same.

Ingredients:
1 large tomato
1 green, red, or yellow bell pepper
1 mango
1 avocado
1 sweet red onion
1 heaping Tbsp. well-chopped, fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp. lime juice

Directions: Dice everything up and mix!

If you have a recipe you think is Beachbody material, send it to recipes@beachbody.com. If we publish it, we'll send you a free T-shirt.

Click here to join thousands of members who have posted their New Year's resolutions online. Plus, you'll receive a Special Reward just for posting and other great prizes.

Read some amazing posts below:

This year will be the year for me! My time, my goals, my success. I will lose 35 lbs by May. I will stop saying "YES" to all of the people and things I do not want to do, and start saying "Yes" to myself!

— Jen B. in Virginia

I would like...no no...I am going to lose 10 pounds with the Slim in 6 program and get my body ready for the auditions for the radio city rockettes in March....I believe I can do this with a little help from the support team and some awesome prizes!!

— Laura P. in North Carolina

Hit my low range of my ideal weight. 146 pounds. Get into top physical shape with defined muscles. Keep the weight off through the end of the year (forever, but let's start with 2005).

— Peter W. "KABW" in Indiana

WOWY (Work Out With You) is the amazing online gym that helps you succeed by enabling you to make commitments to work out with others at a specific time ("I'll WOWY at 6 AM"). Believe us, it's hard to skip a workout when your Success Buddy in New York is expecting to see you online for a scheduled WOWY workout!

Log on, select the program you're doing, and see how many others are working out with you all across the country! Click here to check it out, join a WOWY group, and see who's WOWY now!

We are always looking for inspiring posts by our Members. If you come across one on the Beachbody Message Boards, send it to us at greatposts@beachbody.com. If your post is chosen, you'll receive a brand new Beachbody T-shirt!