I find that I can stick to a plan of eating well and exercising for only about a week and a half. I do really, really well during that week and a half, but then something happens and I'm thrown off course. My goals immediately evaporate, I lose hope, and I not only write off the day, but often the week and beyond. It is so hard for me to get the momentum and hope back.
I met with a dietitian at WSU's fitness center today, and our meeting was very helpful. Unlike the very trim and fit 20-something personal trainer I met with a few weeks ago who flippantly told me that she is so lucky she's never had to worry about her weight or what she eats, I felt like Julie had a grasp on the emotional relationship between us and food and exercise, and how everything gets more difficult when you get older!
I lose hope easily, get bored easily, and am very impatient. These are some basic strategies I want to put into place:
- Choose time on the weekends well. Make sure not to commit too much so that I still have time to go to the market and get staples for the week and enough ingredients for at least one dish to make and refrigerate and freeze for the week. Since most of my commitments are fun, social commitments with friends I want to see and be with, maybe we could cook together instead of going out.
- I feel hungry all the time if I don't eat snacks throughout the day. Eat something within one hour of getting up and eat every 3 -4 hours. I feel more energized and less hungry when I do this.
- Prepare portions. For some snacks, I'm nervous that I'll go overboard, like with various kinds of nuts. They are high in calories and I don't want to eat too many so I often avoid them all together. If I portion them off into smaller containers and have them ready, I won't eat too many.
- When I get home from the market, if I wash my fruits and vegetables, and cut up vegetables for snacking then, I'm much more apt to eat them throughout the week.
- Since I get bored, I need to experiment with recipes more and not try to eat the same things. I got a bunch of recipes today from Julie that I'm excited to try out.
- Above all, and this is the hardest of all for me: after I slip up and eat more than I should, I need to let go of the guilt and not think it's all over. I need to make the healthy choice directly after that and not lose my momentum.
-Sarah
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Bulgur Salad with Feta and Mint
this looks great, and I would add tomatoes and cucumbers, of course adding parsley would make it more like tabuli...
| |
| Bulgur — steamed, dried, crushed wheat kernels — is a snap to prepare and goes well with a variety of herbs. Try chives, cilantro or mint. |
Ingredients
| 1/2 tsp table salt | |
| 1 1/2 cup(s) uncooked bulgur | |
| 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste | |
| 4 tsp olive oil | |
| 1/2 tsp black pepper | |
| 1/2 cup(s) crumbled feta cheese | |
| 1/2 cup(s) mint leaves, fresh, chopped | |
Instructions
- Combine 1 1/2 cups of cold water and salt in a small pot; bring to a boil and stir in bulgur. Cover pot, remove from heat and set aside until bulgur is tender and water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Fluff bulgur with a fork; allow to cool.
- Spoon bulgur into a serving bowl. Add lemon juice, oil and pepper; stir well. Add cheese and mint; stir gently, but well. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Superfoods!
I especially love that the list of "Superfoods" includes avocado, dark chocolate, almonds, and red wine! Here's the link:
Why are they so Super? the 13 most powerful Superfoods
Why are they so Super? the 13 most powerful Superfoods
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Personal Health Challenge
I've decided to use the weight watchers points system to track my eating and exercise habits for 2 months, to see when and how I eat, and maybe even take off some of these extra pounds. It is definitely proving to be a challenge, but so far in a good way. The first week I thought I was starving, trying to stay within point limits, but then I had to remind myself to eat "normally" and eat when hungry, and just watch the results. I'm trying to both learn more about eating in general, and about my own habits, while also altering my diet in subtle ways for greater health results.
What I'm learning: I have a weakness for cheese and avocado (but I already knew that). But since points are limited, I've naturally had to cut back on amounts of cheese and avocado on a daily basis. Strangely, I don't feel like I'm missing them; or a little does go a long way. I wonder if it is because I'm eating a lot more fruit and trying to eat more veggies (always a great challenge to eat more veggies...). On the w.w. plan, most all fruits and veggies have no point values, so you can eat as much as you want. Of course, one might argue that fruits have a lot of sugar so maybe you shouldn't eat only fruit all day long, but most of us (me, me, me) don't ever fall into a danger category of eating too much fruit. I love fruit and I love veggies and have no problem, in theory, eating more. But keeping them fresh and on hand and remembering to eat those instead of chips, that's another story...
So far, I'm undecided about how week 2 is going. I'm trying to obsess less about the points, worry less about whether or not the results will show on the scale on Thursday morning, and work more on paying attention. This is where yoga practice comes in really handy: just paying attention and letting go of the anxiety. Most days I go way over the daily points allowance. But one day I used only 28 out of 29 daily points and I wasn't hungry all day. Hmmm. What did I eat that day? All sorts of stuff, including plain yogurt with almonds and fruit, vegetable barley soup (filling and very low in point value), pasta with asparagus, tomato, and Amish chicken sausage with just some olive oil and Parmesan cheese, and I even had some popcorn with a little butter while watching TV.
Now, I'm not going to eat vegetable barley soup every day just because it has so few points. But I think this is where w.w. is really helpful: you get points for a whole week. So some days you eat more than other days, and you get extra points to use anytime during the week; you also earn back points when you exercise. So over the course of a week, it becomes more like a normal practice of paying attention and eating well and exercising, instead of feeling like you're failing for eating too much cheese one day and blowing everything away. For me, having to pay attention over days at a time (because I have a short attention span) is most helpful. Everything becomes more big picture than small pieces that don't always seem to relate.
Wondering what will happen in week three, but I'm in no rush to get there...
What I'm learning: I have a weakness for cheese and avocado (but I already knew that). But since points are limited, I've naturally had to cut back on amounts of cheese and avocado on a daily basis. Strangely, I don't feel like I'm missing them; or a little does go a long way. I wonder if it is because I'm eating a lot more fruit and trying to eat more veggies (always a great challenge to eat more veggies...). On the w.w. plan, most all fruits and veggies have no point values, so you can eat as much as you want. Of course, one might argue that fruits have a lot of sugar so maybe you shouldn't eat only fruit all day long, but most of us (me, me, me) don't ever fall into a danger category of eating too much fruit. I love fruit and I love veggies and have no problem, in theory, eating more. But keeping them fresh and on hand and remembering to eat those instead of chips, that's another story...
So far, I'm undecided about how week 2 is going. I'm trying to obsess less about the points, worry less about whether or not the results will show on the scale on Thursday morning, and work more on paying attention. This is where yoga practice comes in really handy: just paying attention and letting go of the anxiety. Most days I go way over the daily points allowance. But one day I used only 28 out of 29 daily points and I wasn't hungry all day. Hmmm. What did I eat that day? All sorts of stuff, including plain yogurt with almonds and fruit, vegetable barley soup (filling and very low in point value), pasta with asparagus, tomato, and Amish chicken sausage with just some olive oil and Parmesan cheese, and I even had some popcorn with a little butter while watching TV.
Now, I'm not going to eat vegetable barley soup every day just because it has so few points. But I think this is where w.w. is really helpful: you get points for a whole week. So some days you eat more than other days, and you get extra points to use anytime during the week; you also earn back points when you exercise. So over the course of a week, it becomes more like a normal practice of paying attention and eating well and exercising, instead of feeling like you're failing for eating too much cheese one day and blowing everything away. For me, having to pay attention over days at a time (because I have a short attention span) is most helpful. Everything becomes more big picture than small pieces that don't always seem to relate.
Wondering what will happen in week three, but I'm in no rush to get there...
Spring Vegetable Soup Recipe
this looks good, tasty, and healthy:
Ingredients
| 1 tsp olive oil, extra virgin | |
| 4 medium leek(s), diced (white and light green parts only) | |
| 1 cup(s) celery, diced | |
| 1 cup(s) carrot(s), diced | |
| 1 tsp kosher salt | |
| 2 tsp minced garlic | |
| 64 oz canned chicken broth | |
| 1 cup(s) zucchini, diced | |
| 1 cup(s) green peas, fresh or frozen | |
| 19 oz canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained | |
| 14 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes, drained | |
| 4 tsp store-bought pesto sauce, or homemade pesto | |
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat; add leeks, celery, carrots and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes.
- Stir garlic into pot; cook for 1 minute.
- Add broth; increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
- Stir in zucchini, peas, beans and tomatoes; cook until flavors blend, about 10 minutes.
- Serve soup with pesto swirled into top. Yields about 1 1/4 cups soup and 1/2 teaspoon pesto per serving.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Metabolism and Muscle
This is always helpful to know/remember:
The only way to boost Metabolism
There are lots of things to do that are necessary healthy habits, but exercising and building muscle, they seem to consistently say, may actually help to burn fat. Nevermind gaining some weight in the meantime, keep exercising! And when not on spring break and eating too many treats, exercise and building more muscle will eventually outweigh the fat... that's a plan.
The only way to boost Metabolism
There are lots of things to do that are necessary healthy habits, but exercising and building muscle, they seem to consistently say, may actually help to burn fat. Nevermind gaining some weight in the meantime, keep exercising! And when not on spring break and eating too many treats, exercise and building more muscle will eventually outweigh the fat... that's a plan.
already March!
It's already March and spring is coming... outside it's raining instead of snowing and it's time now to get over spring break, get back to work, get into better health.
"The greatest wealth is health."
~Virgil
It's time to start including more fruit and vegetables, more consistent exercise, and more relaxing into everyday life. This isn't a race. It's not supposed to be all stress all the time, all sadness when you feel defeated, all frustration when everything doesn't go quite right. Chill out, I tell myself. Sit back, drink that coffee, take a breath, and then just get to it. It will be gotten to and gotten through in its time.
After this next cup, I'll go take that dog for a walk. She hates the rain, but worse, she hates being stuck inside when it's raining. And any kind of fresh air, for both of us, often helps other things fall into place.
"The greatest wealth is health."
~Virgil
It's time to start including more fruit and vegetables, more consistent exercise, and more relaxing into everyday life. This isn't a race. It's not supposed to be all stress all the time, all sadness when you feel defeated, all frustration when everything doesn't go quite right. Chill out, I tell myself. Sit back, drink that coffee, take a breath, and then just get to it. It will be gotten to and gotten through in its time.
After this next cup, I'll go take that dog for a walk. She hates the rain, but worse, she hates being stuck inside when it's raining. And any kind of fresh air, for both of us, often helps other things fall into place.
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