healthandfitnessgirl on Xanga

Weblog

Saturday, 30 August 2008

My name is Lindsay and I am a sugar addict

Yes, that is me. The sugar addict. I crave it. ALL. THE. TIME.  I realized this more as I married a man who does not crave sweets at all. He'll make a thing of brownies and eat one... every couple of days! Me?  If I eat one... then I eat another... then another... and all I want is brownies and I stop eating good, nutritious stuff because there are BROWNIES in the house. Now, I must say that I do try to eat good, healthy foods. But I even think I eat too many fruits in proportion to veggies because I crave their sweetness. I'm not saying fruit is bad... but I think I am robbing myself of nutrition from not eating some things that I should be eating.
Great article on sugar addiction
I found a FABULOUS website- preconceptionhealth.org - that embodies the nutrition that I am working towards personally. It is a great resource for those who are trying to conceive now, or even a couple years from now, or those who are pregnant. Very interesting stuff!

I personally am going to try to get rid of all sugar and flour from my diet. NOT AN EASY TASK!!! I love bagels, and organic brownies, and organic teddy grahams... the stuff that is made from natural sugars makes me feel like it's better for me... and it's really not! Just because my sugar is raw doesn't mean it's not robbing my body of nutrients. Just because those teddy grahams are in the health food store doesn't make it okay to eat half a box of them! So, I am going to try to give up sugar and flour- even wheat flour. Basically I'm going to be gluten free- which I *kind of* attempted before (I tell others to, I just haven't commited to it fully myself yet! Like I said... I love bagels!) and sugar free (except for raw honey and natural maple syrup).
I think I'll start by just cutting back.  I don't quite think cold turkey is the way to go for me. And I'm not going ot be so ridiculous about it that I can't enjoy something every once and a while that has sugar or wheat in it. But I really think this will help me on my quest for health.
The hard thing will be having the stuff in the house. Sugar won't be so hard because Matt isn't really into sugary things- I'm the sugar addict of the house- so the issue will really be gluten. I'm going to work to not buy anything with gluten in it anymore. I know Matt will still eat stuff. And of COURSE we just bought a dozen bagel TODAY. That's okay though. I'll let myself eat a few bagels and when they are gone, I am done.
The PLAN:  Since I have to grab breakfast and go for work (and breakfast should be HEARTY- the most important meal of the day!), I am going to hard boil a bunch of eggs and eat those for breakfast... our eggs come from pastured hens and are not fed any soy or hormones or anything. That is important to me. Snack will be raw carrots or other veggie, yogurt or other pastured dairy product, or raw nuts like almonds. Lunch will be soups made from bone broth, or salads with sprouted seeds, or something of that nature- maybe leftovers from dinners, and dinner will be of the traditional foods nature (my favorite cookbook right now is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon)... which means a big variety of things that come from natural sources. I am going to be sure to include lots of raw dairy products- which my body has really started to crave lately. So... I feel like if I have a plan of the things that I will eat I won't get hungry and scrounge the cupboards or grocery store or convenience store at work for food. I will definitely let Matt in on m quest so he can support me and maybe understand enough to not buy some of the things he knows will tempt me.
Anyone else want to try to go sugar free or gluten free, or both, with me??
I must add.... a real challenge for me will be Sundays, as my grandma cooks HUGE dinners every Sunday after church and there are always super yummy desserts. WHAT IS MY PLAN? I am going to eat the meat and veggies... maybe a teeny bit of potatoes, and maybe I will limit myself to 1 small peice of dessert a month. So, I'll save it for my favorite ones :)
I am going to help myself with this by posting what I eat each day, starting TOMORROW. If you want to join in you could post what you eat every day as well, as well as your challenges and plans to overcome.

Monday, 11 August 2008

So, I stopped taking the honey for a couple of nights- after my up all night episode (I do NOT think it was related) I just decided to cut everything out and then slowly reintroduce it. I have given up coffee for good. I am going back to Caffix- which tastes exactly like coffee, but is all natural. Decaf coffee- ICK.
Anyway, here is my work blog www.trainskywayy.wordpress.com please don't make any comments that would track back to this blog, even though I'm planning to take of friends lock and just go completely protected soon- not this one of course, but my personal blog.
I wrote something about 6-pack abs on that one the other day that y'all might be interested in. I'm going to try to get the other trainer to write some blogs too, but he's not very into the computer so I doubt I'll drag much out of him. Ha.
Lindsay

Saturday, 02 August 2008

The Hibernation Diet... night #1

Watch this video clip to find out what in the world I am talking about. The video is a bit dry, but it makes perfect sense to me and I am soooo excited to try it out! We have raw honey that we just bought today at the farmers market and I am interested to see how it works. Roxie got a teeny tiny bit as well, I think I will give her a bit more tomorrow night (this is obviously NOT for babies since honey is not allowed until 12 months).

It's so amazing how honey- something created by God- when in it's natural state, can give us such benefit. Among the benefits of taking 1-2TB of raw honey every night before bed... weight loss (activates liver fat metabolism), decrease in chance of things like osteoporosis, infertility, dementia, diabetes, and more. Seriously, watch the video!

I am completely new to this so I will continue to update with what I notice as I continue. I just dipped a spoon in the honey twice... and it's fabulous honey from a single source and not heated or stirred, in it's natural state. YUM. God knew what he was doing when he created bees and honey!! I just wish bees didn't sting because I am so afraid of them. Any excuse I have to ingest something sweet I will take! Anyone else want to try this and let me know how it goes for them? I don't want to recommend it to anyone until I research more, especially clients, but if the video convinced you as much as it did me, maybe you'll join me in my quest for nighttime seratonin!

Thoughts?

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Healthy south of the border eatin'

Okay, so April asked me about eating Mexican food and making it healthy. I love Mexican food and it can DEFINITELY be healthy. Us American's have the idea that Mexican food is Taco Bell... and I think a native Mexican probably thinks that we're funny. Real, authentic Mexican food is super healthy! Lots of beans, avocado (super food!), tomato, garlic, spices.... ooooh so yummy.
My fav cookbooks have mexican sections- I even have a whole cookbook of mexican food :) I love it too. You can make super tasty and healthy burritos, enchiladas, etc with diced chicken, peppers, onion, BEANS (so good for you- I like black and pinto for mexican), brown rice, extra virgin olive oil, salsa, avocado (SO good for you and YUM) or homemade guac, and a bit of cheese (easy on the cheese unless it's raw though). I think spices really make the dish- not big globs of sour cream and cheese. For mexican I like cayenne pepper, oregano, and ground cumin. You can also get whole wheat tortillas. I don't normally use recipes from making things like burritos and enchiladas because I like to make it up as i go (as does Matt), but here are some ideas for inspiration:

Here is a healthy sauce you can use on just about anything:

Red Enchilada Sauce
4 oz whole dried new mexico or ancho chiles
1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil (always expeller cold pressed)
1 med onion, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cups beef or chicken stock (I make mine from scratch from pastured beef bones given to me from the farmer where I get my meat and milk... otherwise go for the organic stuff w/o lots and lots of salt, NO cambells)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 small cans tomatoe paste
1 TB red wine vinegar
sea salt

This sauce is far superior--both nutritionally and in terms of taste-to anything you can buy in a can. It can be made in large batches and frozen to have on hand when needed. Use either Ancho or New Mexican chiles-both are available in Mexican or Latin American markets, in specialty stores and in supermarkets in the west (You can get them at Cub Foods even). The New Mexican chiles are slightly milder.

Clean the dried chiles by removing the stem and seeds. Be sure to wear rubber gloves for this process and be careful not to touch any part of your face (or kiss a baby after sampling it!)

Meanwhile, saute onion in olive oil. Add cumin and cook, stirring constantly, until well amalgamated into the oil. Add stock and chiles, bring to a boil, skim and reduce heart to a simmer. Whisk in garlic, vinegar and tomato paste. Simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes. Pass the sauce through a food mill (I use a food processor). Season to taste.

*Use this sauce on top of your bean burritos and enchiladas. Really, I think the bad thing about American Mexican food is it's covered in pasturized sour cream, cheese, and fried in corn oil. I mean, if you buy tomatoes, lettuce, chicken/beef, avocado, beans, and salsa with some whole wheat (preferably sprouted, but that is HARD to find) taco shells... that's an EASY EASY meal. For chips... Matt and I actually fry our own chips. We buy corn tortillas and then fry them up in extra virgin olive oil and make some homemade guacamole. Which Roxie LOVES. It's all about fresh, whole foods. It's actually CHEAPER to do it yourself too! And you can do a lot of cooking at once and freeze the extra for later. Yay!!

Monday, 28 July 2008

Nutrition Tip of the day

Corn Syrup-- it's absolutely everywhere. And it may be making you fat.
Here's why: High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), used to sweeten everything from the obvious (soft drinks) to the obscure (ketchup, salad dressing, bread), can trip up digestive system hormones that control hunger and appetite. The end result: Your brain misses out on hormone messages that signal a full stomach. Start reading labels and see if you can cut back on the 63 pounds of HFCS most people consume each year. Your digestive system has 2 main hormones that control hunger and appetite. Gherlin is secreated by the stomach and increases your appetite. When your stomach's empty, it sends ghrelin out, requesting food. Leptin tells you brain that you're full HFCS inhibits leptin secretion, so you never get the message that you're full. And HFCS never shuts off ghrelin, so even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that you're hungry.
That's the physiology behind a theory graining a lot of ground -- the theory that our increasing consumption of HFCS is one of many elements at play in America's obesity epidemic
Because it's cheaper that sugar, HFCS is used to sweeten many processed foods and beverages. And although manufactureers may eliminate fat from their products, they make up for its taste with sugar and HFCS. Which means that cutting downon processed foods and sweetened drinks-- even the fat-free kind (that's a whole 'nother post!!)-- is a good way to reduce your intake.
QUOTE OF THE DAY (not sure who said this but it wasn't me)
Clean up your insides if you want your outside to look good. No Ab Routine in the world is going to work for you if you inhibit the muscles of your deep abdominal wall through a dysfunctional lifestyle and a poor, processed foods diet.