Tag: nutrition

Tone It Up Nutrition

For me, this year is the year of the anti-diet. I tried so many different diets last year and while I learned a lot, I also found my head spinning constantly. There were many times over the last year where I found myself sitting, completely unsure of what I could or should eat. At one point, I was afraid to eat anything but raw fruits and vegetables. I was miserable. I’ve started the re-building process and as you may know, this year is about small, meaningful changes.

I’ve followed the ladies of Tone It Up for quite some time now. I like the movement and I like the inspiration they are giving to so many women. Recently, something called out to me and I decided to jump on their website. By the end, I was ordering their nutrition plan kit and I was ready to go all in. There are many things I like about them, including the fitness portion, but I want to focus on the nutrition aspect today. The reason I hit that order button was because I was purchasing guidelines. How to eat to fuel my body with no major restrictions. I started with the Love Your Body Series because it includes meal plans to follow and I wasn’t at a place where I wanted to try to put together my own meals yet. 

Yesterday was day one. The biggest thing I learned yesterday was that along the way, I forgot how to read hunger cues. I was eating when I wasn’t really hungry half the time and waiting far too long at other times. (You know, that shaky, desperate, I’ll eat anything that comes near me, type of feeling.) The layout and timing of the meals suits me perfectly and when I was bored throughout the day, I realized that I would normally grab something to eat even though I wasn’t hungry.

Knowing what to eat had become a big struggle as well. I was desperately scanning Pinterest and buying new cookbooks to try to put together meal plans. It was time consuming, expensive and still wasn’t working. I needed the guesswork taken out. If someday I decide to move toward Paleo or Vegetarianism, they have plans to support those diets plus more. For now, I’m on the regular plan with no major restrictions other than added sugar and fried foods.

One of my goals this year was to also eliminate the processed foods from my diet and my family’s as well as reduce waste. I can see this plan helping with both of these efforts. With the meal plan to follow and shopping lists provided for each week, I’m buying exactly what I need and I’m using it as long as I continue to follow the meal plan, which I will. 🙂

A big bonus that really had me excited last night was that it won’t be a huge adjustment for my husband. He went through the roller coaster with me last year which meant a lot of “weird” recipes and despite my best efforts to accommodate everyone, he ended up having those diets forced upon him come dinner time as well. Last night, I made the Chicken Cacciatore and he LOVED it. Tone It Up ladies, you have my attention. 🙂

Vice Detox

I am currently reading The Wellness Project and right from the beginning she had my attention. One of the first big changes she talks about are her vices, sugar, alcohol and caffeine. If you saw my post from yesterday, you learned that my goal this year is to take small steps in improving my health rather than a life-altering, overwhelming overhaul. As this is something that has been in the back of my mind, I decided to start my own vice detox.

My version is a bit different. I am eliminating coffee completely. I am limiting alcohol to one drink on Friday and Saturday nights only. I’ll get to sugar later after this initial round with coffee and alcohol.

If you know me, you know that coffee is almost a part of who I am. I live by it which is precisely the problem. It has completely control over me. Without coffee, I don’t know how to start my day. At the same time, I know coffee is wreaking havoc on my internal organs. The acid reflux that accompanies my afternoon coffee is unbearable. Just yesterday, when I decided this vice detox needed to happen now, even my morning cup of coffee made my acid reflux flare and I was miserable for the rest of the day.

Instead of running to the coffee maker, here is what my morning now looks like:

Notice, I’m still having a bit of green tea. While reducing my caffeine consumption overall is important to me, eliminating coffee itself is my focus. And let’s be very real, if I didn’t have this green tea, no way would I even make it through day 1 of this vice detox once the caffeine headaches kicked in!

To my surprise, I didn’t try to offset the lack of caffeine with sugar. I was sure I would reach for a lot of sugar and made myself several notes as a reminder. What was also very surprising was that my energy was actually pretty high all day. Yes, I have the caffeine headache. Not terrible but certainly noticeable. I am thankful for a slower work week while I work through this caffeine detox. I’m definitely not at 100% but so much better than I thought!

In other news, if you need an awesome weeknight dinner, look no further than this Slow Cooker Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff. YUM! With how busy our lives have become, I was struggling with dinners and realized that I needed to start embracing the slow cookers to make sure I was getting dinner on the table. This recipe will 100% be a part of our regular rotation from now on! Delightful!

KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid)

In reading the title, you are reading my mantra for the coming year. I am focused on simplifying every area of my life. I have realized that I let life and the circumstances surrounding life control me. My family and I had gotten so busy, that I didn’t have the control I wanted. I simply kept my head above water. Consider this, if my life was simpler, would it be such a struggle to manage? If I have fewer things in my house, I have less to clean, less clutter to pick up and less to eventually throw away. If I spend time meal planning, I spend less time grocery shopping, figuring out what to eat last minute, and throwing away unused and wasted groceries.

Keep thinking about these two examples. There are other goals embedded within these examples as well. When I looked at my goals for 2018, I quickly realized that simplifying my life would be the first and biggest step toward achieving my goals.

  • Reduce waste
  • Increase amount of $ in savings account
  • Eliminate processed foods
  • Embrace minimalism

In addition, while simplifying my life, I will have more time for the goals I care about most such as training for a marathon, spending more focused time with my family, strengthening my marriage, and exploring new hobbies.

The biggest drive for simplifying my life is in regaining my sanity. I’m studying at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and my nutrition was the cornerstone of my focus and activities in 2017. You know what happened? I was far too strict. I learned some things along the way but the biggest thing I learned is that I have to be very careful when trying new diets. Losing weight would not be healthy for me, but it was happening. After doing Whole30, I was so afraid of eating anything that wasn’t a raw fruit or vegetable that I was miserable. I was weak. I was always hungry. I had no energy. It took me months to climb back out and start eating like a normal human being again. While I do see the merits and benefits, it wasn’t for me in the end.

This year will be different. I will continue to make improvements in my health, fitness, nutrition and overall wellness but I will be doing it slowly and I’ll be doing it my way. Baby steps. Right now, I’m removing coffee from my diet and limiting my alcohol to one glass per night on Friday and Saturday nights only. These are simple changes that I can make that will improve my health over time. Once I have these under control (and have made it through the withdrawal phase of reducing caffeine intake), I’ll add a new item to focus on in improving my health.

The big takeaway here… if a diet is not working and you aren’t feeling well, stop. It’s not for you. Move on. The creators of these diets make it seem like you just need to push through because it should be working for you since it worked for them and many others. You are not the creator and you are not the person next to you. Listen to your body. Listen to what it is trying to tell you. I promise it’s not your fault. It’s the diet not you. One thing I will urge you to do is use it as a learning experience. Look at the aspects of the diet that you struggle with the most. Learn something new about yourself and now the diet is a success! 🙂

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting – this is a hot topic right now. I’ve read about it on several blogs and it seems to be coming up frequently on various podcasts. Even though the ketogenic diet is on my mind right now, it is not the right time to embark on that type of diet just weeks before Christmas. I would most certainly be setting myself up for failure. Intermittent fasting is something that I have also been wanting to try and I feel that it is a positive change that is sustainable through this time of year.

You’re probably thinking I’ve done loads of research and have this intricate plan. That’s not quite how I work. I do some research to verify my decision to move forward but I wait until the time is right. So, at 6am this morning, I decided to go all in. I pulled together the bits of research I had done and made a plan for the next few days.

Surprisingly, the morning went quite well. I honestly expected to be miserable because it’s pretty well known that I like to eat all the time. This morning, I had one cup of coffee (only one!) and went about my day. I handled some work meetings and worked out mid-morning. After my workout, I went back to more meetings. I had a clear head all morning (well, as clear as possible given the fact I’m fighting a cold) and my energy stayed consistent through the morning. Normally, I see a dip in my energy around 9-10am and reach for more coffee. My many cups of morning coffee were now down to only one first thing in the morning. This alone was eye opening.

Around 11am, I knew I had to pay attention. I have gotten very good at listening to my body overtime and I was quite thankful for that today. Shortly after 11am, I started to feely the shaky, desperate for food feeling. The, “when the clock strikes 12, I’m going to eat everything I can find” kind of feeling. So, rather than waiting until 12, I ate around 11:30am. I ate a good, balanced meal and felt fantastic. I didn’t feel weighed down or bloated, I felt satisfied and strong. I didn’t overeat like I expected to either; I ate just what my body needed.

In order to make sure I eat enough, I’m using MyFitnessPal to track all of my food consumption. I sometimes struggle with this on a normal day, so due to the fact I am restricting my intake to a shorter time period, I’m being extra-sensitive. The last thing I need is to lose weight. This is a benefit that drives many people to IF, but I’m doing it for the many other reported health benefits. For me, I just need to find some consistency. Especially considering how much I travel, I need some consistency in my health that can translate to both home and travel.

He’s the weird thing for me. I’m battling a cold but I had energy at 2PM. WHAT?! Normally, when I’m feeling 100%, I’m ready to die at 2pm. Seriously, so f-ing tired! I’m feeling good about this!

So far, I am very excited about this journey. I have read about some of the struggles with hormone imbalances that women can face in this journey so I am also monitoring that aspect. I read an article today that indicated BCAAs can help your muscles during your fasting period, so I’m going to try that tomorrow.

First meal: 11:30am
Time since last meal: roughly 16 hours
Last meal: 7:45pm
Feast window: 11:30am – 7:45pm

Today was an intermittent fasting success!

I Failed Whole30 and I’m Glad

You’re intrigued, huh? This post likely won’t go in the direction you’re expecting so hear me out. Two weeks into Whole30, Labor Day weekend was upon us. I had no reason to veer off track; we did not have any major plans or parties. We spent some lovely time at the beach but all in all, it was a pretty regular long weekend. I can’t tell you exactly what it was, but on Day 14, we got to the beach and I said to my family, “I don’t think mommy’s diet is going to hold up today.” Once I gave myself permission, I knew I would “cheat”.

There are a few interesting things to think about here. Once I gave myself permission, it actually took quite a while for me to cheat. All of the things that I thought I wanted over the last couple of weeks, were no longer appealing now that I could have them. When I finally did indulge, the thing that I was hoping wouldn’t happen, did. I felt awful. I wanted to get sick. I was super cranky the next day. I looked like I was about 6 months pregnant from the bloat. I felt sick. The most interesting part about this? I only had 1 beer and a few tortilla chips. That’s nothing! That’s barely cheating and look at what it did to me!

Clearly I needed this more than I thought. My why was strong coming into this, at least I thought it was, but I am not a fan of, “You can’t have, do, eat, etc…” From a mental perspective, it doesn’t hold up. I question it. I want to know all of the science. Even when I do, I just don’t like being told what to do! Now that I have failed the program, I am in charge of why I am or am not eating foods. Now I am sticking to Whole30 100% because I want to.

I was noticing transformations that I never expected. Let’s take my performance at the gym. The beast that I knew was inside finally came out. The exercise-induced asthma that I developed as a child was suddenly gone. My lungs were no longer holding me back and I was unstoppable. That cheat day put all of that in jeopardy. I was/am not ok with that. Most importantly, I haven’t had reflux since starting the program. I don’t know the last time I went that long without reflux. If I’m looking at a life without reflux if I keep eating fresh, amazing food, I’ll take it!

I’m now able to connect my why with me. Not reasons I’ve read from testimonials. Not because someone told me it would be great for me. Not because I read it in a book. This time, Whole30 is on my terms.

With gratitude,

Elizabeth