Tag: Health Food

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

I Feel the Earth Move

Yesterday morning I woke up not feeling overly hungry. I had my usual glass of ice water and headed into work in the wee hours.

A couple of hours later the first thing I ate was a small bowl of Greek yogurt with Crofter’s blueberry spread, oats and peanuts.

Greek Yogurt Crofter's Blueberry Spread

This kept me full most of the afternoon.

And then there was an earthquake. A small one. I was in the living room with Josh talking when I said to him “why is our house shaking?” he went to check the laundry room to see if the washer was out of balance. No laundry. I stood at the window and said “this feels like an earthquake” but thought that was insane, because we live in Virginia, not California. It wasn’t for a good 30 minutes until we realized there was an earthquake. Surreal stuff. I was uneasy.

And then we had lunch. Which isn’t what I would call “health food”, but it was delicious and I genuinely hungry. The portions were not out of control either. I made a mini-goal at the beginning of the day that I would only eat when I was hungry, not overeat, and only eat what I truly love to eat.

A cheeseburger and sweet potato fries from a local drive-in. I was full for hours until about 11pm when I had a couple (3) of Wasa crackers with raw cheddar before bed. I also enjoyed 60 minutes of exercise in the evening.

Thoughts on the day:

I know that looking at my meals from an outside perspective someone would say “oh! you need more vegetables”  or “you shouldn’t eat red meat, buns, fries…” you get my point. But to me, right now, a successful day is not overeating. It’s eating when I’m truly hungry and stopping when I’m full. It’s owning and sharing what I’m actually eating, without worry of judgement. It’s eating what I want without all of the rules and guilt that I love placing on myself. I trust that some days I will order a salad instead of a burger, and others I will just want the burger. I want to own those choices and make them guilt free.

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on 60 Minutes
  • Related Blogs on Blueberry
Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Vitamins and your health | vitamins and health


Vitamins are a little controversial as there are two sides to an argument as to whether our diets in North America have enough nutrients or not.

I eat what I think is a full diet of the good food that I need but still am not sure as to weather I eat all the vitamins and minerals necessary to stay healthy and to allow myself to rebuild my body from the environment and my daily exercise so I take some Vitamins.

Here is what I take:
2 multivitamin pills per day one in the morning and one in the evening
1 calcium pill in the evening with dinner
1 omega 3-6-9 in the evening with dinner

This may seem to some as overkill but I know that I have always felt better day in and day our when I am remembering to take multivitamins.

There are a few things to look for in a multivitamin that I always look for myself. The first thing is looking for B vitamins; B vitamins are good for combating stress to the body so I find they are important. In a multi you will find that the B vitamins are usually 2-3 milligrams as they are more expensive to produce and most companies minimize their costs by keeping the amount of this essential vitamin down. Look through all of the multi vitamins in the stores nearby for B vitamins in the 40-50 milligram range instead but still be aware of the price that you are paying.

I try also to stay away from the health food and nutrition stores as the vitamins that they sell are a lot more expensive and I am not sure that they are worth it, so I usually just go to the local grocery store or pharmacy and look there.

Among the other vitamins that I take Calcium I take as I am not sure that I am taking in enough and my wife worries about osteoporosis and who would really want brittle bones anyway. I take the Omega vitamins as they are good for your heart. Also be aware of antioxidants, these are vitamins Beta Carotene (Vitamin A), C, and E are thought to slow down the aging process by removing free radicals from your body.

Although I may be a little aggressive with my vitamin intake compared to some people it seems to me good prevention to at least take a multivitamin once a day and to try to keep up with nutritional info as you see it in the news.

Related Blogs

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Diet Food vs. Health Food

I’m here! I made it all the way to Wednesday without blogging, yet I’ve had so much to share. I started Insanity again with Josh. We started last year and made it all the way to day four and then I got sick and then we never did it again.

We started Monday evening with the fitness test, which was not easy, but I was a little excited to see that my numbers in some areas were high than others. They provide you with a little 60-day calendar to check off each day that you complete a new session so it’s really satisfying to cross off each completed day.

I’m very sore, but I feel so good to exercise in the morning, it really sets the tone for the day.

So that brings me to my next topic. Food. I’ve been doing really well with tracking my food and making an effort to cook at home and eat vegetables and fruits. I spent a good chunk of the weekend and last week cooking and trying out new recipes that I hope to share this week.

I’ve been thinking a lot about “diet food” and I realized that I hate diet food, but I love health food. To me diet food is anything in a package that has a weight-loss claim (low fat! low calorie! low carb! lose 6 pounds in 2 weeks!). Diet soda, bars, shakes, cookies, crackers, margarine, cereal etc.

Today I had a salad for lunch that I would call health food, not diet food. This is food that sustains and satisfies me. It leaves me feeling emotionally and physically good. It is delicious, and doesn’t have a lot of calories. 400 to be exact.

Okay, yes it looks dressing heavy! Here is the run down of my salad:

organic/local mixed greens, local feta, organic bacon, 2 local hard boiled eggs, 1 T slices almonds, and 2 T yogurt dressing.

But it’s not just about salads, it’s about wholesome food that we make with our own hands. It doesn’t have big claims. The lettuce didn’t promise I’d lose weight on the package. Nor did the eggs, cheese, or bacon. It just is. And it’s good.

That was a lesson a learned today.

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on fat