Category Archives: Diet

But I Don’t FEEEEEEEEL Like Practicing Yoga

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MIAMI BEACH, FL - JUNE 11: Julia Meshcheryako...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

There are certain things in life that you know are good for you.
And there are certain things that you know are good for you AND you happen to enjoy them as well.
Let’s call these things “Healthy and Good.”

My list of Healthy and Good include eating healthy food, taking the pups on long walks, playing my guitar, meditating, practicing yoga, reading.
There’s more but that’s a good start.

What’s on your list of Healthy and Good?

Go ahead and think about it…write them down. I’ll wait.

Click here for thinking music

Now look at your list.
How many of the Healthy and Good are you doing on a regular basis?

When I look at my list, I see SEVERAL Healthy and Good that I am NOT doing regularly.
Instead, I opt to spend my time dallying on the InterWebs, playing WordTwist on Facebook, or zoning out in front of the TV.
All of which at the time SEEM to be what I want to do.
But if you ask me for my OPINION of those activities, I would say they are uninteresting and a waste of precious time.
They don’t make me feel especially good.
They don’t help me get closer to accomplishing any of my goals.

So WHY do I keep doing them?
WHY do I do them at the expense of doing Healthy and Good activities that better reflect my values and make me feel HAPPY?

I just don’t get it.
Why do we avoid the very things we know are good for us and we enjoy doing?

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7 Reasons to Read The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl

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I just finished reading a book called The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl.dietgirl-us-cover

The book is written about Shauna Reid, who chronicles her weight loss journey over the course of several years.

In the beginning of the book, Shauna is extremely self-conscious, depressed, and frustrated. Her sister convinces her to go to a Weight Watchers meeting, where Shauna faces the grim reality that at just 23 years old she is just over 350 pounds. From there, she becomes a “dieting super hero” and starts a blog so that she can share her experience with others. I think it was also a forum for venting ;)

I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down. Here’s why I loved this book:

  1. Shauna Reid uses humor throughout her process. Even though at times she obviously wasn’t feeling humorous, she managed to bring lightness into her writings. As a result the book is a real joy to read.
  2. Shauna shows just how difficult losing weight can be. I think a lot of us think it should be easy (wasn’t it easy to put the weight on?), and so we get discouraged when the weight doesn’t peel off at our slightest effort. Shauna’s book shows us just how much effort it really is to lose weight and keep it off.
  3. I loved seeing how Shauna transforms during her process. In the beginning of The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl, she was very focused on the number on the scale. I also felt she was very focused on herself – worrying about what everyone was thinking about her,  how she looked, her failures in the workplace. And as she lost the weight this really didn’t change at first. It wasn’t until she started really living her life that she began to look around her and see that there are other things in this world besides her. She shifted her focus to being happy and sharing that happiness with others. As she focused less on her self, she started to go on adventures and take risks – to enjoy her life.
  4. The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl is overall a happy book. It felt good to read it. There aren’t any murders or tragedies. Although she has her moments, Shauna is constantly picking her self up and striving for a happier life.
  5. The book is inspiring. I don’t need to lose 150+ pounds – I’m more in “maintenance” mode -  but seeing Shauna struggle with her weight issues – both physical and mental – enabled me to take a step back and see my own thought processes about weight. I feel inspired to “stay on track” without getting “neurotic” about it.
  6. There is a clear message to parents about how to communicate with your children about weight issues. I don’t know if Shauna intended this or not in The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl, but I thought the connection between parental criticism about weight and future weight issues was crystal clear. I hope parents will read this and consider how they talk to their children.
  7. Finally, the best part is that this book lives on after you’ve read it! You know how you read a good book and you don’t want it to be over? Well, in this case it’s not because you can keep up with Shauna on her blog. How cool is that?

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9-A-Day Fruits and Vegetables Challenge Check In

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So….how’s it going?

Fruit and Spinach Smoothie
Image by tiffanywashko via Flickr

How have you been meeting your 9-a-day?

Me…I didn’t do so great yesterday. The reason being, I skipped lunch!
That RARELY happens but that’s how circumstances unfolded yesterday.

So here’s the tally:

  • 1 banana in my morning smoothie
  • 1 serving spinach in the smoothie
  • 1 apple snack
  • 2 servings Tomato Salad while I was waiting for the pizza to cook
  • 1 serving Tomato Salad on my pizza

6 total. I think if I had had a proper lunch I could have made it to 9.

So today is another day. It’s 9-9-09 after all so of course I should go for 9 fruits and veggies!

How about you?

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9-A-Day Check In and Vegan Myth: Perfect

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Hey!

Just a quick note today as I am on my way out the door to Pangea! Two things:

1. How is the 9-A-Day Challenge going for you?? Here is my tally from yesterday:

  • 1 banana in my morning smoothie (some of you have asked for smoothie recipes – I’ll do a post on this soon!)
  • 1/2 serving swiss chard in my smoothie
  • 2 cups of salad for lunch
  • 1 smallish tomato in my sandwich
  • 1 apple snack
  • 2 serving veggies in my Lotus dinner

So that’s 7 1/2 servings – I didn’t make it!!

IRREGARDLESS (heh heh don’t worry I KNOW that is incorrect I just think it’s funny :)   ), I think I did pretty well. It’s too bad the two homemade peanut butter cookies I inhaled after dinner don’t count as veggies! Anywho, today is a new day. I’m off to a good start with four servings under my belt (literally) before noon.

2. There’s a vegan myth I’d like to dispel, and that is that VEGANS ARE PERFECT.
It’s just not true.
While it might seem that way because often times you’ll hear vegans ranting about the injustices that are happening to animals,
it might SOUND like we are on the high horse, so to speak.
Or like vegans are saying “your food isn’t good enough for me!”

The myth that vegans are perfect – or THINK they are perfect – couldn’t be further from the truth.
Heck, I just realized yesterday that my Morningstar Farms veggie bacon and sausage contains egg whites!
I’ve been railing against the egg industry and here I am eating eggs! Am I a hypocrite? Or just lame because I didn’t read the ingredients?
And YES I have leather shoes that I bought when I wasn’t thinking about what happens to cows in order to make those shoes.
Should I get rid of them? I haven’t. Is that “bad?” I don’t know.

So my point is, we’re not perfect.
And trying to “catch” a vegan being imperfect really doesn’t change anything anyway – the animals are still suffering. The environment is still being damaged. Our meat, dairy, and eggs are still killing us.

As Collen Patrick-Goudreau says,

Just because you can’t do everything, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything.
DO SOMETHING.

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The 9-A-Day Challenge: Are You In?

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Légumes
Image via Wikipedia

Ok so lately my diet hasn’t been so hot. Have you noticed I haven’t been posting much about what I’ve been eating?

So I’ve decided that it’s time.
It’s time to shape up.
Shape up or ship out, isn’t that what they say? :)

So…I’m officially challenging myself to eat at least 9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day for one week.

I know, the “recommendation” is less than 9.
But I like to be an overachiever.
So I’m challenging myself to eat 9 servings of fruits and veggies every day.

But I’m not doing this alone.
Oh no – I’m taking you with me!!

Do you think we can do it?
I do :)

So what does 9 servings of fruits and vegetables  look like?
Well, each of these would be considered “a serving:”

  • 1 cup of salad / raw greens
  • 1/2 cup of cooked greens
  • 1/2 cup of cooked or raw veggies other than greens
  • 1 medium apple, pear, orange, banana
  • 1/2 cup fruit
  • 1/4 cup dried fruit

I talked with Kate of Bountiful Living Wellness. We agreed that juice shouldn’t be part of this. Just cuz we like the fiber you get from whole fruits and veggies!

So here’s how this will work.
Every day we’ll make an effort to eat 9 servings of fruits and vegetables using the guidelines for “what is a serving?” above.
At the end of the day – or the next morning – write a comment on this blog about how you met your 9 servings and list what you ate.
What’s cool is that by sharing how me met our 9 a day F&Vs, we’ll give each other ideas on how to do this!

I have a head start – since I thought of this early this morning I already began tallying up the F&Vs:

  • 1 banana + 1/2 serving raw spinach  in my morning smoothie  (total 1.5 servings)
  • “2 fresh figs (I think that’s two servings) smooshed into peanut butter” sandwich + 2 cups of salad for lunch (4 servings)
  • 1 apple snack (1 serving)

So I need just 2 1/2 more servings at dinner – stir fry here we come!
I think I’ll have at least one cup of stir fried veggies + a frozen banana “soft serve” for dessert. That’s 3 more servings – I’ll actually EXCEED my 9 today!
See it’s not that difficult when you really put your mind to it.

So are you with me? I definitely need your support!

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Yay for Being Home!

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We arrived home last night after 10 days on the road. During our vacation we:

  • Explored Door County – walked around the cute towns, shopped, got massages at the Lavender Spa in Egg Harbor, and loved the Greens and Grains health food store, also in Egg Harbor.
  • Visited our friends Sam and Tessa in Neenah, Wi – went out with several of my friends from high school and had a blast seeing everyone!
  • Hung out in Madison with Kiljoong and Christina – walked on State Street, watched the boats and students from the Union Terrace, had a vegan breakfast at Monty’s Blue Plate Diner, and enjoyed Nepalese dinner at veg-friendly Himul Chuli.
  • Went to Lambeau Field in Green Bay (aka “Mecca)!
  • Visited Gary and Tiffany in Fort Collins and got an in-depth tour of the city and surrounding area – thanks Gary and Tiffany!! xoxo  :)
  • Ate at Watercourse in Denver. A lot.
  • Explored the city of Denver by foot. Fell in love with Denver.
  • Spent lots of time with Jonathan and Lisa, who showed us parts of Denver we hadn’t even thought to explore!
  • Spent time with D’s friends from college and had a great time at Benji’s wedding in Keystone, CO.DSCN0023

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Wow what a trip, huh?

Run

During our trip I managed to run 6-8 miles nearly every other day. I skipped the last day because we were in Keystone and honestly I was having trouble breathing at times! We also walked a lot in Denver and in Keystone so I’m pretty happy with how I exercised during our trip.

Eats

Ok well my eating is another story. As always I struggled with food on the trip. We were able to find vegan food everywhere we went, and once I found it I ate a lot of it! This was especially at WaterCourse, which is definitely my favorite restaurant. It’s so unusual to walk into a restaurant and be able to eat anything that’s on the menu – sandwiches, soups, breakfast scrambles, biscuits, desserts. I loved it and literally ate it up!  We ate a lot of food – and then walked most of it off afterwards.

When I go on vacation, I tend to teeter between “hey I’m on vacation and I’m gonna eat whatever I want!” and “just eat when you’re hungry.” I think I did a better job than usual of not beating myself up for eating so much – in the past I probably would have felt really bad about it. This time I figured I’ll get “back on track” when I get home. So I jumped on the scale this morning and see that I only gained two pounds while on our trip. Ok – I can handle that!  :)

How do you approach food and exercise while you are on vacation? Do you indulge (Hey you’re on vacation!) or do you try to maintain good habits (stay the course!)??

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BREAKING NEWS: Veg Diets are Healthy!

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I’m completely shocked! AND ecstatic!ADA logo

FINALLY the American Dietetic Association is advocating a Vegetarian Diet! And guess what! They promote VEGAN DIETS too!!!

And not only are they saying that Veg diets are OK, they are saying that Vegetarians and Vegans:

  • Decrease risk of ischemic heart disease
  • Have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians.
  • Have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates.
  • Have lower risk of chronic disease.

They also say a sound VEGETARIAN DIET IS OK DURING PREGNANCY and may “result in positive maternal and infant health outcomes.”

You can read more about what the ADA says about vegetarian diets here.

In case you are thinking about going vegetarian, here are some great resources for you:

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

http://vegancrunk.blogspot.com/

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

Veganomicon (and her other books too!)

The Joy of Vegan Baking

How It All Vegan (any of their books are great)

ENJOY!!

Running for Cake

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cakeLast summer I started doing Weight Watchers because I wanted to lose weight. At the time, I was exercising and watching what I ate – thinking that I was eating really well – and completely befuddled as to why I wasn’t losing weight. A friend of mine was doing WW and suggested I give it a try.

WOW WAS IT EVER EYE OPENING!!!

I used to think that if I ran 3 miles, I could then eat whatever I wanted. I mean, I just ran three miles! So after my run I would duck into Giant and grab a huge cinnamon chip muffin. YUM! I deserved this muffin.

What I learned from WW is that the calories burned in a three mile run is equal to just ONE slice of bread! To compensate for my cinnamon chip muffin, I’d need to run 10 miles!

A few other eye openers:

  • My scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach + 2 pieces of toast with a tad of butter equals 12 miles of running.
  • A 2 mile walk equals just ONE small banana!
  • Thirty minutes on the elliptical machine equals 1/2 cup of marinara sauce (and that’s not including the pasta!).
  • To work off ONE tablespoon of peanut butter, you’d need to run 2 miles.
  • Ate a slice of carrot cake? That’s SIXTEEN miles of running for you!

So maybe this info will help if you are trying to lose weight and can’t figure out why it’s not peeling off. In general if you want to lose weight you need to exercise more than you think, and you need to eat less than you think. It’s not that you can’t eat things like muffins and carrot cake, but just know how eating those kinds of foods will impact your efforts. Writing down what you are eating and how much you are exercising or joining a program like WW can really help you build awareness around your habits.

(By the way, I have to confess that as I wrote this I ate several handfuls of peanut butter m&ms. Guess I’ll be running 10 miles tomorrow! :)