Today we had our first annual Easter Egg(xercise) Hunt! An incredible way to get in a great workout while having a great time. Try it at home with your family tomorrow! Our participants ran to find plastic eggs – each had a slip of paper with a different exercise in it. Congrats to Clarise – she won the hunt by gathering the most eggs and a total of 20 FitCredits to use towards a future package purchase. (Each FitCredit is worth $1, so Clarise basically got a free workout today AND $$ to use in the future!…….She definitely earned those credits, though…..She literally gathered every egg that had “up-downs” (burpees) hidden inside – close to 30 up-downs total! Quite a challenge!

Speaking of challenges – Easter Sunday is typically a day where you’ll be faced with many food challenges. The key is portion control, portion control, portion control. Other strategies include choosing larger amounts of the healthiest foods available at your feast and smaller amounts of the higher calorie (and fattier) foods. For example, it’s better to have more spoonfuls of fruits and veggies than potato salad. And really….if your “salad” has heaping tablespoons of regular mayonnaise in it, it’s really not much of a “salad” at all! Try using low-fat or fat-free versions of this item and others – like sour cream and cottage cheese. You’ll be doing your waistline a huge favor without notifying your taste buds.

Another tip is to make sure that you consume protein in addition to the readily available carbs and fat on most dinner tables. This way your body will have all of the building blocks you need. Ham and deviled eggs are great sources of protein (okay, it’s the egg-white that has the protein, not the mayo/mustard/yolk concoction piled high in the middle – a great place to use that “mayo tip”!) Finally, exert your own control of what you eat by preparing things yourself. If you take something to a gathering, that will be at least one food choice where you’ll know exactly what’s in it. One of the dishes I’m taking to my family’s gathering is Jell-O Jiggler Eggs. They’re delicious, and a much healthier option than consuming high calorie, fattening, and delicious sweet baked goods after dinner. Fix that craving for sweets without any guilt. J-E-L-L-O! Give it a try!