week #1... 7 ways
welcome to the first week of my new blog feature 7 ways to a healthier you! I hope you join me each week to take in these healthy tips & they help you on your way to improve your life in a positive way! so, here we go!
do your best to eat more "whole" foods. what exactly does that mean? more fruits, more veggies, more lean proteins, more whole grains. this, in turn will automatically cut down on your intake of sugar, salt & all the other junk. seriously, this is a biggie. your body has to work so much harder to get rid of all those processed foods. it will be so much more efficient if you feed it better fuel. i'm not saying you can never have processed foods, {i mean really, who can realistically do that?} but just try cutting a little more & more from your diet each week... you'll feel so much better! i used to have headaches almost on a daily basis & since i started decreasing the processed foods in my diet, i am happy to say i rarely have headaches any more!
try a new twist on a old standby... a great way to start the morning is with oatmeal, especially with the cooler weather. i love a nice hot breakfast on a cold morning! just yesterday i made this apple pie oatmeal & loved it!
here are a few other yummy oatmeal variations!
-peanut butter oatmeal {& I had this one this morning... oh.my.yum!}
water. water. water. i used to be a water hater. didn't like it, didn't drink much of it. i was a diet coke, diet dew & diet dr pepper fan. i now drink water almost exclusively {well, other than my morning coffee}. i never thought i'd be able to survive without soda, but now when i occasionally have one, my stomach hurts & i feel yucky & bloated. i also used to be a real fan of crystal light-like products, but i've also cut those out & am feeling good about that because of all the artificial color & sweeteners that are in them.
don't give up everything you love... you'll be doomed for failure. really, there are lots of things you should give up, like donuts, fried foods, candy bars.. that's not to say you can never have them again EVER... just make it a super special treat that you have say, once a month, or maybe you make an allowance that you save up for having a certain thing weekly or daily. the important thing is, know what you can handle. if it's a really hard for you to stop eating cookies, or candy, or chips, it might be better just to keep away from them completely. you need to know yourself what are your weaknesses & once you figure that out, it's much easier. another way to not give it up is to find substitutions in how something is made or finding something that is similar to what you love. you can make most anything that is fried in the oven by baking it... for instance, I love french fries, so we always bake out fries on a cooking sheet. my ultimate love is pizza & I have it several times a week, once a week I may have the full on version from our favorite place, but for lunch I might make mini pizzas with healthier ingredients, like low fat cheese, turkey pepperoni & these for crusts...
only start with as much as you can handle. i jumped full on into weight watchers & so i started off really focusing on the eating part of it. as much as i'm embarrassed to say, i rarely exercised in the 8 months i took to lose the weight. i only really started in exercising when i had nearly reached my goal weight. but it was what i could handle at the time. when i had the knowledge & more confidence in knowing what i should & shouldn't eat & was controlling my portions, then i felt like i could take on the exercise. now i try my hardest to get in at least 3 workouts a week. during the summer, it seemed easier to run for 45 minutes 4x a week, when there wasn't so many committments with the kids as there are now, during the school year. but i'm working on changing things up so i can make sure i get back to doing as much as i can, but again, trying not to take on more than i can handle. i don't know about you, but when i get overwhelmed, that's when i start turning to food & that won't work either! ok... so I'm challenging myself this month {well, I just started yesterday} to do my Jillian Michaels dvds as much as possible... I'll check in at the end of the month to share my count. if you never tried them, she'll kick your butt, but definitely gives you results! here are a few of my faves...
one of the best things I've found is to search the web for new healthier recipes... there are really some great websites out there! these have not only great recipes, but you can follow their examples of how to make healthier choices to transform your own favorites! here's a few of my favorites right now...
the Gracious Pantry... Tiffany focuses on "clean eating", which is basically the idea of eating more whole foods & including them in your recipes.
the Skinny Crock Pot... and she has this site as well, focusing on healthy crock pot recipes. super awesome, because I love being able to make crock pot meals!
portions... here's the part that was a HUGE shocker for me, but it made the biggest impact on my ability to lose weight & feel so much better. we have been raised in this "supersize" nation where all the portions in restaurants are 2-3x larger than the actual portion size. even our kids' meals are 2x the adult portion size at times. crazy. i don't know about you, but we were taught to "clean your plate!", so the thought of leaving food on your plate? but if you go out, split your food with your companion, take at least half of it home, whatever you have to do to NOT eat everything on your plate! I found a few visuals to you to give some perspective on portions...
well, that's all for this week! i hope i gave you some good info & ideas to use to make your everyday a little more healthy. if you have any questions or suggestions of things you'd like me to address in next weeks post, please let me know :)
{robyn}
10.6.2011
