Eating "Healthy": The elusive concept....

"I want to eat healthy"

Who would think that this desire is SO much more complicated than it sounds...
Let's look at it shall we?

When I was in high school eating "healthy" in the cafeteria at school meant opting for the fries WITHOUT gravy.. oh my! Or perhaps the pre-made, soggy, quick grab cream cheese-bagel... ugh... (people who went to my high school probably remember this caf fare!)

Have things changed at schools at all? I mean I've been out of high school now for nearly a decade, I sure hope there's better options at my old high school.. and all schools for that matter! Maybe there were even better options available, I honestly can't remember.... I thought the fries without gravy was healthy so who knows! haha!

Does that view on "healthy" food not seem a little skewed? As I got older this view of "healthy" food stayed with me. I thought "hey, I cook for myself, I must be super healthy", who knew that the food I was cooking for myself was enough to serve 2 more people and full of preservatives and other crap that shouldn't be consumed on a regular basis. Also my "I know pop isn't great for you but I only drink 2 a day" attitude was doing me no favours by adding 100's of extra grams of sugars and calories to my day (not to mention adding pounds to the scale).

There's McDonalds on every corner,  huge deals on pizza & fried chicken and 'junk food' is marketed to us like it's good for us (back to my label reading fiasco). Have you ever gone into McDonalds and thought "Hey I'll get a salad with my McChicken"? ..... yeah... "healthy".... On a side note, I worked at McDonalds when I was in high school and my favourite customers were the one's that ordered the double quarter pounder with bacon with extra large fries and an apple pie but with a DIET coke"... too funny. Was that diet coke really going to make that meal much better?


How on earth is anyone supposed to know how to eat properly? Do you know how many calories you should eat in a day to maintain your weight? Do you know how many calories you drink in a day? Do you know what a serving size is? How is anyone supposed to eat healthfully if none of us know the basics!

I've learned a lot in this 8 months. A LOT. And the funny thing is I'm still learning. There are so many different schools of thought on the eating healthy subject. Seriously! If you're looking online or in books for help on what to do for food you'll be spun in so many different directions that you'll probably just throw it all out the window and give up. One nutritionist will highly recommend eating avocado for the healthy fats, whereas another one will say NO! It's fatty and terrible for you! (On a side note: did you know avocado can raise your vitamin K levels which can interfere with heart conditions? Interesting .. )

So I was thinking: I said live the 80/20 rule, but how are you supposed to do that if you don't know when you're on the 80 side or the 20 side? Let me share with you a little bit on what I believe might be the best ways to eat 'healthy'. There aren't many universal truths! The few that I've come across are:

• Drink 8 glasses of water (approx 2L+).. seriously, do it. After you get through the peeing every 2 minutes after the first few days you'll feel AWESOME and your skin will glow.

• Learn the difference between how much you eat and how much you SHOULD eat in a day. This is pretty shocking in the beginning. Restaurant portions can feed 2-3 people. Servings sizes are important. Just because you serve it a doesn't mean it's the serving size noted on the label. Measure things with measuring cups and spoons until you know how to eyeball (I'll post a chart in a following blog) You actually don't need to eat a ton in a day to feel full and satisfied - once you stop eating junky foods you'll notice it doesn't take as much to feel full and to stay full until your next meal/snack.

• Eat fruit and veggies whenever you can. Divide your 9" dinner plate in half, then in half again (think of a childs plastic plate with the slots) - the large half should be your veggie serving! Add fruit and veggies where you can and note what a "serving" is. It's really REALLY not hard to reach the 5-10 goal.

• Avoid high fat/ high calorie and over processed food. I suppose that's a given, but really, how many people (including me) may think they're making a healthy choice when buying processed food. Look at your "healthy" lean turkey deli meat... nitrates, sodium, preservatives... it's scary stuff!

• Get your food in the purest form you can. Whole foods mean less processing. A tip I heard from my parents dietician was if it's over 15 ingredients, it might not be the best for you. One loophole I found was cereals and granola bars - my favourite Kashi bar is over 30 ingredients. Be mindful and smart - if you can't pronounce it or don't know what it is... DON'T EAT IT!

• Avoid high fructose corn syrup at all costs! It's sneaky and it's renamed over and over and it's in everything, you have to search for it (glucose/fructose, corn syrup, hydrogenated syrup, golden syrup etc etc.)  Its obvious places are in pop & candies (it's a sweetener) but do you wanna know some "healthy" products that have it? Activia yogurt & Nutrigrain bars! NASTY!

• Protein is good! Atkins is bad. Remember to eat lean protein, not greasy bacon or sugary sauce coated chicken wings for protein, those would be your treats.. not your daily protein! I've heard 40-70g of protein is all you need for a sedentary lifestyle. Though I learned as I worked out I was not consuming enough protein, my muscles were always sore and I was lethargic, I added one protein snack a day and it's helped a lot.

• Avoid any specific restrictive diets. No carb diets say you can't have fruit... seriously.. that's wrong. Any diet that removes a food group should be avoided at all costs. We're omnivores for a reason. If you're a vegetarian or vegan there's still no excuse.. there's tons of ways to eat all 4 food groups. I just tried almond milk recently, wowza was that delicious! Vegans... no excuses.. drink your almond milk! Vegetarians... eat your beans!

• Beware of whole wheat. I know that sounds weird, YES buy whole grain and whole wheat whenever you can - you don't want to eat white flour, it's TERRIBLE for you. But here's some more sneakiness - look out for "enriched" whole wheat. It sounds awesome and healthy, you might be thinking "oooo it's whole wheat AND enriched with extra stuff!" but actually what's happened is they've processed the whole grain so much that they mashed out all the whole grain goodness and had to "enrich" it with additives, I also heard they dye it.. Gross. You want your whole wheat/whole grain products to just say "whole wheat/whole grain".. not enriched... this way you're getting your vitamins from the source, not from the laboratory. You can always try rye, spelt or sprouted grain breads - they're AWESOME!

• Organic doesn't necessarily mean it's better or automatically good for you. Organic foods in theory are awesome! Better for us with the lack of pesticides and better for the environment! But the regulations are ALL over the place. The labelling of "organic" or "natural" products is sketchy at best. I'm not saying don't buy organic, try to where you can for sure! Just READ the ingredients and the label.. what makes it organic or natural? Make an informed decision, don't spend your hard earned money on something that might be the same as the 'regular' version. Also check out your local farmers markets once they open, buying locally can make just as much of an impact instead of buying organic and you can talk to the farmer face to face and find out how they grew it!

Does that all make sense? I think so.

I know it may seem like a lot, but after you've shopped a few times, read a few labels this all becomes second nature! Take little steps and try 1 thing a week until it all becomes routine! It won't take long for it all to sink in.

Clear the cobwebs and start thinking with your brain instead of following the marketers and the 'experts'. Just 'cause it's been marketed as healthy doesn't mean squat. Read. Learn. Decide. Remember that it's a process and it's never perfect, things change all the time but as long as you're mindful you will be doing all you can. You make the choices for your healthful eating so be smart and informed about it!  :)

Salty & Sweet

Here's an eye opening factoid!

Did you know that you shouldn't eat foods that are over 200mg of sodium per serving or over 9g of sugar per serving? The added sodium and sugar in the long run can have very negative effects on cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease.

We all get so focused on calories and fat that we forget there's all kinds of information on the label to read when we're purchasing our food. After hearing this from my Mom who's seeing a dietitian with my Dad, I did a little focused label reading at the grocery store.

Turned out a TON of my favourite foods were just disgustingly high in both categories!!! Take for instance my lunch that I'm eating right now - Smart Ones Ricotta Ravioli. I think BONUS it's Weight Watchers, only 250 calories for the dish and it's cheese stuffed pasta! Win win win!

Then I looked at those forgotten categories: sodium = 720mg!!! sugar = 12g!!!!!

What the heck!! Here I thought I was making a good healthy lunch choice (as far as prepared, frozen lunches go.. it's always healthier to make things fresh) and it turns out I'm way overindulging in salt and sugar! Your daily intake of sodium should stay under 1500mg and I've now consumed almost HALF of it in this tiny little lunch.

Let me introduce you to my favourite rule of the healthy lifestyle. The 80/20 rule (as I read in the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry book and have been practicing since August). It's simple, be a Saint 80% of the time. Eat your fruits & veggies, make sure you're not overindulging in sugar/fat/salt etc and make sure you're getting your exercise in! But to live this 'perfectly' all the time is against human nature, we need to let loose and be 'bad' once and a while so in comes the 20% - have your piece of chocolate, eat that little bit of steak, just be happy! By not depriving yourself all the time you live a much more balanced lifestyle and are happier because of it. There is no guilt, there is no bingeing, and take it from me, if you really adhere to this practice and make sure to not make it 80/20 EVERY day, you will still lose weight and still stay healthy :) (aim for once a week to every 2 weeks and remember it's a treat not a full on feast of fats and calories!)

So the message today, READ YOUR LABELS!! On a consistent basis try to buy foods LOW in sodium and LOW in sugar (and calories and fat if you can) so that daily you're staying well within the recommended intakes. Then when you're feeling 'naughty' you'll have a whole lot less guilt when you have that little 'treat'!

Happy eating!!!

iPod Playlist

I think the most important part of your workout is what you listen to. When I'm running and a really awesome song comes on I feel like I can run faster and suddenly I'm less tired. Everyone has their genre and everyone has their "power" songs - like my fiance listens to mostly classic rock and alternative whereas I prefer top 40 and dance for working out & running.

I thought I'd share a collection of songs that play randomly on my iPod. Maybe a few songs will help you through your workouts.

This list is in alphabetical order by artist as it appears on my iPod. The songs in bold are my "power" songs.

My First Kiss - 3OH!3
In Da Club - 50 Cent
Angel - Akon
The Time - Black Eyed Peas
Just Can't Get Enough - Black Eyed Peas
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
Imma Be - Black Eyed Peas
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
Forget You - Cee Lo Green
Forever - Chris Brown
Yeah 3X - Chris Brown
Automatic - Danny Fernandes
Sexy B*tch - David Guetta feat. Akon
Bass Down Low - Dev & The Cataracs
Coming Home - Diddy
Find Your Love - Drake
Stereo Love - Edward Maya
Tonight - Enrique Iglesias feat. Ludacris
Like A G6 - Far East Movement
Fergalicious - Fergie
London Bridge - Fergie
Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida
Low - Flo Rida
Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine (great lyrics for running... duh...)
On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull
Power - Kanye West
All Of The Lights - Kanye West
Firework - Katy Perry
Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
Hello - Martin Solveig & Dragonette
Please Don't Go - Mike Posner
Roll Away Your Stone - Mumford & Sons (awesome pace for when you're tired, you'll get pep!)
Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons
Hot In Herre - Nelly
Moment 4 Life - Nicki Minaj
Hey Baby - Pitbull
I Know You Want Me - Pitbull
I Like That - Richard Vission
Only Girl - Rihanna
Fire Burning - Sean Kingston
Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris
We'll Be Alright - Travie McCoy
Dj Got Us Fallin' In Love - Usher
More - Usher (very motivating lyrics)
OMG - Usher
Check It Out - will.i.am feat. Nicki Minaj

So my story for today: find music that gets you pumped! There's nothing more motivating than feeling energized by music. :)

The Journey ... so far

At the beginning of August 2010, my fiance (then boyfriend) Pat looks at me and says "I think I want to lose some weight". The idea of going on a diet or adding regular physical activity into my daily routine wasn't exactly what I wanted to do in the best month of summer (BBQ's, drinks, lazing about in the sun) but I thought if he wants to do it I'm going to support him.

We decided to start by just changing our eating habits by following our recommended calorie intakes - it turns out on a DAILY basis we were surpassing what we should eat in a day by 100's even 1000's of calories! And that didn't even include "special occasions", restaurants or parties! I don't even want to know how bad we were eating at those events. That was a wakeup call to me! I'm a foodie, I love to cook and I LOOOOVE to eat - but all this love of food was digging me a deep hole, at the age of 26  I was gaining weight at a staggering pace. In 5 years I had put on over 60lbs and I was overweight to begin with!

We hadn't added in much exercise in that first week and it's probably good that we took it slow - the physical withdrawal from the sugars, fats and amount of food was intense. Headaches, dizziness, irritability - you would think we were coming off drugs!

We supported each other and got through that first tough week of eating and when we did a weigh in we had dropped over 5lbs each - JUST by changing our eating habits! This was encouraging to me, never in my life had I lost over 5lbs in a week. Suddenly something sparked inside me and my mantra for the next few months was "I don't want to be the fat girl anymore". I was scared to set an actual weight or fitness goal for fear of not achieving it (a whole part of my personality we might get into in another blog post), so my goal in the beginning was simply, keep losing weight. I didn't care if it was a pound, two, three, HALF - I just wanted to keep seeing the weight come off.

My whole life I have been the heavier girl, for my high school formal I had to get my dress at the plus size store (I was a size 16 at that time, humiliating for a young teenager...) so my lifelong battle with self esteem and desire to "get thin" started early. I had amassed a fitness DVD & equipment collection that could rival a gym! Free weights, steps, boxing equipment, elliptical, bike, bands - you name it I have it and yet owning it doesn't help you lose weight HA! Go figure!

So to keep the weight loss going I decided to put all these unused tools to work! I started working out in my basement using the DVD's and free weights - and let me tell you, when you start out working out, my GOD can you tell you're out of shape. I was winded in 2 mins, I could barely keep up with the workouts - but I kept at it. I did everything at my pace and if I couldn't do something fully, I would modify it so that I could do something. Slowly but surely my fitness level improved and my desire to challenge myself began. I picked up Bob Harpers Inside Out Method (cardio & strength) DVD's as well as Jillian Michaels (yoga & 30 day shred) AND as many Biggest Loser DVD's as I could. I decided if those people on the show can do it, I can do it.

Bob & Jillian are trainers to be admired. Seriously. Their workouts challenge you, they hurt you and yet somehow they do it in a way that make you feel powerful. You may collapse in a heap on the floor, and you may only have done half of what they asked, but they find a way to make you proud for trying. This became my new mantra "just try it, if you fail, try again". Slowly but surely, working out almost every day for about a half hour to an hour I had lost nearly 50lbs! I was shocked!

One day Pat had decided that he wanted to try jogging, and having my new mantra I figured, let's go! Boy, did that feel like rock bottom again... I could barely get through a block before I wanted to die, my lungs were on fire, my legs were rubber - it was BAAAAD. But somehow, I kept at it and got addicted to the mental and physical challenge of it. We would bring our dog Max (border collie... ridiculous energy) and he almost seemed to cheer us on. I think he loved the fact that he was finally getting the exercise HE deserved!

Pat and I had joined a gym the previous year - another lesson learned, you don't lose weight by owning a gym membership HA! We decided now was the time to start going back. I got a personal trainer 2-3 times a week as well as Pat and I would go in the evenings together to do cardio. This was winter and it was getting more and more difficult to jog outside so thank goodness for treadmills! Soon the gym felt less intimidating and more like a second home. The people became less intimidating and I realized they were all there to get healthy too, who cares if that girl looks like a size 0, she probably has as many self esteem issues as I do! Or not, but it really didn't matter anymore, I was focused and determined to become a better runner and just get more fit!

There was this one day at the gym I had decided I wanted to see how quickly I could do 5K on the treadmill (just over 3 miles). I couldn't jog the whole thing but I walked as briskly as I could and just kept focusing on the show on TV, I ended up doing it in about 43 mins, not too shabby for this chubby girl.  Feeling proud and accomplished I headed to the change room and the woman who was changing in front of me wanted to tell me that she admired my dedication - she saw me on the treadmill and said she thought it was so amazing how focused I was. This was such an amazing day for me, for the first time I was noticed at the gym - not as the weird fat girl, but as someone to be admired. I could have hugged her! That day I decided to never think of myself as the 'fat girl' again, I was the 'fit girl' and I could do anything.

To be honest, my self esteem goes up and it goes down and I have ROCK BOTTOM days all the time. The journey to fitness is NOT easy and as confidant as I can seem, sometimes I just don't always feel it (I'll probably talk more about this another time). I just don't want anyone reading this to think, oh.. it seems so easy, because it's not.

I encountered weeks where weight just stopped coming off. I would work out and eat perfectly but not lose a pound. My longest stretch was over 6 weeks. I would cry, scream, I would threaten to stop eating (TOTALLY counter productive... but I was upset) and want to give up but I have Pat, and he won't let me give up. So if you're starting your journey - find your support group, even if it's just one person. If you don't have anyone - email me, I will support you! 'Cause sometimes it's just not fun and not easy and you might just want to throw in the towel. But believe me, when you don't give up, and those extra pounds come off, or you can run that extra kilometre or do an extra pushup - it's the most amazing feeling that nothing compares to.

We started at the beginning of August, now it's the end of March, I'm down 71lbs and Pat is down 67lbs. Together we have lost a whole person!!! I still have 30-40 more pounds to go and Pat has about another 30, so here I am - starting a blog to share our progress as we try to lose the last of our weight and reach our fitness and life goals. I've been told I'm motivational and inspirational so I hope this blog will be an outlet for me to share my stories and the things I've learned with whoever wants to listen.

The first little tidbit of information I can share with you: take the first step.

Seriously, it's THAT easy. Whether it's swapping your fancy coffee with whipped cream for a black coffee, or swapping your burger for a salad, or taking a walk after dinner instead of sitting down to watch TV right away... those little steps build to something amazing. You don't have to jump in with both feet right away, nor do you have to change your life drastically (ever..) You'll be amazed with a little dedication and these 'little steps' how far you can go, just take that first step :)