Vacation, Healthy Heather Style

I've been on vacation (well, what passes for vacation in my family, which means all us crazies piling into my aunt's house in the middle of a cornfield to drink wine, swap stories around the campfire, and play bingo with the carnies at the fair across the alley) so workouts were a little hit and miss.  In fact, I said I was going to take a break from exericse but come on, be serious.  Did anyone really think I would do that?  No, I took advantage of a late start getting on the road to eeek out a workout with Capt. Awesome before we left, and cranked out 90 minutes of cardio the next day while hubby and son slept! 

The next morning I woke up thinking it would be a rest day.  Every one in a while I try that whole "relaxation" think I keep hearing about.  But by 3:00 I was itching for some activity so I hopped on my aunt's one-speed and biked to the local grocery store to pick up some 70% cacao chocolate for the s'mores and the ingredients for my Black Bean Turkey Burgers.  It's a short trip and the weather was gorgeous, and by the time I got back I felt appropriately challenged. It was the perfect vacation workout - blood pumping but not sweating, challenged but not fatigued. It was a vacation from my vacation!

As I pulled back into the yard with my backpack full of groceries, my sister called out, "I thought you were taking a break this week!"

Ha!  I just did! :)

Good day!

Gym-Hopping

I've been spending some time away from my "home gym" these last couple of weeks, with more traveling looming in the future.  So it was such a nice treat to get to workout with Captain Awesome this morning.  Some elliptical work and weights circuit at home kicked off my Monday, and then the HIIT treadmill workout followed by some great heart-pumping compound exercises that kept me huffing and puffing.  What a fantastic way to start the week!

Traveling around to different gyms challenges me to be more independent in my workouts.  I really love working with a trainer because it gives my brain a break.  I spend all day solving problems and figuring out stuff for other people to do, so it's nice to have some time when someone else decides things and I just follow.  When I am on the road, I write out my workouts on that little pad of paper they leave you in hotel rooms so when I get down to the "gym," I am not at a loss for what to do.  It's a great accountability tool, as well, because I save the little cocktail-napkin workouts for future trips and remember what worked and didn't work.

They also make me feel guilty when I am thinking about skipping a workout, which is a nice side-benefit. :)

What do you do when you're away from home base?  Traveling doesn't have to mean letting your health and fitness lapse; it's a great chance to try something new and challenge yourself!

Good day!

Procrastination Station

I had to work out at a hotel gym this week, and as you probably know, hotel gyms are a mixed bag.  In this case, the website described the fitness center as "state of the art."  After visiting it for a workout, I am pretty sure they were referring to preschool art. 

But, I made it work. Warmed up on the elliptical for a while, then moved over to the treadmill for my HIIT workout.  But as I started to jog, my legs weren't into it.

Please don't make us do this again, they begged. 

The treadmill did seem a little rickety and I doubted its ability to handle the pounding of some of the longer sprint intervals.  So I went back to the elliptical.  But then that treadmill totally turned the tables on me.  It began to mock me!  Taunt me!  Act all tough like it had gotten the best of me! You know I wasn't about to let that fly, so I stepped back on.  My legs did one of those heavy sighs that women do when they want you to ask what's wrong so they can tell you it's nothing.

But after a minute or two I went back to the elliptical. This was getting ridiculous.  I knew I wanted that calorie burn but man, that workout is tough!  But, time ticking, I finally sucked it up, stopped procrastinating, and did the damn thing.  The treadmill held up, I finished the intervals, and then walked up 12 flights of stairs back to my room.  Done.  Fine.  Happy now?

When I plugged in my GoWearFit and saw that I had burned 800 calories in the last hour, I was glad I did those intervals!  My workout done, I was free to start procrastinating on other things instead.  :)

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and do it. 

So go do it!

Good day!

Happy Birthday to MEEEEEE!

Today is my birthday - woot - so it's my own personal New Year's Day.  I always make new goals and resolutions on my birthday and consider it a clean-slate kind of day.  And, I always try to get the new year started off right with a positive, challenging, and fun workout.  Today, that meant getting up early for some Sparatacus training, then elliptical and trash TV (today it was, "You're Cut Off," on VH1), and then a GetFitPod high-intensity interval training workout on the treadmill at the gym.  Then my wonderful trainer and I did some back, triceps, hamstrings, and calves, including a really fun hamstring exercise I had never done before, which was a fun way to kick off the new year.

But the coolest part about my bday this year is that I don't really feel like there is anything to clean off the slate.  Life is good right now, and I want to keep all of the scribbles and partially-erased parts and little pictures drawn all over the slate that is my little world, and just take today to reflect on all of it and what may be ahead for me.  So thanks to everyone out there who has made this such a wonderful year!  And to answer everyone's question,   NO, I AM NOT EATING CAKE TODAY! :)

Your Elliptical is Lying to You

Hey, pssst! Come here.  I gotta tell you something.  You know that little screen on your elliptical machine, the one that tells you how many calories you burned?  It's a lie.  It's all a lie! 

I've always known that those little calories-burned estimators on treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, etc. were inaccurate.  Even if you type in your weight and your age and whatnot, it's just an estimate based on a lot of assumptions.  But still, it feels really good to see  "YOU BURNED 450 CALORIES!" on the little screen at the end of a sweaty workout, doesn't it?  Yeah, I like it too. 

It's kind of like getting a sympathy compliment on a really bad haircut.  You know it's not true, but it still feels nice to hear it.

That's why I was kinda bummed out to learn when I plugged in my handy little GoWearFit after a workout that I was only burning half of what I estimated.  I knew I wasn't exactly a furnace, but it was a numbing reality check to see that for the time I put in, the burn was less than thrilling.

So - what I've learned about myself from my GoWearFit this week:  it really does take an hour of hard cardio a day to burn enough calories to maintain my weight.  Sorry folks.

I guess an hour a day keeps the pounds away!  So....what are you doing still reading this?  Get moving! :)

Good day!

Random Thoughts About My Dad

Today is dedicated to my dad, my original exercise and fitness inspiration.  My dad is a runner, and I can still remember hearing him leave the house in the wee hours of the morning to run each day.  Running was just part of what dads did, like going to work or turning off light switches.  It was a given that Dad was running, every day, even on vacation, and even on Christmas morning.  When I would try to buy him a father's day card, I could never find a good one because they all depicted dads lying in laz-y-boys watching TV.  My dad never did that.  We didn't even own a recliner.  We did not recline.  

My dad's runs taught me, albiet silently, about discipline, the value of "me" time, and the joy of having a hobby that was solitary and unifying at the same time.  My dad's ways taught me that it was okay to be who I was.  His seemingly-spartan mostly-vegetarian diet inspired me to think about what I put into my own body, and I proudly baked him loaves of healthy bread as birthday gifts for him, because he truly didn't want anything else.

As a kid, I eventually started to run with my dad, and even though I was really slow and carried an inhaler, he let me come along.  I now realize how many workouts I probably screwed up with my slow pace and frequent pleads to walk the next block. I wasn't a regular running partner by any means, but whenever I was motivated enough to run with him, I felt like I was part of a special club. The first time I ran three miles without stopping, I called my dad. I was in college, living in a dorm four hours away. He reminded me to not run in the dark by myself. Then he congratulated me.

My dad has a collection of t-shirts from races long past, some marathons and some church 5ks, and as a kid I would rummage through his dresser for a race t-shirt to wear so I could be more like him. He doesn't race anymore, but he still has the shirts. I know because I wore one the last time I was home. :)

My dad is a man of few words, so the ones that are directed towards me are valued and treasured. I am a woman of many words, most of which are directed to no one in particular and rarely of the sentimental type.  But today I feel compelled to say, "thank you; I love you," to my dad. 

Thanks Dad for teaching me about the value of self-reliance, discipline, and a daily sweat.

I guess that is just part of what dads do.

This is how to finish a race

It's the weekend, and you know what that means: its a race to the finish between you and your head games.  So, when it's Saturday night and that second (or third or fourth) glass of wine is making it really hard to remember why you decided to stop eating brownies, I want you to think about this video and how you want to start Monday morning.

(hint: that would be without a food hangover)

The good people at Triumph Triathlon (on Twitter @triumphtri) posted it on Twitter this morning and reminded me that Friday is the starting gun on the big race between me and my metabolism.  Thanks guys! I have a plan to make it to Monday, do you?

The Plan: DO THINGS

Last week I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes by Southwest Airlines founder, Herb Kelleher:

"We have a strategic plan. It's called doing things."

And as one of the only airlines out there actually still doing okay (as least in the category of not pissing off all of your customers, which seems to be the strategic plan of other airlines), I think he knows what he is talking about. 

And that quote reminded me of this picture, which I love. 

And THAT reminded ME to remind YOU that while sitting around and thinking about your goals is great as a visualization tool, only getting up and doing things is going to make them happen.

A reminder from me to you: do things today.  Preferably in the direction of having super-hero arms. :)

Good day!

That *&%^ing Box

When I pulled into the gym this morning and saw a different trainer's car instead of Captain Awesome's, I was relieved.  On Monday I told Capt. Awesome that I wanted Wednesdays to be plyometric and agility days, so I can start getting ready for the Ultimate Fitness Challenge in November, and because I am a masochist.  I haaaaate plyometrics.  I really hate jumping.  And you know I hate that damn box.

So when I learned that Jennifer was filling in for him today, I thought I was off the hook.  I like working out with Jennifer because we always do different stuff and she comes up with a lot of compound exercises, which keep my heart rate up and my GoWearFit calculating away on those calories.  So we set up a circuit full of fun little things to do and I got to work.  And then she said, "oh, I forgot to set up your box."

The box.

That 21 inch plyo box is the one solitary thing in the gym that scares me.  I mean like really scared, mental block, go to jump and then freeze scared.  It's one of those things that just gets inside my head and messes with me.  But I want to master it, cause that's how I roll. 

But we set things up in a different way: we kept the box a little low (2 risers and a step) and put a bench behind it so I could squat/tap the bench in between jumps.  It really helped!  I did 8 or so and then moved on.  The next round, she added a riser, and I did 13.  The final round through the circuit, I completed 15 jumps.  Having the bench behind me really helped me not be scared I was going to fall backwards and break my coccyx (which happened to a friend of mine and kept her out of the gym for WEEKS, the agony).  I still really disliked jumping, but I have to admit I didn't hate it.  That was nice.

Okay, so for a lot of you out there jumping on a box is not that big of an accomplishment.  But for me, it felt like I had climbed Mount Everest.  And more importantly, I didn't get out of doing plyometrics today like I thought I had, which means that Ultimate Fitness Challenge training has officially begun.

Over the next few months I will be highlighting some of my favorite ladies of Women's Tri-Fitness, the athletes who inspire me, intimidate me, motivate me, and teach me how to do things that are outside of my workout comfort zone.  I hope you are as inspired and entertained by them as I am!  I look forward to introducing them to you.

Have a healthy day!

Can she do it? YES SHE CAN! But she might not.

Warning: I am going to get all self-righteous-motivational-speaker on you.

Removing the word, "can't," from my vocabulary has been one of the most revealing things I've done for my personal wellness.  It's a cliched motivational-poster-type thing to say, but a really helpful thing to do.  I mean, when you really pay attention to the number of times you say you can't do something, it starts to take a toll on your self-esteem, doesn't it? Some people go through their entire day belittling themselves with reminders of all the things they are unable to do.  That must suck!

They can't eat healthy, they can't exercise, they can't get places on time, they can't do

wah wah wah. 

Yeah, get over it.  I'm busy too.  What they're really saying is, "I won't."  It could be, "I haven't yet," or "I don't want to," or "I didn't," but rarely is, "I can't," a true statement. To be clear, I am referring to things not bound by the laws of physics. :)

I hear it in the gym all the time and it just pisses me off.  Erika can tell you first-hand about when she told me she couldn't run.   How sad it must be to go through every day feeling like a miserable failure!  So I started challenging myself to really stop saying it and be more honest about what I was really saying.  After a while, I started applying that rule to my life outside of the gym, too.  At work, at home, and in relationships with people, I found that when I stopped short of saying I couldn't do something and honestly admitted that I just plain didn't want to, I had not done it yet, or I wasn't going to, I was a lot happier.  Maybe I am imagining things but I think the people I communicate with are happier too. :)

I often hear people say they can't live without sugar, can't wake up earlier to exercise, can't run or jump or whatever, and believe me there have been times when I have believed that about myself.  But I know we can, we just don't want to. And that's okay as long as we realize that some of our goals will not be fully realized until we do. 

Listen to yourself over the next few days.  How often do you catch yourself saying you can't?  What are you really saying?

Attn: New Mothers! Breastfeeding is no longer necessary!

New baby at home? Congratulations!

Be sure you stock up on plenty of soda! Thanks to my hilarious friend Christy for this little dose of fear-mongering. I always wondered why I never seemed to fit in at school.  Now I know the truth.  Thanks for nothing, mom!

Have a healthy (non-cola) day!

Sweat-a-thon!

I have this running route that I like to do on Saturdays.  It is five miles, really hilly, and kicks my butt every time. Plus, its reallllly humid these days so its really just a miserable run. But I do it anyway because I like being miserable.

But one thing I do when I am not able to complete a run is to switch to intervals: run all-out for a sprint, then walk or jog.  Sprint/walk/sprint/walk all the way home.  I did this last weekend, partly for the increased cardio and partly to get rid of a bee that was intent on following me home. Let me tell you, that was one determined bee.

As I randomly intervaled my way home I thought about all of those Couch to 5k podcasts out there and wondered if there was one for intervals.  Well of course there was!  I downloaded this high-intensity interval training podcast for the treadmill by Skip Orem at GetFitPod (okay my husband did it for me because I couldn't figure it out) and tried it out this morning.

It was great!  It was HARD!  Because I hate surprises, I listened to it on the way to the gym so I wouldn't waste my cardio time learning the workout, but it's pretty simple: run when he tells you to run, walk when he tells you to walk.  You choose the intensity, but Skip is great at challenging you to be honest about whether you are really working hard enough.  I mean, HIIT is called high-intensity for a reason!  You gotta be dead at the end!

He also has a podcast for running outside, as well as a bunch of others I haven't checked out yet.  Give it a shot!  I will definitely do it on a regular basis, and since it has plenty of room for growth, its something that can stay in my little toolbox for a long time.  Learn more about high-intensity interval training here and give it a shot when you find yourself in the middle of a run that needs a little spice.

Have a healthy day and a great weekend!

The Leftovers Mom

I read once that a major contributor to the weight that women gain (or haven't lost) after having kids is due to eating food off of their kids' plates, and I believe it.  I am a victim of it myself!  After reading The Fat Loss Troubleshoot and getting a black and white reminder that I need to weigh, not just measure but WEIGH IN GRAMS, my food to get an accurate picture of calories in versus calories out, I am realizing just how much of a habit this has become for me.

My kid eats healthy food.  I mean, its not like his leftovers are Cocoa Krispies and chicken nuggets.  But, as I've said before, even healthy food has calories.  Even tomatoes have to be burned into fuel and that means they have calories. I keep a food journal, but do you think I write down those blueberries I tossed in my mouth before putting some on his plate?  What's a few blueberries, right? And that spoonful of his oatmeal to make sure it isn't too hot? Pshaw!  Scooping up his uneaten broccoli at dinner to prove a point about how they are sooooo goooood that I just want to eat it allllll day long...well, veggies are "free," right?

Not right.

The more I read about people whose fat loss is sabotaged by these seemingly harmless nibbles, the more I started to do the math in my head and realized that I am likely eating on average 300-500 more calories in an entire day than I realize.  Uh oh. Damn it!

So I pulled that digital kitchen scale out of the cabinet and got to work.  I usually only weigh meat and cheese because they are more calorie dense than fruits and vegetables, and figure I don't need to worry about produce as much.  I was very relieved to find that for the most part, my guesstimated portions were right on the money or close to it, and now that I have nixed the kiddo-plate-nibbles, my actual consumption and my http://www.fitday.com/ profile are a little more in agreement.

But to be sure, I went a little overboard with the ziplocks this week and measured every single morsel. To the gram.  It's always good to get a refresher on reality.

And in the meantime, I am making smaller portions for my picky prince.  Hey, no sense in all that good food going to waist.

Good day! :)

The Fat Troubleshoot: A Review

So last week, still on a high from ordering my GoWear Fit (which is on my arm calculating away as I type!), I bought and downloaded an e-book called The Fat LossTroubleshoot, written by a trainer named Leigh Peele, who also wrote the detailed review of the GoWear Fit that ultimately convinced me to buy it. 

Now, let me confess something: I made a New Year's resolution this year to stop wasting my money on gadgety fitness doohickeys.  I've bought (and lost or broken) more heart-rate monitor watches, pedometers, fancy water bottles, diet and nutrition books, kitchen appliances, and Lord knows what else over the years in the name of making my life easier.  And I think I made pretty good progress making it all the way to June before I bought two new fitnessy things at once. :)  So yay me. 

I read the entire book over the weekend, making copius notes in the margins, and I think it was a good use of $40.  In its 150 pages, Peele debunks a lot of myths related to nutrition for fat loss and sheds some light on a few realities that none of us really want to face, like the truth about how many calories we actually burn and how many we actually eat.  And, I was very glad to spend $40 to find out that for about 95% of my training and nutrition, I am doing everything pretty darn close to perfect.  Another yay for me!  As for that other 5%, now that I know about them AND have my GoWear Fit, well I am pretty much unstoppable! I can do anything! Maybe I should call BP and offer my assistance.

The book is really helpful, with some great formulas and calculators designed to explain the incredibly complex human body (well, the part related to metabolism anyhow) in an easy-to-understand and readable format. Considering I really didn't care for the online persona of the writer going in (because I tend to not like people who are like me and plus the homepage of her website made me think that maybe I shouldn't be looking at it on my work computer), that is some pretty high praise!  I really liked the book and came away feeling thankful to her for writing it.  I would gladly give her some more money to tell me some more stuff.

Check it out - I'll be sharing some of her insights and my experiences with them here as they are relevant. 

Good day!

Stalking the UPS Man

I am so so so so so so so SOOOOOOO excited!  My GoWear Fit is arriving today, which I know because my minute-by-minute tracking of the package on Amazon.com tells me that as of 5:29 am today, it is on the truck and scheduled for delivery.  I can't believe I didn't take the day off so I could play with it right away. 

OMG I AM SO EXCITED!

GoWear Fit is a nifty little gadget that monitors (within some relative range of error of course, which I will ultimately ignore) all of your body's functions throughout the day.  Well, all the ones that I wonder about anyway.  So throughout the course of a day, it will measure your approximate calorie burn, changes in heart rate, and even your sleep patterns. At the end of the day, you can plug it into your computer and upload the data to determine your overall calorie burn throughout the day and whether you need more or less activity, how to better time your nutrition, and if your sleep quality is adequate for your goals.  I've been skeptically researching its value and accuracy since I first learned of it back in December, but after reading enough reviews and convincing myself that I deserve something pretty, I decided that the GoWear Fit will be the perfect addition to my obsessive-compulsive lifestyle. 

I've already informed my husband that I am going to be out of pocket for a while as I charge it up, install the software, and figure out how it works exactly, which ironically, I will need my husband to "help" me do (read: do for me as I impatiently stand by).  But it's okay, I think he is ready for a break from listening to me go on and on about how excited I am about it and updating him on the progress of the UPS man as he brings my little darling closer to me. I wonder if I could call the UPS man and ask what time he is going to be at my house.  Would that be creepy?  

Anyway, for all of you know-me-in-real-life types who are asking, "Heather, isn't this the LAST thing that a neurotic, fitness-obsessed, control-freaky data-analyzing over-achiever (not that there's anything wrong with that) like you needs?  Won't it just make you even crazier? Won't this just send you over the edge into a pit of potentially-flawed information that will ultimately drive you insane?"

I thought about that. And, it is a risk I am willing to take in the name of science.

Be sure to get your hopes up!

A little pre-weekend finger-wagging

Warning - I'm gonna get all preachy on you for a minute. 

Today its about commercials for food that feature people who can't believe that the item is healthy (it usually isn't) because it actually tastes good. 

"It CAN'T be healthy!  It tastes too good!" 

The one that got my goat this week was a woman eating cereal who was just amazed that the cereal was filled with fiber and nutrients (it's actually not) because all she could taste was honey and brown sugar!  And it reminded me about how fixated we are on how our food tastes, and how we feel entitled to food that tastes good when really we're only entitled to food.

A few years ago, I attended a lunchtime roundtable meeting featuring the incredible Laurel Blackburn, a trainer and business woman who not only inspires me as an athlete but also as a hard-working woman of integrity.

She's awesome. 

Anyway, she mentioned the concept of eating for performance, and it stuck with me.  I loved that idea - eating for function, eating purposefully, actually considering the physiological needs of your body before fueling it to get the most bang for your calorie bucks.  Since that day I can honestly say that functional eating has been a personal priority of mine.  Thanks Laurel for opening my eyes!

Anyway, since I started eating functionally, I started letting go of any expectation I had of food to be anything other than functional.  I no longer needed my food to taste good, it just needed to work.  That didn't happen over night, but gradually I began to appreciate food for its purpose and function, not whether it was something I was craving or felt entitled to.  There are so many ways that this has impacted my personal life that I can't go into them here.  You'll have to buy my book for that. :) 

But there is one thing that really stands out - entitlement.  I see such a feeling of entitlement among my peers concerning food. Seeing that cereal commercial made me wonder: do we even deserve food that tastes good?  I argue no.

You deserve access to food that will nourish your body, period.  You deserve to be loved, cared for, and safe.  You deserve to share a private joke with a friend that no one else gets.  You deserve to go through your day freely and enjoy the world around you, unless you have been convicted of a felony in which case you do not deserve that specific part.  But you don't deserve food that tastes good.  You just deserve food.

I know not many others share this opinion, and I'm not so bold as to say I never eat things just because they taste good or that I exist on some higher intellectual plane where I am immune to the delicious aroma of BBQ.  The food I eat does taste good to me, and I love creating and finding recipes that are highly nutritious and tasty.  But, I am really happy that I have gotten to a point where that is secondary to the function of the food specific to the requirements of my body.  So when I see people eating food and going on and on about how good it tastes, I feel sad.

I just needed to say that.

I Didn't Fall on My Face Today. Score!

I didn't fall down today.  That is an accomplishment!  Granted, its only 8:45 am so I have a ways to go. But as a klutz supreme, I'm just excited to be wearing a skirt sans bruised shins from some exercise-related calamity.

I have a little bit of a history of falling down and being otherwise clumsy in the gym, to the point that whenever someone else falls or kicks something over, it's called, "pulling a Heather."  Seriously, you accidentally hook a step mid-jump and send risers flying all over the gym and suddenly that's all anyone can remember.

Well, today was all about balance in my workout.  Captain Awesome had me doing all kinds of stuff on the Bosu ball, single-leg dead lifts, funky squats and lunges and toe-touches and whatnot, and I was pretty excited to learn that my balance has increased tremendously over the past year or so!  My agility and balance used to be very poor, and today I completed everything with ease.  It was a good feeling and confirmed that I am ready for something more challenging.  Like levitation.

Balance training is not only fun because you get to use nifty stuff like Bosu balls, wobble boards, bands, and big bouncy exercise balls, but its great exercise for those days when you want to work out and be active but you're a little bit pooped and not really in the right mindset for anything aggressive.  Check out this site for more information on the role of balance in fitness, and find out for yourself.

Good day

Thanks for the Jam! Or is This Jelly?

You know, there is something a little bit wrong and probably uniquely Southern about finishing up a workout and then heading to a locker room where everyone lines up to get their jar of homemade jam and then discusses the differences between jelly and jam and which is their favorite variety.

At lunchtime, I work out at a church recreation center that attracts a demographic different from any gym crowd I have ever seen. A group of men I endearingly refer to as the First Baptist Church Men's Knitting Circle and Weightlifting Club discuss shepherd's pie recipes while exercising, the women in the locker room debate the true end of deer hunting season, and Sharon's Short Stop Cafe is located next to the reception desk, selling fried pork chops, cheese grits, and other sundry snacks for the post-workout refueling.  I am totally serious.

And you know, I work out with these people almost every day, and even though I rarely utter more than, "have a good afternoon," when I am on my way out, I have come to love them.  They work hard, they huff and puff to stay healthy and fit, and I am pretty sure that if I ever find myself with a mess of catfish, they would be able to tell me who can clean it for me and how to fry it up.  But something tells me the real reason they workout so hard is so they can eat cobbler and fried pork chops and biscuits with jelly (or jam, depending on their preference) without too much heartburn over the impact on their girlish figures.  I admire that about them.  They have great attitudes and a lot of fun, and while I enjoy living squarely within my militant perspective about eating for function, I can appreciate the thrill of rebellion through cheese grits. 

I never did find out the difference between jelly and jam, except that jam "sticks to the bread better."  Unfortunately, it also sticks to me. :)

Good day!

My Snack Can Beat Up Your Snack

Everywhere I go, people wanna know...

what I'm eating, so I tell 'em....

People always want to know what I am eating, so I am telling you one meal at a time.  Last time it was my yogurt/blueberry/museli afternoon snack, which got so many great review and recipe requests I was floored.  I honestly did not know that many people read this blog. 

Today, it is my morning snack, and this one is pretty easy: fruit and almonds.  My old stand-by.  I eat this all the time, and its great in a pinch.  It is also pretty portable, which is a plus for me. 

There are only two "rules":

1. stick to berries as much as possible (I personally find that apples and pears make me retain water, and melon is a high-glycemic food that I don't have much use for).  I also include peaches and kiwi when I can because I like 'em.

2. eat only whole, natural almonds.  Not roasted.  Not salted.  Not covered in chocolate.  Just plain old boring dry almonds.

Eating clean and healthy doesn't have to be complicated, folks.  In fact, eating from the earth is the most un-complicated thing I do each day. When you follow the basic guidelines of eating fresh veggies, fruit, and lean protein for your meals, it is really, really, really hard to screw up.

Good day!