I'm not really a breakfast person. Sometimes I'll be in the mood for something extremely breakfast-y. Last week I was really craving french toast. Of course I wasn't going to make a giant batch of traditional french toast. That wouldn't be very High School Health Freak of me, now would it? Instead, I came up with this: I sprayed a pan and stuck it on medium-high heat. I took 1 piece of light bread (40 calories per piece) and set it off to the size while the pan heated. In a small bowl I poured a few tablespoons of liquid egg whites, a packet of stevia and a few shakes of cinnamon. I stirred it all together and soaked the bread in it. Then I threw the soaked bread into the pan and cooked it. I took some fat free whipped cream and topped it with some (ok, a lot) of it. I wanted to make it look pretty so I sprinkled a little bit more cinnamon on top. The final touch was a drizzle of sugar free breakfast syrup. (It's extremely impressive because it has 20 calories per 1/4 cup and the regular syrup has 200 calories and like 50 carbs and sugar.) IT WAS SOOO GOOD. Not all healthified foods have to suck! On the side I brewed a cup of coffee and I poured in a little bit of almond milk and a packet or two of stevia. It was the perfect breakfast, and I would have it every single week if I had the time to make it!
I also have healthy banana oat pancakes I love to make in the summer. I only have them once in a while because it can be a lot of work to make, but it's totally worth it in my opinion. (303)
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Bananas vs. Pizza
Recently I haven't had a lot of time to plan out my meals and snacks. Maybe this is why I haven't been very successful lately? I've found a few new favorite foods from this. A lot of the time I'll rush off to work and forget to bring food. I usually go buy something if I'm really hungry. I've figured out many other healthy things to eat than just a pack of almonds at the check lanes. I've found that a cup of greek yogurt and an apple makes a good, quick meal. Frozen single serve vegetables and a banana is a great meal too! When I don't have much time I'll go for a bar of some kind or a bag of pretzels. Cost is a big factor when choosing what to eat. I don't want to spend almost $5 on a small container of fruit so I look for things that are filling, cheap and healthy.
It's really easy to be tempted by the junk food because it's quicker or slightly cheaper. Your body will thank you in the long run for doing little things like this. I try and stay away from things with lots of sugar in it, because most of the time it's not going to keep you full for the rest of your shift. A banana will do you much more good than a bag of fruit snacks. A single banana is less than a quarter and a bag of fruit snacks is about a dollar and some change. This is one of the cases when health food is actually cheaper than junk food.
One major challenge I've probably already said is how hard it is to avoid the food in the break room. It's near by, it's cheap, it's fast. I'm constantly being tested but in the last week or two I haven't given in at all. Every time that I chose the healthier food, it makes it easier for the next time that I'm in the same situation. I'm slowly digging myself out of the hole I got myself into. A perfect example is yesterday when I was at work, the breakroom had about 50 Papa John's pizzas. Nothing put boxes piled high of steaming hot pizza. I sat there and looked at it, then realized shoved off into the corner was a small pile of bananas. Guess what I picked? NOT PIZZA. Small win for me.
Lesson learned: always bring food from home but when you forget, always eat as healthy as you can and 90% of the time, it turns out you actually don't need pizza. (436)
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Cardio Boredom
Lately I've been going heavy on cardio. Not only for the obvious reason of keeping my aerobic capacity high but to stay in good shape. Too much cardio and not enough weight training is a big thing I need to watch out but that isn't the point of this post. If you ever get bored of cardio and need a little bit of creativity to keep you from hating your workouts, I have a solution. These are some ways that I keep myself busy and happy with my workouts.
So when I spend over an hour on cardio, I get bored. Anyone would, right? I try and mix up the types of cardio I do to train different muscle groups, which helps. I still get bored after a few rotations of stairmaster, treadmill and elliptical. I absolutely HATE doing the bike. It's not fun for me at all because it never really burns my legs the same way a good stairmaster workout does.
Even though I alternate machines, I still get bored. So then I play around with intensities. If I'm doing the elliptical, which is what I usually spend the most time on, I will turn up the resistance to start at level 10 or above. Then I'll mess with speed and sometimes I'll even change direction and go backwards so my hamstrings get a chance to be worked. On the treadmill, I like to raise the incline up to the maximum level and walk at about 3.7 miles per hour. After I do that for a few minutes, I'll slow down the speed and cut the incline in half. Then after a few more minutes, I'll lower the incline down to a 2 and I'll raise my speed to 6.5 miles per hour. After that, I'll completely drop the incline to 0 and turn the speed up to 7.5 or 8mph for about a minute or two. I usually repeat the cycle a few more times before switching machines.
If I'm still dreading my workout even after doing all of these things, I'll distract myself by pulling up a show on Netflix. I'll drop my intensity a little bit and remain at a static pace so I can easily pay attention to my show. Otherwise I usually play around with Pandora or look through my old music and make a new playlist that matches the pace of my workout.
There are lots of little things to do to keep your workouts interesting. Doing the same thing every time you workout can get really boring so I feel like it's important to change things up. Maybe some other time I'll share how to change up a weight training workout? (450)
So when I spend over an hour on cardio, I get bored. Anyone would, right? I try and mix up the types of cardio I do to train different muscle groups, which helps. I still get bored after a few rotations of stairmaster, treadmill and elliptical. I absolutely HATE doing the bike. It's not fun for me at all because it never really burns my legs the same way a good stairmaster workout does.
Even though I alternate machines, I still get bored. So then I play around with intensities. If I'm doing the elliptical, which is what I usually spend the most time on, I will turn up the resistance to start at level 10 or above. Then I'll mess with speed and sometimes I'll even change direction and go backwards so my hamstrings get a chance to be worked. On the treadmill, I like to raise the incline up to the maximum level and walk at about 3.7 miles per hour. After I do that for a few minutes, I'll slow down the speed and cut the incline in half. Then after a few more minutes, I'll lower the incline down to a 2 and I'll raise my speed to 6.5 miles per hour. After that, I'll completely drop the incline to 0 and turn the speed up to 7.5 or 8mph for about a minute or two. I usually repeat the cycle a few more times before switching machines.
If I'm still dreading my workout even after doing all of these things, I'll distract myself by pulling up a show on Netflix. I'll drop my intensity a little bit and remain at a static pace so I can easily pay attention to my show. Otherwise I usually play around with Pandora or look through my old music and make a new playlist that matches the pace of my workout.
There are lots of little things to do to keep your workouts interesting. Doing the same thing every time you workout can get really boring so I feel like it's important to change things up. Maybe some other time I'll share how to change up a weight training workout? (450)
Friday, December 12, 2014
Restricting
Going back to that job shadow I had, the dietician had a interesting view on when enough is enough. She said you need to find a good balance between being not too restrictive, but also not too forgiving. She said she won't ever keep dessert in her house because she doesn't want the leftovers. Perfectly understandable. She won't keep ice cream in her house because she said she'd eat it every night if it was there. She won't bake a cake for her son's birthday because she'd have to figure out where else to put the rest of the cake. She'll only have one tiny slice of pie at Thanksgiving to avoid eating too much sugar.
To some extent, these are good ideas. Her reasoning for these approaches is "you can't celebrate life everyday". Okay that sounded incredibly harsh but those were her words, not mine. To me, even being that girl who used to restrict herself too much, thinks that her reasoning sounded way too overboard.
I think it would be fine to give yourself ONE small treat per day. If its' a holiday or you have a solid reason to have more than that, go for it. Have a cookie or two at the holiday cookie exchange. And yeah, I actually do think you can "celebrate life" every day. If you want a mini Reese's cup after lunch every single day, go for it. If one day you accidentally finish off the entire bag and eat 10, maybe you should hold off on buying another bag until you can trust yourself not to eat more than one. It takes practice, time and willpower. But not ever allowing yourself to bake a cake for your son's birthday because you're afraid of having leftovers is too harsh. Do you really think that you can't ever have cake for 3 days in a row? This would be a good time to practice adjusting and meal flexibility. Eat less carbs if you know you'll have cake at dinner. Don't go for the oatmeal that day but instead have a protein shake.
Life is meant to be enjoyed, not depriving yourself. I'm not trying to bash the dietician but all I'm saying is that you have to trust yourself enough to enjoy yourself. (380)
New Experiences
Yesterday I attended a job shadow. I took away a lot of valuable advice and a better understanding of what I want from my future. The job shadow was exactly what I had expected in terms of what the job consisted of (I shadowed a registered dietician)
I wanted to share some things that were said to me and elaborate on what she said. The registered dietician that I spoke to was really kind. She didn't exactly have the experience I was looking for because she had only been a RD for 4 years (she had worked in communications for about 25 years before going back to school to get her degree in nutrition) I knew she was very knowledgeable but still had some things to learn herself.
I asked a lot of questions about what her thoughts were on a variety of topics. I was really curious about what HER diet consisted of. She said she was constantly tweaking and experimenting with her diet, which I completely agreed with. I even gave advice in an early post about adjusting your diet until you find something that works for you. So, we were mainly on the same page about a lot of things. I also asked her about her thoughts on the cost of food and which foods she sacrifices cost for health. She likes to shop organically and believes that GMO's are very bad. I don't exactly agree with her, I have mixed feelings about GMO's but I wouldn't refuse to eat a bag of vegetables that didn't have the "No GMO" mark on it. It's not something of great concern for me as much as chemical additives are (MSG, dyes etc) She said that if the difference in cost for chicken breast was $3 for organic vs. the average, she would buy the average and just clean the chicken really well. I agree with that, I just don't agree with paying $6 for a handful of blueberries just because the label said it was "organic".
I really really enjoyed my job shadow and can definitely see myself continuing with my current plans to become a registered dietician and athletic trainer. I plan to double major in both.
On a completely different note, I used this really amazing scale at the job shadow, I was given an assessment with a $1000 scale that measured just about everything you could ever want to know about your body composition. Water percentage, muscle mass, fat mass, visceral fat, metabolic age (Apparently I have the metabolism of a 12 year old according to the results. Not sure if that means it's fast or normal?) your basic metabolic rate, bone mass, BMI, literally EVERYTHING you could want to know about yourself. It's all measured by tiny waves that measure the resistance of muscle, fat, bone, water, etc. It was so amazing and I didn't even know that there was a piece of technology that would tell you all of that! (496)
I wanted to share some things that were said to me and elaborate on what she said. The registered dietician that I spoke to was really kind. She didn't exactly have the experience I was looking for because she had only been a RD for 4 years (she had worked in communications for about 25 years before going back to school to get her degree in nutrition) I knew she was very knowledgeable but still had some things to learn herself.
I asked a lot of questions about what her thoughts were on a variety of topics. I was really curious about what HER diet consisted of. She said she was constantly tweaking and experimenting with her diet, which I completely agreed with. I even gave advice in an early post about adjusting your diet until you find something that works for you. So, we were mainly on the same page about a lot of things. I also asked her about her thoughts on the cost of food and which foods she sacrifices cost for health. She likes to shop organically and believes that GMO's are very bad. I don't exactly agree with her, I have mixed feelings about GMO's but I wouldn't refuse to eat a bag of vegetables that didn't have the "No GMO" mark on it. It's not something of great concern for me as much as chemical additives are (MSG, dyes etc) She said that if the difference in cost for chicken breast was $3 for organic vs. the average, she would buy the average and just clean the chicken really well. I agree with that, I just don't agree with paying $6 for a handful of blueberries just because the label said it was "organic".
I really really enjoyed my job shadow and can definitely see myself continuing with my current plans to become a registered dietician and athletic trainer. I plan to double major in both.
On a completely different note, I used this really amazing scale at the job shadow, I was given an assessment with a $1000 scale that measured just about everything you could ever want to know about your body composition. Water percentage, muscle mass, fat mass, visceral fat, metabolic age (Apparently I have the metabolism of a 12 year old according to the results. Not sure if that means it's fast or normal?) your basic metabolic rate, bone mass, BMI, literally EVERYTHING you could want to know about yourself. It's all measured by tiny waves that measure the resistance of muscle, fat, bone, water, etc. It was so amazing and I didn't even know that there was a piece of technology that would tell you all of that! (496)
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Failure
Failure. Failure is something people don't like to talk about. Failure is seen as a negative, awful thing. Maybe that's why nobody talks about their own failures until they've had success.
Lately I've been failing A LOT. Constantly letting myself down, constantly facing setbacks. I've been so disappointed in myself and just can't get past it. My motivation and willpower has taken a huge blow. It's so hard to get back on track when you know it'll be short lived. I've been trying so hard to get back into my old mindset, but just can't find out how.
What I realized lately is that failure is okay. Failure makes you grow. It makes you smarter, even. You get to know yourself better on a different level. By failing multiple times and missing your goals, it can make you stronger.
I need to realize that success is NOT exponential. It doesn't constantly grow. There are lots of ups and downs. It's a part of life. The best and worst thing about the human body is that nothing is permanent. You can ALWAYS change. You can get fat, skinny, muscular, atrophic, etc. You can always change what you don't like. The hardest part is sticking to your plans.
I've failed by jumping to extremes. I went from being TOO healthy to just the polar opposite. I've seen too many days full of junk food. It's all a part of making me better overall. I understand fitness takes time but I'm often discouraged by the amount of time it takes.
Hopefully I can figure things out now so that I can be strong and fit for track season. It's really important that I share my failure with you because it's something that most people don't do. You only hear of others' success and sometimes it's discouraging. So this is to encourage anyone who's also faced failures. It happens. It's normal. It'll work itself out and change you in the end. Just keep yourself motivated and keep clear intentions. (355)
Lately I've been failing A LOT. Constantly letting myself down, constantly facing setbacks. I've been so disappointed in myself and just can't get past it. My motivation and willpower has taken a huge blow. It's so hard to get back on track when you know it'll be short lived. I've been trying so hard to get back into my old mindset, but just can't find out how.
What I realized lately is that failure is okay. Failure makes you grow. It makes you smarter, even. You get to know yourself better on a different level. By failing multiple times and missing your goals, it can make you stronger.
I need to realize that success is NOT exponential. It doesn't constantly grow. There are lots of ups and downs. It's a part of life. The best and worst thing about the human body is that nothing is permanent. You can ALWAYS change. You can get fat, skinny, muscular, atrophic, etc. You can always change what you don't like. The hardest part is sticking to your plans.
I've failed by jumping to extremes. I went from being TOO healthy to just the polar opposite. I've seen too many days full of junk food. It's all a part of making me better overall. I understand fitness takes time but I'm often discouraged by the amount of time it takes.
Hopefully I can figure things out now so that I can be strong and fit for track season. It's really important that I share my failure with you because it's something that most people don't do. You only hear of others' success and sometimes it's discouraging. So this is to encourage anyone who's also faced failures. It happens. It's normal. It'll work itself out and change you in the end. Just keep yourself motivated and keep clear intentions. (355)
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Workout gear
It seems like anytime I get ready for a workout, I go through a mental checklist of all the things I need. Watch? Check. iPod/Phone? Check. Earbuds? Check, and so on.
Each of those accessories are really helpful and even crucial to help create a great workout. There's a wide range of accessories that can amp up a workout although I personally only need a few.
My only question is this- is it really worth the extra money for the high end gear? I've normally used a cheaper set of earbuds to workout with. I buy the Apple brand ear pods for around $30. I have gone through 3 pairs just this year alone. The same thing happens every time, they'll get beat up and eventually I can't even hear out of one side of them. I get sweat all over them when I run but I feel that the earbuds should be durable enough to take a beating. So, now that I've invested around $90 in earbuds and have had nothing but disappointment, It's lead me to my questioning of the higher end equipment. I want earbuds that hold up and that can take a beating here and there. So far I've looked into several different types. There are over the ear earbuds (the kind that have the little hoook to fit over your ear so that they don't come out) there are the big headphones, the pod shaped ones, etc. I've also compared prices and brands. I've found that my best bet is to invest in a pair of Urbeats by Dre for $100 because they are designed to have a strong cord that will hold up pretty well. I'll try them out and let you know how I like them in a future post!
When it comes to watches, I personally don't even care. All I need is a stopwatch with a split button and I'm golden. None of the extra features really apply to me because it's just not what's important to me. There are so many kinds of advanced watches that do all sorts of things and keep track of things for you but I'd honestly save the money and calculate things on my own (such as how many miles I just ran)
All in all, the more expensive electronics can benefit you in the long run and are worth spending extra for. Whichever gadget is most important to you, invest a little extra in it to get more out of your workouts.(415)
Each of those accessories are really helpful and even crucial to help create a great workout. There's a wide range of accessories that can amp up a workout although I personally only need a few.
My only question is this- is it really worth the extra money for the high end gear? I've normally used a cheaper set of earbuds to workout with. I buy the Apple brand ear pods for around $30. I have gone through 3 pairs just this year alone. The same thing happens every time, they'll get beat up and eventually I can't even hear out of one side of them. I get sweat all over them when I run but I feel that the earbuds should be durable enough to take a beating. So, now that I've invested around $90 in earbuds and have had nothing but disappointment, It's lead me to my questioning of the higher end equipment. I want earbuds that hold up and that can take a beating here and there. So far I've looked into several different types. There are over the ear earbuds (the kind that have the little hoook to fit over your ear so that they don't come out) there are the big headphones, the pod shaped ones, etc. I've also compared prices and brands. I've found that my best bet is to invest in a pair of Urbeats by Dre for $100 because they are designed to have a strong cord that will hold up pretty well. I'll try them out and let you know how I like them in a future post!
When it comes to watches, I personally don't even care. All I need is a stopwatch with a split button and I'm golden. None of the extra features really apply to me because it's just not what's important to me. There are so many kinds of advanced watches that do all sorts of things and keep track of things for you but I'd honestly save the money and calculate things on my own (such as how many miles I just ran)
All in all, the more expensive electronics can benefit you in the long run and are worth spending extra for. Whichever gadget is most important to you, invest a little extra in it to get more out of your workouts.(415)
Thursday, December 4, 2014
How do I make food taste better?
A lot of time I hear people make excuses as to why they don't want to eat healthy. Don't get me wrong, I do it all the time. "It's too bland", or "It's not as good as pizza". Of course it's not. If pizza made you fit I'm sure everybody would be eating it for every meal of the day. Since it doesn't, we're stuck with health food. There are so many ways I've learned to literally "spice" up my meals to make them taste really good! You really don't have to compromise flavor for healthiness after all.
Steamed vegetables aren't usually something I eat on it's own. I like to add light salad dressing to add some flavor. Pepper and garlic powder adds a lot of flavor on it's own, but sometimes it's still not enough. Then I add some grated Parmesan and a few more seasonings. That usually does it for me. I season my tilapia the same way. Sometimes I leave out the Parmesan and add cayenne pepper to make it spicy.
In the frozen section of the grocery store there are usually a ton of steamable bags of frozen vegetables that are already seasoned. A lot of them aren't the best option due to chemical additives and high sodium levels but if you just watch the labels, there are plenty of really great tasting kinds that will make a huge difference to your meal.
I like to add flavor to plain oatmeal by adding in some protein powder or cocoa powder, stevia and sometimes peanut butter or honey. It adds a lot of sweetness and it tastes a lot like a dessert except it's full of good carbs! I love to top it with, of course, my whipped cream or sometimes if I run out I'll slap on a giant spoonful of vanilla greek yogurt.
There are lots of ways to get creative with eating healthy. It doesn't always have to be the same old thing every single day. Sometimes I just add random things into my meals to see what tastes good and combines well together. Sometimes it's great and other times it's a disaster but at least I learn what I like. (368)
Steamed vegetables aren't usually something I eat on it's own. I like to add light salad dressing to add some flavor. Pepper and garlic powder adds a lot of flavor on it's own, but sometimes it's still not enough. Then I add some grated Parmesan and a few more seasonings. That usually does it for me. I season my tilapia the same way. Sometimes I leave out the Parmesan and add cayenne pepper to make it spicy.
In the frozen section of the grocery store there are usually a ton of steamable bags of frozen vegetables that are already seasoned. A lot of them aren't the best option due to chemical additives and high sodium levels but if you just watch the labels, there are plenty of really great tasting kinds that will make a huge difference to your meal.
I like to add flavor to plain oatmeal by adding in some protein powder or cocoa powder, stevia and sometimes peanut butter or honey. It adds a lot of sweetness and it tastes a lot like a dessert except it's full of good carbs! I love to top it with, of course, my whipped cream or sometimes if I run out I'll slap on a giant spoonful of vanilla greek yogurt.
There are lots of ways to get creative with eating healthy. It doesn't always have to be the same old thing every single day. Sometimes I just add random things into my meals to see what tastes good and combines well together. Sometimes it's great and other times it's a disaster but at least I learn what I like. (368)
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Bodybuilding.com Review
I've always had a few favorite websites to visit for extra motivation or ideas to turn to when I need a push. I've really took a liking to Bodybuilding.com. It's so much more than what it sounds like, though.
It's a place for motivation to see transformations. Average people can go there to share their before and after photos, their tips that got them started, what supplements they take and even their meal plans. There is also separate sections that features articles on specific topics. I like the fact that it's narrowed down into specific categories so that I can find articles on topics that I'm looking for. I really like the nutrition tab because it gives direction on where to start.
This website goes beyond information and inspiration, it's also a HUGE supplement store! They sell everything from protein, pre-workouts to protein bars. They offer a ton of brands so I'm never unsatisfied by their options.
I've recently ordered from their website and I'm so impressed with the speed of their shipping! It took 4 days and 3 of them were business days. It very happy with the shipping process! Shipping costs $6, which is a pretty fair price. I also was extremely surprised to open the box to find a bunch of free samples, a drawstring bag and a ball cap! It was all completely free! I was honestly amazed at the services! I am really looking forward to ordering from the website again.
Bodybuilding.com is such a great place for not only advice, information and purchasing discounted supplements but it also offers recipes that are specific to your dietary needs and goals. They have lots of healthy recipes that can help curb your cravings and keep you on track! I've found lots of healthified recipes that have helped me through some cravings and have kept me from my goals.
Lastly, the reason I love this website the most is because it's not geared towards men only, there are a lot of athletic females that are featured on the website as well as promoted (such as Jamie Eason, she is a fitness model/figure competitor who also has her own supplement brand). I find it really cool that women are welcomed into the world of fitness just as much as men. I love that it sheds light on female dietary needs as well as starter packs for your goals.
If you're into health and fitness, or are just looking for some new supplements to try out, give bodybuilding.com a try because it's really worth it! (426)
It's a place for motivation to see transformations. Average people can go there to share their before and after photos, their tips that got them started, what supplements they take and even their meal plans. There is also separate sections that features articles on specific topics. I like the fact that it's narrowed down into specific categories so that I can find articles on topics that I'm looking for. I really like the nutrition tab because it gives direction on where to start.
This website goes beyond information and inspiration, it's also a HUGE supplement store! They sell everything from protein, pre-workouts to protein bars. They offer a ton of brands so I'm never unsatisfied by their options.
I've recently ordered from their website and I'm so impressed with the speed of their shipping! It took 4 days and 3 of them were business days. It very happy with the shipping process! Shipping costs $6, which is a pretty fair price. I also was extremely surprised to open the box to find a bunch of free samples, a drawstring bag and a ball cap! It was all completely free! I was honestly amazed at the services! I am really looking forward to ordering from the website again.
Bodybuilding.com is such a great place for not only advice, information and purchasing discounted supplements but it also offers recipes that are specific to your dietary needs and goals. They have lots of healthy recipes that can help curb your cravings and keep you on track! I've found lots of healthified recipes that have helped me through some cravings and have kept me from my goals.
Lastly, the reason I love this website the most is because it's not geared towards men only, there are a lot of athletic females that are featured on the website as well as promoted (such as Jamie Eason, she is a fitness model/figure competitor who also has her own supplement brand). I find it really cool that women are welcomed into the world of fitness just as much as men. I love that it sheds light on female dietary needs as well as starter packs for your goals.
If you're into health and fitness, or are just looking for some new supplements to try out, give bodybuilding.com a try because it's really worth it! (426)
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