One Size Does NOT Fit All

One might assume that the life of a college kid is never boring, and for most, this is probably the case. I, on the other hand, choose to live at home, keeping me far away from all of the shenanigans that take place nightly. My life is not “boring”, per say, but it can definitely get monotonous. Monotony is ok in certain things, but one thing that I cannot handle repeating is food. I rarely eat the same exact thing every day, unlike Mons who is happy eating toast with peanut butter for breakfast 94 days in a row.

For a while, I was doing the whole, “snack all day “ deal, but recently, I have started trying something a little different. Before, I was eating breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, dessert. It’s kind of been my routine for forever. But I started to realize a little something. First of all, the usual “snack” size featured on many health blogs is just a tease—a nibble really. When I eat, I expect something substantial. Ten almonds just doesn’t cut it for me.

Secondly,  I was eating a snack in between breakfast and lunch even though I wasn’t hungry. I figured, I have to keep my metabolism up, so I have to eat then. By the time snack time rolled around at about 3 or 4, I felt as though I could eat a horse. By dinner time, I was in raging hunger mode. This led to quick, thoughtless dinners or very early dinners, which left me hungry again by 7.

Solution: Eat 4 normal-sized meals every day. Yep, you heard right- 4 meals a day. You can look at that as either two breakfasts, or two lunches, but either way, there are three meals pre-dinner. Fantastico.

Some of you might be thinking, “This girl is nuts.” Oh contraire. This seems to really work for me, and I always try to stick with what works.

So, for those of you who might be curious as to what a typical day of eating is like for me, here are some usual meals put into a spiffy schedule format. Enjoy!

8 AM 

• Protein pudding, 1 cup of strawberries, 1 cup of Rice Chex

The protein pudding was "meh" (8 oz water, 2 scoops vanilla protein, 2 tsp instant vanilla pudding). It didn't thicken quite like I'd hoped...

• 2 cups of veggies of choice scrambled in 3 eggs in 1 tsp butter
• 1 cup plain yogurt, handful of almonds, a baby handful of crasins, and a chopped apple

12 PM

• 1 cup brown rice, 2 tbsp salsa, ½ cucumber, 1 large carrot, 2 tbsp hummus

My day is not complete without a ridiculous amount of vegetables.

• Turkey and cheese melt, pickle, 2 cups cabbage sautéed in a tsp olive oil
• Salad beast (basically the biggest salad ever) with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and ½ cup cottage cheese either seasoned or sweetened with somethin’

3 PM

• Toast with 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese and a sliced pear

I had to eat all of the pear "ends" to make this picture look pretty.

New obsession

• 2 cups roasted veggies and 4 slices of turkey breast
• 1 whole sweet potato topped with 1 whole onion sautéed in ½ tbsp butta

6:30 ish- 7 PM

• Taco salad with chicken breast and chips OTS

This was a beast and had to be eaten in two separate sittings. Also, chips never got plated. They just went from bag to mouth...

• 1 hamburger with mustard, 1 cup sauerkraut, 1 cup steamed broccoli, 1 small salad
• 1 cup quinoa sautéed with 1 cup spinach, ½ cup red peppers, ½ cup onion, and a little feta cheese in ½ tbsp butter

8:30-ish

• 1 apple with peanut butter
• 1 cup yogurt with ½ cup papaya and a dark chocolate square
• 2 dark chocolate squares 
•  ...or, if I'm full (like tonight) a cup of hot Cinnamon Apple Tea will suffice. 

Giving my tea some love.

So there you have it! Those are just some of my typical meal options. It might not be conventional, but it works for me. After all, when it comes to health and nutrition, one size does NOT fit all.

It's Great to Be Gluten-Free

When people find out that I am gluten-intolerant, I generally get a reaction like, “Oh you poor thing,” or “That must suck.” Well, I’m here to tell you that it does not, in fact, suck. In reality, I look at it as a really great thing. Sure, I can’t eat what everyone else is eating all the time, but is that really a bad thing? Let’s discuss…

1. It makes me more health conscious- When I first became GF, I did a heck of a lot of research trying to figure it all out. In doing so, I learned about health-related things outside of what it means to be gluten-free.

2. I’ve become an awesome cook, if I do say so myself.- Being gluten-free means steering clear of a lot of processed foods because of fillers, thickeners, etc. Because I can’t eat those quick and easy foods any more, I have learned how to cook, and do it well. I’ve also become really good at improvisating (or “improvising” if you want to be all correct about it…). Resourcefulness is as must for a gluten-free eater.

3. I don’t consume a lot of chemicals- This goes with my last point about processed foods. Now that I cook for myself, I find that I don’t consume ingredients that my grandmother wouldn’t recognize on a label… very often.

4. I’m more in-tune with my body- Now that I have this allergy (although they think I’ve always had it and was simply unaware that my body was hating me for stuffing it with gluten), I pay much closer attention to how my body is feeling all the time. Now, I can feel a gluten attack coming a mile away, which gives me time to pop half a bottle of enzymes at an attempt to soften the blow. For those of you who aren’t gluten-free, there is no pill that you can take for gluten-intolerance/Celiac. Nothing makes me more angry than when people say, “Well don’t you have medicine for it,” like I’m gonna whip out an epee pen and suddenly my face rash and painfully bloated stomach with magically go away. Not happening.

5. It has opened the world of new foods/desserts- I’ve always been one to try new things food-wise, but now more than ever, I am always searching for fun new foods that I can incorporate into my diet. Now, I think, why would I settle for something like this:

…when I can have this?

6. I eat bread. All. The. Time.- Before I found out I was gluten-intolerant, I was on every diet you can think of. Throughout this dieting process, I realized that I always lost weight when I stopped eating carbs, especially breads and pasta. Well, it really wasn’t the carbs, it was the gluten. Now that I have GF options I eat a heck of a lot of bread- at least once a day- and there is no bloated tummy to follow. It’s fantastic.

7. It keeps me healthier all around- Being GF has been enlightening for me in so many ways. I pay attention to my food, my body, and my fitness these days, and I attribute it all to my (relatively) new lifestyle. I see my “problem” as a blessing in disguise.

I’ve realized how important it is to take care of your body and how what you put in it affects every aspect of your life. I know that without this “problem” as people like to call it, I would still be eating crap food and not taking care of myself. Luckily, I can’t put gluten in my body, unless I want to risk death... Well, close enough.

Practice What You Preach

As I sit here watching one of my fave shows, What Not to Wear, I find an over arching theme throughout the show is being happy with your body and knowing how to work it. Ok now brace yourself- we’re gonna get a little personal here. 

Over the past few days, it has come to my attention that I have lost my curves. Before I cut gluten out of my diet, I weighed 150 lbs. Now, after working out 5 days a week, closely monitoring my portions, and always eating healthy, I weigh 25 lbs less. I feel great, healthy, and fit. I have never wanted to be a stick figure and have always been one to appreciate curvey women. But quite honestly, I’m starting to miss my own.

For me, diet and exercise is an ever-changing process. I often find myself modifying and changing my routines and eating habits to tweak my figure here and there. My number one reason for working out and eating healthy is to BE HEALTHY. Duh. But my number two (and maybe even tied with number one?) is the desire to have a great body. For as long as I can remember, I have had my “figure” goals (i.e. I want have a body like so-and-so. I want to have a __ in waist). Obviously, being content with your body and being healthy are so important. However, I will admit that I often succumb to the images portrayed by the media. I constantly have to remind myself that celebrities have personal trainers, personal chefs, are airbrushed, and are wearing Spanx, but those perfect figures still bombard my consciousness. Come on, what girl doesn’t think about that?

My mind holds a hodgepodge of contradictions, placed there by culture, media, peers, etc. Clothes look better on a thinner frame. Having curves is sexier than being a bean pole. Flat stomachs look best in a bathing suit. A little pudginess on the tummy is soft and feminine. It’s like having an angel and a devil on my shoulders.

But what if I let my body take over and tell me what it wants to do? What if I ate and exercised purely for health and enjoyment? How would my body change? 

Well, I want to conduct a little experiment. I feel confident enough to let my genetics take over and see how it turns out. Over the past two days, I have sort of embraced this natural body beauty idea, and I am fairly certain my caloric intake has made a significant jump. I am going to just go with it.  It’s time to practice what I preach, right?

Annual Resolution Failure

The New Year is almost upon us! Every year, after the holiday season comes to a close, people’s minds jump straight to losing the few pounds they put on. The most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. This sounds wonderfully fantastic on New Year’s Eve when you are sipping champagne with friends and family.

But how much weight are you trying to lose? By when? How do you plan on doing it? Those little details are what make us quit our diet and exercise plan by January 15^th. No one wants to have another resolution implementation failure.

What if we tried to not make different resolutions this year? What if we resolved to be healthier instead of thinner? That’s still a pretty broad resolution. My suggestion is to make a bunch of small resolutions for ourselves.

Here is a little list of ideas that I have come up with:

• Start taking a daily multi-vitamin
• Walk 3 times a week for 30 minutes
• Cut down your soft drinks (or cut them out all together!). 
• Get a nice, bright water bottle and make sure you are drinking ½ your body weight in ounces of water every day- having a bright and interesting bottle with make you more aware of the need to drink your H2O!
• Drink a glass of water before each meal- We all know this, but really. Do it.
• Buy an easy healthy cook book- Finding a book with both easy and healthy recipes, will make you more likely to want to cook  

• OOOR, go to FoodNetwork.com- they have tons of options for healthy and quick cooking
• Take 5 minutes a day to relax- Find a quiet place to close your eyes and clear your head.
• Cut down your sugar intake- If you take two sugars in your coffee, try to but it down to one. 

You only live once, and for me, life on a diet is no life at all. Why not eat sensible, and think about being healthy, not being skinny.

By being healthier, you will be happier, look great, and feel better about yourself. Take the next week to come up with a few of your own little resolutions! Leave a comment! Maybe you can inspire someone else.

The Holidays Are Here!

On Monday, it hit me that it is the week before Christmas! YEAH! I am so excited. It also occurred to me that I had one more Christmas present to buy. Yikes. I know that the malls and stores are crazy right now, but I also knew that further delaying the shopping would lead to an even more painfully stressful experience.

I woke up with sore calves from this weekend’s jump roping, and decided against cardio. So, I piddled around, spoke to my lovey, and got ready to go out on the town. 

Then, being the wonderful daughter and sister that I am, I took my sister and my mama out for lunch at Panera. Yes, gluten-free people, Panera. When I went gluten-free, I assumed that Panera Bread was totally out-of-the-question. However, when it was suggested as a meal option, I was curious to find out. I read that nothing is "certified" gluten-free (obvs. It’s a bakery). But, there ARE several dishes with all gluten-free ingredients. Check it out

Note: If you are a severe Celiac, you probably shouldn’t try this out due to cross-contamination.

Hurrah! I celebrated this discovery by getting a Classic Café Salad.  

Cafe goodness.

Mons and I happy to be at our long, lost cafe.

Afterward, I made my way to America’s Friendliest Hometown to get my last present. Great success!

When I got home, my mama and I gave each other manicures. Productive activities. It made me realize how much pointless stuff I do every day. Geez.

At least my nails look awesome.

Since my nails were wet, and my mom’s weren’t, she was kind enough to make my dinner.

Low cal pastrami (this is not a joke) and sauerkraut sandwich with sauteed veggies

 Unfortunately, this lovely dinner was followed by this:

Food for baby dogs.

 I say unfortunately because munching a little bit of Puppy Chow equals munching on lots of calories. Oh well. ‘Tis the season for enjoyment, fa-la-la-la-la…la-la-la-la.

To work off some of those glorious calories, I did an upper body and ab workout.

It struck me that I will be battling minor weight gain this week. But I am completely ok with it. As long as I workout, do my thing, and don’t go overboard, then why should I worry?

 I know those extra pounds we rack up during the holidays make us feel a little bleh, and everyone wants to stay in tip-top shape. Some of us have weddings to attend, parties to go to, or just want to feel a little lighter. Well, there is a solution that the makers of Yoplait have come up with! It’s called the Two-Week Tune Up! It’s a custom diet plan designed especially for you by Yoplait!

For more information, visit Yoplait’s Two Week Tune Up.

I have been given the opportunity to try out this new plan after the holiday season has ended, thanks to Yoplait! I will track my progress here for you guys to see! I will share more information about it when the time gets closer!

Until then, I will just be enjoying myself in moderation, keeping up my workout routine, and having happy holidays. I hope you will too!

What are your holiday plans this year? How do you plan to stay fit and healthy over the next two weeks? Leave a comment!