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!

My 3.5 Pack Abs

Lately I've been doing a little fitness challenge each month, mostly just for myself but also anyone else who wants to play along.

• In February I worked on incorporating more moderation in my diet and workouts (and immediately went back to my rigid structure as soon as I could because I was so miserable).


• In March I challenged myself to beat my 85% success rate at earning stickers each day for good nutritional choices (smiley face sticker) and solid workouts (star sticker) for the month, and ended up with a 5% increase! Yay me! High five!

The purpose of the challenges is simple: find a creative and fresh way to keep personal wellness at the top of my mind and tackle a specific hurdle that I am dealing with. Since my attention span is pretty short, I keep the challenges short, and it is really rewarding to hear my friends talking about their own progress in the challenges, whatever spin they choose to put on it to suit their personal goals.

So last month I launched Operation Muffin Top, because when I pulled my summer clothes out of hiding...well...they didn't fit as well as they did last year. So I took a good look at my portion sizes, had a little come-to-Jesus meeting with myself, and tackled the problem head-on: a solid month of really cranking out the cardio and keeping those portions in check. After all, even healthy calories are calories!

After a couple of weeks my hard work began to show. And, to my complete shock and awe, so did my abs. Now let me get one thing straight - we all know people who won the genetic lottery and have slim, flat, muscular abs despite the fact that they regularly eat peanut butter straight out of the jar while frosting a cake, which they then eat. In this instance am referring specifically to my brother's former girlfriend. And then there are women who work their tails off by eating clean and sweating out their body weight every day to bring out their core muscles, and their discipline shows. I am neither. I have never, ever, ever, despite years of Pilates, hours of Abs of Steel, Richard Simmons-esque cardio marathons, and monk-like nutrition, had great abs. I just don't. It sucks and its not fair but it's true.

Or at least, it was true. One day last month, I saw something strange. It looked like...could it be? No! But there it was - the very first beginnings of my very first six-pack. More of a three-and-a-half pack. Hell, I'll take it!

I was stumped, and more than a little humbled. You see, while I had been cranking out the cardio and being religious about my nutrition and portions, I had also been doing something else: resting. On purpose, not doctor-mandated rest like I'm more accustomed to. I've been taking Thursdays off of exercise, going to bed earlier, and even sleeping later some mornings. Yeah, it's meant that I don't have as much time to watch TV or interact with other humans, but it's how I roll right now. And apparently, I'm rolling in the right direction.

So for May, I have a new challenge - do not make eye contact with any of the good work I did in April. Now that I've noticed this nice little development, I'm having to restrain myself from my usual modus operandi of poking at it with a stick until it bites me.

It's funny how life reveals these little lessons when you least expect them, but then "forgets" to include the instruction manual. I'm not quite sure what to do with this small victory over myself, and I don't want to screw it up.

Something tells me the best way to do that is to sleep on it.

Fat and Happy

"fat and happy"
Fig.: content, as if from being well-fed.

"Since all the employees were fat and happy, there was little incentive to improve productivity."

Fat and happy: its a phrase used to describe a satisfied, contented person with no desire to change their ways. When I hear someone say it, I picture a man reclining in an easy chair, smiling and rubbing his stomach after a big meal of meat and potatoes, happy as a clam. But, in reality, its commonly accepted knowledge that the opposite is true, that being thin is the only route to happiness, so millions go on a personal quest to find happiness through a smaller waistline.


And they come up short.

The tagline of this article, "'Skinny dream' burst by weight loss realities," got my attention because it zeroed in on something that we all fall victim to - the "if only" train of thought. If only I was thinner, then I'd get that job. If only I lost some weight, then I'd have the confidence to try this or that. And for good reason - studies show that people who are overweight are more commonly discriminated against in job interviews or assumed to be of lower intelligence or competency. With the huge emphasis on body image placed by today's world, it is easy to see why weight loss seems like the only thing standing between us and instant success.

At first I was annoyed by the first woman featured in the article. She had undergone bariatric surgery to help her lose over 150 lbs, and expected her life's circumstances to change along with her body. But to her dismay, she still had the same problems at 140 lbs as she did at over 300, and she was pretty bitter about it at first. And I thought, well, duh. Losing weight doesn't make your life better, it makes your body better. Having a healthier body will enhance parts of your life, but it won't magically make your husband take out the trash or your mother-in-law stop being a bitch. (Note: I should point out here that my mother-in-law is a wonderful person and my husband regularly takes out the trash. I am just trying to make a point, calm down.)

There was a long period of time when I worked my tail off at the gym and methodically counted every calorie with absolutely nothing to show for it. I didn't lose a pound. It was incredibly frustrating, and I spent a lot of time being bitter and resentful about it. But I never stopped working out; not only do I truly love to exercise, I knew that the way I was living was smart, and that even if my healthy habits didn't show in my waistline, my heart, lungs, bones, and joints felt the difference.

An attractive body is a side benefit of being active and eating well; it shouldn't be the prize. I can say that as someone who is petite and muscular, but not a knock-out with ripped abs and muscles like people expect after the workouts I put in. My body doesn't reflect the work I put into it, and at 25% my body fat is nowhere near what it should be for my level of activity. While there are some days when I throw an all-out pity-party temper tantrum about that fact, usually when I'm trying to button something that fit fine last year and dammit why the hell do I run every freaking day if not to fit into these jeans, I've somehow come to accept that even if I never lost another ounce of body fat I would never stop exercising or eating clean because I believe in the bigger picture of healthy living.

By the time I reached the end of the article, I felt slightly less annoyed. The women featured had the same realization I had - losing weight is a wonderful thing for your health, but it doesn't change who you are. You still have to deal with stupid crap, you just do it in smaller clothes.

Yes, I am much, much happier now than when I was overweight, and some of that has to do with the fact that I am not fat. Call me shallow, whatever. My point here is to ask you to keep your eye on the real prize - a healthy body that will carry you through life - not someone else's temporary promise that skinny = happy.

I mean, just look at Lindsay Lohan. That girl's a mess.