Day Fifty-Eight: Antioxidants

If we were to cut an apple in half and sprinkle one side with lemon juice while leaving the other side bare, we'd understand what an antioxidant does.  The side with lemon juice would stay crisp and retain its original coloring. The side without the lemon juice would get a little soggy and brown. The Vitamin C in lemon juice is an antioxidant.

Oxidation is a chemical reaction. It happens when a nail rusts. It happens when an apple browns. It happens in our bodies. While we absolutely need a highly oxygenated system, because oxygen is reactive, it can cause damage. It can harm the structure of cells, causing them to lose shape and elasticity affecting nerve functioning, accelerate aging, and cause changes in memory functioning. That is one of the many reasons why our bodies need vitamins...vitamins from our foods. So where do we find them?

In plants.

Plants have an amazing ability to synthesize their food, vitamins, and enzymes. Most dark fruits contain antioxidants in high quantities...blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, and plums are all high on the list. Pinto beans and black beans are also high in antioxidants as well.

I challenge you to examine your antioxidant intake, making adjustments where necessary.

Day Fifty-Seven: Perspective

"Dad...why does it always smell bad every time we drive on the streets here?" I asked my father on one of my childhood trips to Ciudad Juarez. "Because there's sewage in the gutters of the streets," was my father's response.

Of all of the things I love about being a student, among my favorite is this view. My school is perched on a hill overlooking the city that borders El Paso. Just immediately on the other side is another country, another life. Growing up as a child in this city taught me that no matter how badly I think I have it, all I have to do is look out and see exactly how thankful I should be. Every time I'm given this view, I feel the weight of gravity pull on me. I feel a little less naive, a little more thankful.

Perspective.

It seems absolutely ridiculous as I'm standing on that hill to be worried about eating right or getting in exercise. As I look out and see someone on the other side, I cannot help but think that any food to some is more than what they have, regardless of what its comprised of.

We have the opportunity to eat. We have the opportunity to eat healthy. We have the opportunity to get in exercise, have running water, heat our homes, and receive proper medical care when our children are ill. We have an amazing opportunity to live a fulfilling life, give back to others, and enjoy each day.

Someone else would gladly welcome any burden we have if they could also gain the life that we live.

I challenge you to take a moment to gain some perspective and hold onto it when it feels like times are rough.

Day Fifty-Six: Vices

I find addiction both fascinating and depressing.

Fascinating.....because I'm intrigued by the mind. The human brain is capable of so much, and yet when we become addicted to a substance, we alter it's functioning...sometimes forever. Depressing...because life is so beautiful and such a gift, and so many try to escape it instead of living it.

People lose their jobs, their education, their homes, their families, their mind, their freedom...to try and escape instead of learning how to cope with pain.  If you're like me, you see addiction all around you. Smoking, drinking, drug usage, perscription pills, gambling, sex, shopping, eating, you name it....if it can give a brain a surge of neurotransmitter, it can probably make the list.

We all know what smoking can do to the body, the skin, the teeth....what it ultimately does to the blood vessels, the heart, the lungs...yet so many still choose to do it. We all know what prolonged heavy drinking does to one's liver, their hydration levels, and their sleep....it affects their homelife, their job, their energy levels, their pocketbook....yet it's the most accepted form of escape.

As we move through the year 2011, marijuana is being grown and distributed legally for medicinal purposes. While many adhere to doctor's orders, a much greater population doesn't use this substance as prescribed. Their memory and appetite is affected....many have a sense of arrested development. It can take years of productivity away from someone, the "Rip-Van-Winkle effect" as one physician described to me.

I challenge you to examine any addictions you may have, seeking help to work through them where necessary. It is possible to learn to live without an escape.

That's where living begins.

Day Fifty-Five: Skipping

You're super-busy, bustling around during your day with lightening speed. All of the sudden, you feel a hunger pang and realize that you've not eaten for several hours...

We all get moving too fast, but there's danger in skipping meals.

"All of my morbidly obese clients have one thing in common. They skip meals." Jackie Warner wrote in a recent article. This is dangerous because once you feel a hunger pang, you become a fat-storing machine.

We actually lose weight through eating....when we eat the right foods. Why? Because when we eat something small and nutritious every couple of hours, we don't allow our blood sugar to drop. Keeping it even keeps our metabolism level and keeps us from generating cravings. Also, when we're hungriest is when just about anything will do, and we're most vulnerable to eating food that is bad for us. We also can get cranky or crabby when our blood sugar has dropped, & so do our children.

So, how do we make sure that we don't get caught without? Tips include packing both a lunch as well as snacks for work or school. Snacks should out to equal 150 calories (a cheese stick and an orange, an apple with tablespoon of natural peanut butter, a piece of whole wheat bread & cheddar cheese). If you get caught in a situation where you've got nothing nutritious, gas stations often carry nuts, fresh fruit, and bottled water.

Just don't pull into that Whataburger.

I challenge you to make sure that you've got healthy snacks that balance protein, carbohydrates, and fats on board at all times.

Day Fifty-Four: Accountability

Accountability in our society is almost viewed as a four-letter word. It can make people's skin crawl.

It doesn't have to.

Chances are that one who's not held accountable for something to someone probably hasn't accomplished much. We get married and have friends...we let our spouse and those few we trust into our personal lives, telling them about what we're going through. Part of this is because we desire a witness to our life. Part of this is because we want someone there who will listen and respond to us, let us know when we're not living up to our potential, and challenge us each step of the way.

People who find ways to hold themselves accountable tend to be much more successful than people who flee from accountability. That's not just in the gym or in the kitchen...that's everywhere. We find study partners and seek out advisors in an educational setting. At work, we establish benchmarks for success, figure out how to drive results, and participate in 360 feedback surveys so that we can better understand our areas of needed improvement.

In fitness, there's a saying..."People who tend to find three ways to hold themselves accountable are much more likely to be successful than one who chooses not to be accountable..." I believe that there's at least some truth to this.

Some ideas for holding ourselves accountable include:
-Find a workout partner
-Hire a trainer
-Attend classes and become friends with the trainer and other participants. If you're missing, they'll wonder where you are.
-Blog about it
-Follow a program, join online chat rooms
-Get a mentor...this is a little different from a trainer as they're not in the gym with you

I challenge you to find ways to hold yourself accountable and begin using them.

Day Fifty-Three: Education

When we're looking at buying a home, we begin using our noodle. We educate ourselves on the price per sqft in a given location by running comparables. We educate ourselves on whether or not we want an ARM, 30-year fixed, or VA loan to meet our needs. We run through a cost/benefit on how much we want to put down, whether or not we'll be paying PMI, what our monthly payment will be. Making the wrong choices for our needs and not knowing the advantages we have in the market could have serious consequences. We are smart consumers.

We educate ourselves.

When a loved one is diagnosed with a serious illness, we run to google. We type in all of the key phrases that the doctor used to describe their condition. We become best friends with scholarly articles, know everything wikipedia has to say, and become a talking dictionary almost overnight. Not knowing what to expect can leave us feeling helpless and without control. We want to make sure we can support our loved one in a time of need, and we try to prepare ourselves for what we're up against.

We educate ourselves.

How important is it, then, that we educate ourselves properly on what we put into our bodies. More than a home, more than a condition or illness...our body is the one thing that we have that has to last us our entire life. If we take care of it, it will take care of us. There is a lot of bad information out there. There is also a lot of great info from very smart people who've done their homework.

I challenge you to educate yourself.

Day Fifty-Two: Raw Food Fast

A raw food fast is an amazing way to naturally detoxify the body, especially the colon and blood.

Because cooking food can destroy valuable enzymes and removes nutrients from the food, consuming fruits, veggies, and nuts raw is the way to get the most out of every calorie. It scrapes the spackle off of the colon, & hydrates the system. It's almost like your body hits the "reset" button.

A raw food fast can be done for any length of time. Typically, for the first time, a day or two in duration is what is recommended. Towards the end, the body feels amazingly clean. The bowels change. The skin becomes vibrant and flushed. The eyes are whitened and brightened. One knows when it's time for the raw food fast to be over by listening and responding to the body.

To do a raw food fast, only drink herbal tea or water. There is no coffee, soda, iced tea, juice, or alcohol. There is no sugar. Concentrate on dark green, leafy vegetables. Consume fruits and vegetables with the skin on them. Breakfast should be three different kinds of pieces of fruit. Lunch and dinner should be large salads that include leafy vegetables, carrots and celery, red onions, nuts, and other veggies that you like. There is no dairy, no meat, & no animal products of any kind. Salad dressing should be homemade balsamic vinagrette.

Timing is important, so the first time you do a raw food fast, choose one or two consecutive days where you don't have a lot going on. Plan for it by shopping appropriately.

I challenge you to visit raw food life for more information.

Day Fifty-One: Mariah's Tips

I've posted some tips by some of the pros. Here are some of the things I've found effective.

1. Don't leave the house without food. Always have an apple in your purse, a stash of raw almonds in your car, something healthy on hand. You might be stuck somewhere when your blood sugar drops.

2. Don't leave the house without a water bottle. Again, in a purse or bag...

3. Pack your lunch. When you've made your food, you know exactly what's in it.

4. Don't eat breakfast for a cheat meal...unless it's Christmas. Cheat meals make us feel crummy, so it's best to eat them late in the day for late lunch or dinner.

5. Take holidays off. The day of the holiday enjoy some of the traditions...set a date to return to normal and adhere to it so that the day off doesn't turn into a week off.

6. Eat 5 meals a day...breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. Meals should be 400 calories & snacks around 100-150 calories.

7. When you see someone eating something that looks tempting, observe them for a couple of hours after they've eaten it. Often, you'll find that they're complaining about the way they feel (tired, indigestion, bloating, sluggish, headache). This is especially true at the office with chinese food, burgers & fries, fast food, and heavy meals.

8. Don't get to that place where you're feeling deprived. Deprivation is usually a trigger that sets things in motion for a chain of events that lead to bingeing, emotional eating, and shame. Schedule cheat meals as you feel you need them to avoid deprivation.

Day Fifty: Establishing Healthy Boundaries

The word "boundary" is often equated with the word "wall". They're not the same.

Not at all.

A wall is something that someone puts up to keep people out. A boundary is a way that we take care of ourselves when we feel that our space, time, or resources have been depleted by others leaving nothing for ourselves.

"You make me so angry..."
"I never have time to workout because I'm taking care of our children...or working....or doing chores..."
"I don't get to cook healthy food for because I can't get the kids to eat it..."
"I'd love a manicure or pedicure, or even just a bubble bath, but I don't have any time or money..."

This is whining.

When we whine (as I often find myself doing) we probably need to establish some sort of boundary. That's usually the temperature gauge letting us know that we're assuming the role of the victim. So, how do we establish a healthy boundary in a way so that it doesn't become a wall?

The first step is to recognize that we're whining about something. If we're complaining, we probably have a need that isn't being met. If it's not being met, its because we're choosing not to meet that need. Instead, what we're choosing to do is to sacrifice that need of ours for something else. We know it because we feel victimized.

We don't ask, "Why do they do this to me?" We ask, "Why am I allowing this to happen?" We take full accountability for our anger, hurt, or any emotion that we're allowing ourself to feel. They're not making us mad, we're allowing ourself to become angry at the situation.

We take time to think, journal, and understand what our need actually is. It takes introspection to understand where we feel frustration or victimized in our lives and ask ourselves what we are doing to allow it to happen. If we've gone a long time with our needs being unmet, it can feel selfish to realize that we have needs of our own.

It's not.

We articulate it...first to ourself, then to whomever might be involved....We avoid using words or a tone with  intention to try and evoke emotion. We avoid trying to meet our needs by asking others to sacrifice their needs.

"I am angry...hurt....and frustrated..."
"I need an hour each day a few days per week to exercise..."
"I need to cook healthy food, and I am not willing or able to cook two dinners..."
"I need some time and  money to get a manicure or a pedicure. When I get them, I feel feminine and rejuvinated."

Boundaries aren't at all about the other person, they're about loving and respecting ourself to expect more from yours truly.

I'd love to say that we articulate these and..BAM!! we change. It's probably not going to happen that quickly. Growing is a process. We should allow ourself the journey.

In time, it makes it easy to come to understand that we didn't eat those chili cheese fries because our husband wanted them and we were so selfless that we gave up our workout time for a trip to Sonic. We ate those fries because we chose to...

And we could have chosen differently.

Day Fourty-Nine: In Search Of Inspiration

On October 19, 2004 a television show made its American debut. 

Several morbidly obese people came together, removed their clothing, and weighed in. Some were humiliated. Others were beyond embarrassment. All took a deep breath as the scale climbed up. Throughout the season, they battled each other to try and win a cash prize. But, the real battle was the one that was going on inside of each of them. Unlike other reality shows like Big Brother or Survivor, the entire realm of battle was the one going on between their own hearts, their minds, and their flesh.

Their goal...to overcome their issues with food, exercise, and their surrounding environment so that they can begin living a healthy lifestyle that would forever change their lives....and to possibly win money in the process.

The show inspires many. Why? I think it's because deep down, we like to see someone succeed. I think that every time we someone overcome their obstacles, we think that maybe we can overcome ours. They have access to trainers, but so do we. They have access to nutritional information, but so do we. They have a deep, burning desire to change...so do we....or do we?

When we've got that deep, burning desire to change, we look for role models. We seek out success stories. We try to find out what they did so that we can understand what we need to do. Somewhere, deep inside of us, we think..."if they can do it, then what's stopping me?"

I challenge you to seek out some success stories and find some role models. They're everywhere, and will inspire you.

Day Fourty-Eight: The Bridge

Around day 40, if we've stuck with our committment to healthy habits, we realize a change. The change is in the dynamic of our family and friendships. It's illustrated best in The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie, paraphrased below...

I felt as if I had walked out onto a bridge. I walked alone. The bridge was leading me to a healthy lifestyle, a different way of living with a different set of priorities. I looked back and realized that my husband, children, many members of my family, and some of my friends were all standing on the side where I once stood among them. It felt as if there were a gravitational pull of some sort pulling me back to where I used to be.

The gravitational pull is called fear.


I looked ahead and saw the life I yearned for on the other side. On that other side of the bridge were many of my friends, fitness instructors, trainers, and a host of people who made health a priority. They smiled at me and encouraged me to continue walking across the bridge.

I yearned to pull my family out onto the bridge with me, but it was a bridge in which everyone had to go in their own time. I couldn't pull them, I couldn't push them. I could only wish for them to step out onto the bridge.

If I had to stand next to them, I could choose to go back. However, I didn't want to be on that side of the bridge. I wanted to cross it, to keep moving forward. I felt a little isolated, a little scared, a little worried about where that would leave me with my family & those I love.

Its okay to be afraid of success because we are afraid that success will separate us from those we love. It's okay to hope that someday others will make the same healthy choices because we care about their health, but also because we don't want to walk alone.

It's okay to expose those we love to good food, and it's imperative that we expose our children to healthy cooking and outdoor playtime. But, in the end, we cannot force anyone to make decisions about themselves. And, we should not be angry at them if they do not make the same choices in their lives.

It hurts to see people we love sink into disease and depression. It's difficult to watch a loved one who suffers from diabetes continue to engage in habits that worsen their condition. It's hard to watch someone continue to smoke, drink, or choose to do drugs instead of seeking out healthy ways to cope with stressors in their life.

It's very hard to recognize that sometimes loving someone means detaching, allowing them to grow and develop through the consequences of their actions while choosing to take care of ourselves. It can leave us feeling a little isolated, a little scared. It doesn't mean that we love them any less. Rather, it means that we love them so much that we are not going to rob them of an opportunity to grow and develop by trying to enable or remove their consequences of poor decisions. And, we love ourselves so much, that we're going to begin taking care of our needs instead of constantly worrying about whether someone else is taking care of theirs.

I challenge you to journal about being on the bridge.

Day Fourty-Seven: Your Beautiful Heart

Each February, top celebrities slip into beautiful red dresses and walk on a runway in an event called "The Red Dress". Their purpose: To create awareness to American women that heart disease is still our #1 killer.

Let's talk about that.

Our heart is a fascinating thing. I'll never forget the way that I felt the first time my OB-Gyn let me listen to my child's heartbeat. Hearing the strong little beating signaled that there was a beautiful life growing inside. My child was no longer just a mass of cells. He had a heartbeat.

Our heart beats about 75 times each minute, distributing oxygen to the tissues so we can think, talk, and live. It is muscular, chambered, and beats on its own. It can enlarge causing problems with our heart valves, irregular heart rythms, angina, or heart attack.

Many of us have a genetic predisposition for heart trouble. This includes a family history of high blood pressure or cholesterol levels. Our family history is out of our control, so someone with a genetic predisposition has do even more due diligence to ensure that their environment is a healthy one. In essense, if the average person should have healthy habits, then the person with a poor family history should have super-mega-ultra-lightning-healthy habits.

How do we change our environment? Four contributing factors to heart disease are at the top of the list..

1. Diet... Eating foods high in fiber and nutritional density and low in saturated fats.
2. Exercise...At least three times a week of productive exercise.
3. Smoking...The leading cause of high blood pressure, and ultimately stroke & heart attack.
4. Alcohol...Consumption of alcohol on a daily basis can cause alcohol-induced hypertension. This puts the individual at risk of coronary artery disease, stroke, aneurysm, congestive heart failure, heart attack, damage to blood vessels, and that's just in relation to the heart...we all know about the other organs that are affected by prolonged heavy drinking.

All four of these items are within our span of control, so it's completely up to us to give our body what it needs, and reduce the things that make it work harder for our beautiful heart to do it's job.

I challenge you to go red. I challenge you to take care of your beautiful heart in every way that you can.

Day Fourty-Six: Illness And Injury

Illness & injury happen. We will eat well & workout all of the time, but at one point or another, the bug is going to bite. How do we handle it when that occurs so that we can rest, repair, and not burn out?

When we get ill, it's almost as if our body is purposefully trying to stop us in our tracks. It seems that the fever, achiness, chills, or vomiting are meant to make us stay stationary and horizontal, without worry about the rest of our schedule. Everything kinda comes to a hault. It's important that we listen to our body and give it the rest, fluids, and time for recovery that it needs.

Injury is another story. Sometimes, we've got a debilitating injury that puts us out of commission for awhile. However, often we can change our exercises and still elevate our heart rate by just doing something different.

For example, if one's gotten a running injury like shin splints, swimming or yoga can be done for recovery.  Both will get the heart rate up, improve flexibility, and increase circulation. This can actually speed up the time it takes for recovery because more blood is being pumped to through the body when the heart rate is elevated. Massage can also help with injury repair as it helps improve circulation and remove waste and toxins while giving us a feeling of zen.

I challenge you to rest when you're feeling ill, and work around injuries you may receive. Just about everyone on an exercise regimen experiences both at some point.

Day Fourty Five: Pretending

I'm perfect. I've got it all...great marriage, beautiful well-behaved children, dream job where I make so much money I get to spend it on my highly sought-after lifestyle. I'm a girl's best friend. I'm smart as a tack with charm that will make you wanna take me home to meet momma...

...NOT.

"Sometimes the truth just sounds different..." -Almost Famous

I'm beautifully flawed. I'm married to my best friend, even though at times we get lost in the muddle and forget who we are to each other. My children are beautiful people and I work hard at doing everything I can to encourage and support them and be the best mommy I know how to be. They are sometimes well-behaved, and sometimes not, but I love them and discipline them and love them some more. I was the oldest child, and I still act like I am even though my siblings are all adults and it drives them crazy. I have a lifestyle that nobody in America would find envious, but that's ok...it's not forever and we're in a place of growth right now that I know we'll cherish for the rest of our lives. I can't say that I've ever had a dream job, but hope to some day.

When we're pretending, we're not growing. We're in denial. We're lying to ourselves, we're lying to those we love, and everyone sees through it. The first selection above was what I wanted the world to believe....what I wanted myself to believe...until I realized that I was kidding myself.

And it was exhausting.

Be real. Be honest. Be beautifully flawed, and a work in progress. The first step isn't to put on our running shoes to take a walk. The first step is a long look in the mirror and a heart-to-heart with ourselves. We must change the psychology inside of our heads and our hearts to change. We must move from denial into acceptance. We must stop pretending.

Thank you, Steph, for reminding us of how it begins.

Day Fourty Four: Vegetarian And Vegan

While I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, I eat like one whenever I get the opportunity.

I would argue that the vegan diet is probably one of the most nutrient-dense, healthy nutrition plans available for the human body.  We hear all of the time, "You need to be careful if you're a vegetarian or vegan. You may not get all of your vitamins and become deficient or anemic."

That's true for any diet.

We all know people who decide to become a vegetarian and then order their nachos with everything...hold the meat. Nachos with or without meat is not a good food choice for anyone, unless it's being consumed as a cheat meal.

So, with all of the misinformation out there, what are these two diets comprised of, and why are they high in nutrients?

A vegetarian diet is one that excludes the flesh of another animal. Basically, it means consuming no meat of any kind. A vegan diet is a vegetarian diet that excludes all animal products including all dairy and eggs. Things like cake, cookies, & regular breads are excluded from the diet because they've got eggs or milk in the mixture. There are vegan breads, cereals, and cookies that can be found at health food stores, often they taste amazing.

Plant sources of protein and fat tend to be much better for our bodies than animal sources. Fats found in plants are usually unsaturated and  liquid at room temperature (think olive oil). They are associated with lowering levels of cholesterol, and can be found in foods like avocados and nuts. Proteins found in plants such as soybeans, nuts, seeds, and beans tend to be easy for our body to digest, and therefore move through our digestive tract cleanly and quickly. Many of these also contain insoluble fiber, which has a cleaning effect on our insides, preventing diverticulitis and allowing our digestive tract to run smoothly.

Animal sources tend to contain more saturated fats. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature (think fat trimmings from steak). There is a high correlation between these fats and cancer, cardiovascular disease, and digestive disorders. The protein content found in meat is very high as it is the flesh of the skeletal muscle we normally eat when we consume an animal. However, because it is the skeletal muscle, there is often little or no fiber to accompany the protein we consume, which is very different from consuming plants.

There's a lot to consider if one is making the food choice to do either of these. There are a number of resources out there including cookbooks, books, websites, & videos. Vegetarian and vegan foods, when combined with variety, can be very high in nutritional density with every calorie being a productive calorie.

Regardless of whether or not we choose to eat meat, eggs, or neither; it's important to recognize that junk is junk, no matter what it is.

I challenge you to try quinoa.

Day Fourty-Three: Your Valentine's Gift

Heart Yourself.

Valentines Day is about love. It's a reminder that we need to love ourselves to recommit our gift of health.

Each holiday, each birthday, every special occasion when you get together with family and friends & spend time purchasing the exact gift...

stop.

Take a nice, long moment for yourself to remember what you're doing and why you're doing it. Your first gift to anyone should be the gift you give yourself. It's like putting on your own oxygen mask before attempting to assist others. It sounds selfish, but it really isn't.

Happy Valentines Day. May you have many more.

Day Fourty-Two: Real Pain

"Many of us were deprived as children. We may have been so deprived of good feelings that we believed life wasn't worth living. We may have been so deprived of love that we believed we weren't worthwhile. We may have been so deprived of protection & consistency that we believed people were untrustworthy. Our parents may have been so wrapped up in their problems and pain, so deprived themselves, they couldn't give us what we needed. We may have been deprived of material items: toys, candy, clothing, food, or a decent home.


Some of us were deprived of a childhood...


...For many of us, life is a big store. This store has two departments: the main floor, holding display after display of good stuff, much of which we can't label because we've never seen it; and the bargain basement, the room with the leftovers & irregulars. The room where we shop."
-Melodie Beattie, Beyond Codependency

We all feel real pain at some point or another in our lives. Many of us grew up in a home that didn't teach us some of the things we needed to learn to be ready for life like
how to love,
how to love ourselves,
how to make mistakes,
how to play,
how to forgive,
how to fight fair,
how to laugh and be silly,
how to eat properly,
how to express our needs
or how to establish boundaries.

Many of us lost a parent or a sibling. Many of us have lost a child. Many of us have lost relationships, marriages, even ourselves.

Many of us never knew ourselves to begin with.

Emotional eating is one of many escapes we use to fill in holes that we have in our life. Often, we don't want to part with the pain because we've become so accustomed to it. We look for a way to make ourselves feel better for a moment versus taking care of ourselves for a lifetime.
 
It takes courage to look at ourself and identify when we're eating emotionally. It takes courage to allow ourselves to feel pain, let it wash over us, and then release it. It takes courage to ask for help if we need it, to recognize triggers we feel, and to protect ourselves when we need to establish boundaries.
 
I challenge you to think about how real pain has affected you.

Day Fourty-One: Jackie Warner's Fitness Tips

1. Be a smart consumer & read labels carefully. Fat free products are loaded with sugar. Fat does not make you fat, sugar does.


2. No overcomplicated diets. They have high failure rates because they don't teach you how to eat properly.

3. Never skip meals. When you start to feel hunger pangs, you become a fat storing machine. Eat 3 small meals & 2 snacks a day.

4. Don't juice. Blend fruit instead. Juicing takes out the fiber & leaves you with the sugary juices.

5. Sugar is the devil. Sugar throws our body into an immune suppressed, non-working state of chronic fatigue, depression, & hormonal imbalance. It is the leading cause of disease & depression in the US. To break the addiction, remove all refined sugar from the diet for 5 days straight, & have 2 cheat meals on the weekends.

6. Clean house to remove junk. Stop buying addictive junk food & then hating yourself for not resisting it.

7. Deprivation doesn't work. When beginning a diet, add healthy foods for the first two weeks. Your body will begin to naturally reject the bad food.

8. Crunches are a waste of time. If you carry a large amount of weight in your mid-section, you will just build muscle under fat, thus making you appear bigger. To lose belly fat, combine a healthy diet with resistance training.

9. Eat the good, then the bad, then the ugly. Good = fruits/veggies/lean protein, Bad=starches/bread, Ugly=dessert/alcohol

10. Satisfy oral fixation with herbal teas. Late night munchies? Brew a cup of decaf tea, it will satisfy that oral fixation.

11. Water helps you lose weight. Three liters daily doubles your energy, increases your metabolism, & clears your skin.

12. Eat whole, natural foods.

13. Don't be afraid to lift weights. Cardio is the slowest way to lose weight. Resistance training burns more calories & speeds up your metabolism.

14. ONLY do intensity cardio. Forget the heart rate monitor, unless you have a heart condition, your cardio should be intense enough to feel your muscles burning. Raise ramp to max uphill incline & do a slow walk for 2 minutes, then lower ramp & run hard for 2 minutes. Take 1 minute to bring your heart rate down. Repeat 4 times for a 20 minute session.

Day Fourty: Supplements

I thumb through a fitness magazine & see ads for Cytolean, Mitotropin, Hydroxycut, AMP Whey, Protein Rush, Atro-Phex, Xpel, Myofusion, Complete 7-Day Cleanse, Safely Slim, Acai...

It's ridiculous.

It's a fitness magazine, after all, so shouldn't everything in there really make you fit? Not so much.


"Eat natural foods" means that what we consume comes in the form of raw food that we either consume raw or cook to kill bacteria. If you close your eyes & imagine your supermarket, you walk into an area that has produce on the far right or far left of the market. Spend lots of time getting to know the fruits & veggies, and put many of them into your cart, especially the ones in season. In produce, move to the back of the market where you'll find cheese, milk, meat, butter, greek yogurt, & eggs. Sometimes, you'll even find raw nuts where produce gives way to meat. Keep moving around the market for 100% whole wheat bread. When you do have to venture into the aisles for things like olive oil, spices, & peppers, don't stay long. This is the route around a normal grocery store for natural foods.

Supplements are not natural food. They are engineered food. That doesn't mean that they're all bad, but it also doesn't mean that they're all good, either. One has to learn how to read labels and discriminate very closely to discern the great from the good from the not-so-good.

Do your homework.

Vitamins are a little different than engineered foods.  If we're getting all of the vitamins we need because we're consuming nutrient-dense natural foods that are primarily plants, then we don't need the vitamins & they come out of our body in our urine. However, there are times when we may be rich in one vitamin & poor in another because of our food choices that day or week.

For this reason, many choose to take a multivitamin for this.  It's kinda like sand filling in any little cracks we might have missed.

I challenge you to examine the natural foods you consume. Are they nutrient dense? If you choose to supplement, are you a wise consumer that does his/her homework?

Day Thirty-Nine: The Victim

"You stopped doing weightwatchers, how come?" I asked. "Time and money, just like everything else", was the response. "Time and money, how so?"
"I do for everyone else, and that leaves me not having the time or the money to take care of myself."

There are usually two central reasons why someone plays the victim. The first is due to caretaking, the second is engaging in avoidance behavior. When someone does this, they're often doing a little bit of both.

"Caretaking" is the thought that one needs to self-sacrifice their own needs in order to meet the needs of others. Often, one derives self-worth from doing so, and it can lead to controlling or manipulative behaviors. Often, one doesn't feel that their sacrifice is truly appreciated, and so there might be a martyrdom complex that arises. This is articulated in the conversation above, "I do for others and not myself..."

I definitely engaged in this behavior when I felt that my husband and children didn't appreciate the sacrifices I'd made when I gave up my body to have children. The truth is that I didn't, I gave up my body when I chose to eat poorly and stop exercising during and following my pregnancy.

Usually, buried somewhere way below the emotion is the truth, and it often takes immense self-searching and accountability to locate it. Caretaking's roots are in poor self-confidence, not selflessness.

The second reason people might choose to be a victim is to engage in avoidance behavior. Often, we don't want to do things like eat healthy or work out. We'd rather scarf down the hotdogs & mac-n-cheese that our kids didn't finish. We use excuses to cover up our true desires. Again, it takes self-searching & accountability to uncover the truth.

Nobody can make us mad. We choose to get angry by the actions or expressions we see and/or hear. Nobody can make us not take care of ourselves. Only we choose to forego our own needs. Unless someone is holding us hostage, we are often the victim because we choose to be. That is a decision we can change any time we want.

I challenge you to examine the words that you say. If you find yourself complaining about how you provide for someone and therefore don't have time for yourself, I challenge you to find a way to balance that out appropriately so that everyone's needs are met.

Day Thirty-Eight: When The Scale Moves Slowly

Frustration.

You sweat your butt off on a treadmill, exploding those last 10 minutes to burn any residual calories you possibly can. You eat nutritiously and chug water. You're working, working, working, and coming home to a scale that barely moves.

It happens to us all.

It took you years to put this weight on. It took you thousands of hours of emotional eating, choosing junk food over the good stuff, drinking beer, and sitting in front of the TV with a piece of pizza watching, "The Biggest Loser".

It took you getting to the point where you were disgusted with yourself to finally change it. Not that you're complaining, if that's the way it had to be, then so be it. It's why you're changing your life now, so maybe it's not so bad to hit rock bottom.

If it took time for the weight to go on, then it's going to take time for it to come off.

Gimmick diets and ridiculous internet ads offer quick weight loss solutions. It's easy to go for the short, quick solution instead of the one that actually works when it seems to be taking too long.

That's a trap.

Those didn't work before, and they aren't going to work now. The road to health is one that is paved with healthy habits. These include the 5 basics...nutrition, water, sleep, exercise and balance. It includes some soul searching, identifying emotional triggers and beginning to try to understand our food addictions and how to overcome them.

Do not get discouraged because its taking time.

Find ways to motivate yourself. Concentrate on how you feel versus how slowly the scale moves. Take before and after photos so you can document your journey with photos as well as your journal. They will motivate you when its rough.

That needle will come down if you're consistent. Don't try to change by cutting out. Instead, change by adding in. As you add-in the things your body needs, old habits naturally begin to subside. It takes time. It takes consistency. It takes self-forgiveness, and sometimes it takes a therapist.

A massage doesn't hurt, either.

Day Thirty-Seven: The Dreaded Dinner Party

You're doing great on your quest to eat healthy. Then, you get an invitation to go over to a friend's house for dinner. You feel anxiety start to well up when you wonder if there's going to be anything there that you can eat. You know that if you go and don't eat, it could be awkward....you don't want to offend anyone. However, you also don't want to sabotage yourself by trying to be polite to your host.

Everyone who chooses healthy habits encounters this problem sooner or later.

The average American diet is loaded with salt, sugar, alcohol, and fat. This is multiplied when we're in a social setting. When we dine socially, the average person tends to consume 2-3 times more calories than when dining alone or with our immediate family. So, it's good to think proactively when you know you're going to be in a social situation involving food.

Here are some tips:

-Don't go to a social event on an empty stomach. Eat nutritiously before you go. You can let your host know that you ate a large meal earlier and therefore aren't very hungry. People tend to be accepting of this without feeling upset or wondering why you didn't eat the food that they spent hours preparing. If you feel like scooping a little salad onto your plate with a bite or two of cheese, this can ease any awkwardness.

-Take something healthy. Prepare a veggie tray or a whole wheat pasta dish, something that tastes great and also ensures that you've got healthy food on hand.

-If you want to partake in the meal, you can use it in place of one of your cheat meals. This requires flexibility, but can be well worth it, especially if you begin to have feelings of deprivation.

-Lean towards fruit, veggies, salad, and a few pieces of cheese. Stay away from the greasy, fried, and sugary stuff.

-Drink a lot of water. If you are drinking a non-alcoholic beverage and others are having wine or cocktails, it can be fun to squeeze in a lime and put your drink in a rocks glass.

Day Thirty-Six: Having The Right Tools

We wouldn't expect a surgeon to perform great surgery without a scalpel, strong light, and a generous amount of antibacterial soap...a $100K education would also help. We wouldn't feel confident if a the person building our home didn't own a hammer, a tape measure, a calculator...and probably a good truck. Yet, when it comes to ourselves, so many of us go into the gym with equipment that is substandard.

If we take our health seriously and want to remain injury-free, it is important that we use the right equipment. Here are some imperative investments that I urge anyone seeking a healthy lifestyle to make.

Shoes - Shoes are super-individualistic. Every foot is different, if you don't know if you're a pronator or supinator, you need to visit a running store where they look at your wear from old shoes, watch how you walk & measure your width and arches. Good shoes aren't cheap.

Gym Membership - When I started out, I had a gym that included child care. It was the only way I could fit in time at the gym. It also had a spa, towel service, & an amazing pool for the kids on weekends. Now, I alternate between the campus gym and one at home. It's really great having both and getting to choose. Find one in the right price range in the right location - imperative.

Sports Bras - We all appreciate our "perk", so these are important. One can find quality sports bras for $16.99 at Target.

Water Bottle - It should always be nearby. I like ones that completely screw on, like a thermos. That way, there's no leaking when it turns over.

Blender - Blending fruit is a favorite way to eat it, especially in the morning with some protein powder. Juicing removes imperative fiber, however blending keeps it. You need that fiber. There's nothing worse than a cheap blender, and a good one costs. Here's the one I use.  Quality blenders last for years, so it's worth the investment.

iPod - What would we ever do without workout music? If music motivates you to burn calories, put this at the top of your list.

Massage - Massage is a favorite reward, especially early on. With a good therapist, its 60 minutes of pure nirvana. Massage Envy is relatively cheap, running about $45 for a 1-hour session.

Wrench System - I call this "wrench" because it's what happens when a wrench gets thrown into the mix. This is a home system for back-up when you can't make it to the gym for whatever reason. It includes weights, fitness magazines & DVD's with good workouts, a yoga mat, & a jumprope. Every piece of this can be purchased second-hand at garage sales or off of Craig's List. If you're doing a Beachbody home program, such as P90X, then this would be your primary system, not a backup.

Sunscreen - If you do outdoor activities like running or hiking, you need to protect your skin.

Flattering Workout Clothing - It's often hard for us to invest in something we're just gonna get sweaty, but wearing flattering workout clothing can be a source of motivation to get to the gym.

Personal Trainer - If you don't know proper technique, have never spent time in the gym, or think you know what you're doing, but really don't... a trainer can really help. They are experienced, licensed professionals.

Day Thirty-Five: Fast Food Nation

Isn't it odd that an "All Beef Patty" can be sold for around a buck? Doesn't the phrase seem like a strange choice of words...what else would it be but all beef? The fact that one can find that all-beef-patty cheaper than they can find a head of broccoli is also disturbing.

It should be.

It should be bothesome that one probably drives by a dozen or two fast food restaurants to get to the nearest health food store...probably even the nearest grocery store.

Fast food tastes amazing, but that burger is comprised of about 100 different cows. They add sugar to the patty because they know its addictive. They add sugar to the fries because it makes them toast golden brown when deep-fried, & it gives them that almost-sweet taste. Again, addictive. In fact, there are three substances that have received considerable funding amongst food addiction studies: Sugar, salt & fat. All are good if from the right source in the proper quantaties. However, none of that applies inside a Whataburger.

Fast food companies are the number one purchaser of beef, pork, chicken, & potatoes. With that kind of clout, they are able to influence legislation, the FDA, the EPA, and literally determine the way that factory farming is conducted in the US. In my opinion, factory farming is one of the most inhumane things we could ever do to animals. Try, if you can, to sit through an entire episode of a movie dedicated to exposure of factory farming without having to walk out.

Animals that eat grass by design are fed corn because it's government subsidized & therefore cheap. Because the animals are not supposed to eat corn, they get sick. To keep them alive long enough to slaughter, they are given antibiodics. We feed chickens hormones to make their breasts bigger, then we eat the chicken, then girls at younger ages start developing breasts earlier.

Hmmm...

If you've ever wished you didn't want to eat fast food, all you've gotta do is educate yourself. Believe me, once you know what's in it, you'll lose your appetite. When we have investigative journalists conducting investigative research on our food system, that should be a huge warning sign.

I challenge you to examine your fast food intake, making any adjustments you feel led to make.

Day Thirty-Four: Changing Your Environment

We've been at this for over a month. That's a long time to stick to a New Year's Resolution. Fantastic job!!

It's now time to take a more discriminatory look at the environment surrounding us. Do you have a snack pantry full of unhealthy items that call your name? Is your refrigerator stocked with junk? Do your friends have unhealthy habits? Have you made friends with your aerobics instructor?

You have a light inside of you that has been trying to shine. The cholesterol surrounding it has been dimming it for awhile. It's time to let it glow.

Our environment has a huge impact on us. It is imperative to reduce or eliminate items surrounding us that tempt us. It's also important to be around people who encourage us in our healthy habits. There are many dieticians, personal trainers, fitness instructors, & running partners out there.

I challenge you to join a running group, meet people in your aerobics class, or go to a Farmer's Market. I challenge you to talk to your weight instructor - they're human & like having friends. I challenge you to expand your environment to include other people who are in the right frame of mind. It will encourage you, it will hold you accountable. I challenge you to invite some of your friends with not-so-healthy habits to join you in your next workout.

Day Thirty-Three: Buying Local And Sustainable

If you haven't already learned in these past thirty-three days, eating healthy can get expensive. But, it doesn't have to be....

If you're in some grocery store in suburb-America, you'll probably find that produce can knock your head off, bread is more expensive than cheetos, and milk & meat products can cost a small fortune.

However, in just about every city, you can find local & sustainable agriculture where fruit and veggies are offered. Sometimes the cost is more expensive. However, many times...if you search them out...you can find that the cost is much cheaper, especially if bought in bulk. Often, local hole-in-the wall restaurants shop at these places, and instead of buying one grapefruit, you buy a box.

It comes in the form of produce markets, farmers markets, vegetable co-ops, and clean meat ranchers that sell in bulk or at meat markets. This photo was from my trip to the local produce market with my step-mother where limes are sold 10 for $1.

At these places, we get to commune with other people who find it important to eat healthy. They're next to you commenting on how good the pomegranates look. That builds our network. At a farmer's market, you'll often meet the person who grew your tomatoes, carrots, and celery. That puts a level of trust in your food system that you can't find in bagged spinach.

We tend to buy more in these environments, and that makes for healthier snacks and an abundance of fruits & veggies that we want to eat before they spoil. That's encouragement & reinforcement of positive behaviors. Often, this food wasn't trucked from half-way across the country, but rather grown locally. This contributes to a more sustainable, green-friendly, global environment.

I challenge you to seek out local, sustainable produce at markets that are off the beaten path. I challenge you to find the places where it's less expensive to eat healthy, and where you meet and talk with the people who are feeding your family. You can find some of these places by zipcode here.

Day Thirty-Two: The Bad Days

You wake up in a nasty mood, don't know why. Maybe it was because you didn't get great sleep last night...someone might have kept you up. Someone else might have gotten good sleep, but it wasn't you. You're tired, you're cranky, you're hormonal, you get ready for work & you hate the way you look. You hate the way you feel. You hate the world in general today and there's no valid reason why.

You eat something that you know isn't good for you. You justify it. I've had a bad day...maybe you don't justify it out loud...maybe you don't even realize what you've done. What have you put into your body today? A cup of coffee and a doughnut?
Oh, for the love of bad days. There will be many. You're not the only one, we've all had them...we all have them. And, you will have many more.

So, you ate crap...and it was a Tuesday.

It's ok.

You have three choices. 1) You can deny what you've done, justify it by saying that your diet was better than anyone else's that you work with even though it was crappy, and continue about. 2) You can shame yourself by making yourself feel even more horrible for doing what you did. 3) You can accept that you reverted back to your old ways, hold yourself accountable, forgive yourself, & move on.

I hope you made the third choice.

Along this journey of ours, we are going to have some bad days. We're going to revert back to old habits, eat emotionally...possibly even binge. Sugar addiction is no joke. Emotional eating doesn't just go away over night. The first step of moving from denial into acceptance has been done. Now, comes working through what put us here in the first place...and that takes time. It takes time to retrain our brain to eat nutritious foods. It takes consistency to rechannel emotional energy in a way that promotes balance and health. It is not going to happen overnight, but it will happen. We should accept what we've done, journal about it, acknowledge it, identify our triggers, and think about how we could have handled it differently....

...and forgive ourself.

Breathe. Tomorrow is a new day.