5 Small Steps to a Healthier You

You do not have to make a life change to become a healthier person. Taking small steps is always a good way to go. I have some great tips on small steps you can take towards a healthy lifestyle.

1) Whole wheat pasta--Have you been hearing lately that whole wheat is the way to go?  It is the better option when it comes to pasta. Why? Let's talk about Rotini for a moment. Rotini and Whole wheat rotini both have 210 calories per 3/4 cup dry serving. They both offer 7 grams of protein and have 2 grams of sugar. But whole wheat rotini offers 5 grams of fiber versus the 2 grams of regular rotini. Whole wheat rotini also has no sodium in it. That's a big plus seeing as we consume way too much sodium! Small step tip:If you don't particularly like the taste of whole wheat pasta, you can mix regular pasta with whole wheat. Go half/half and slowly add more whole wheat each time you make pasta.

2) Spaghetti Squash--Like spaghetti but don't want all the calories that go with it? Need some extra nutrients in your dinner? Spaghetti squash has the look and consistency of spaghetti noodles but is so much healthier! It also doesn't really have a taste so it will taste like whatever delicious sauce you add to it. Small step tip: Just boil up a whole spaghetti squash. Open it up, de-seed it and use a fork to "spaghetti" the squash. 

3)Water, water, water--You've heard it time and time again. Drink lots and lots of water. It really does benefit you! I personally don't drink coffee or soda so it isn't hard to choose water over other drinks. What is hard is getting enough water in.  The more sodium we take in, the more water we retain. The more water we drink, the more toxins/sodium we flush out of our system. Small step tip: Try to drink 10 glasses of water a day. Why 10? 10 glasses is roughly 80 oz of water. Drinking 10 glasses will make sure you are getting enough water and keeping hydrated. Your body will thank you!

4)Vegetables--Vegetables these days are becoming less important, especially with all the easily accessible processed food. We don't have time to cook, so we grab something on the go. One week I noticed I ate hardly any vegetables. All my meals were a yellowy/orange color. They weren't rainbow colored like you are supposed to have in your meals (you know, like green salads and orange carrots and red bell peppers, etc). Vegetables are micro-nutrients. They offer vitamins that your body needs. We can't overlook vegetables! Small step tip: Add at least one vegetable to every meal (I don't just mean corn or potatoes, those are a starch. I mean broccoli or bell peppers or green beans, FRESH not canned). If you have a hard time eating things like broccoli I see nothing wrong with putting some cheese on them if you have to. You will at least be getting those nutrients in from the fresh veggies.

5)Walking-- Exercise is good for the soul. And the body too.  You don't have to do an intense program like P90x or Insanity to get your body in better shape. Walking can do wonders. You can benefit from the fresh air, from your heart rate increasing. I know someone who lost 20 pounds just from walking. It doesn't take much effort and it can make you feel so good! Small step tip: Start by walking for 5 minutes a day. Getting your mail? Take a 5 minute trip to do it. Bringing in the groceries? Bring in one bag at a time to get those 5 minutes in. Gradually increase your time to 30 minutes a day if you can.

There is always more we can do to be healthier. Its is okay to take baby steps.

-Kate

Losing Weight Motivates...or does it?

*****Disclaimer: I have posted a picture of me at the bottom of this post to show how I have improved over the last few months. If you don't want to see me 'half' naked then don't scroll to the bottom of the post.*****

The end of the month is such a drag for me. That is when we run out of money for groceries. I haven't been eating the best lately. I have been eating out of the food storage pantry. That means tuna casseroles, spaghetti, meals containing "cream of" soups... Must I go on? I need to plan our money out better to make it go the whole month. For that matter I should probably plan out a whole month worth of meals. We would totally have veggies right now if I didn't splurge on foods earlier this month. Next month I will focus on how you can eat healthy without breaking the bank. I wasn't a good example of it this month but it can be done!

I wanted to talk to you about weight loss. The world is under the impression that the number of pounds you weigh is what is important rather than your measurements. I disagree. Even at my skinniest (well skinniest as an adult, not a teen) I was "overweight". At my height I am supposedly at a healthy weight between 105 and 125 pounds. I was 135 before having kids and I didn't look fat. I am an hourglass shape. I am a Marilyn Monroe. I have a naturally bigger bust and a tiny waist. Well I did. When I stand on the scale I feel like a heffer, especially if I have been working out hard and eating healthy and haven't lost any weight. But when I measure myself and see that my body has slimmed down by inches then I feel pretty good.

That being said, losing weight does feel really good. I do both. I weigh myself and measure because I do want to see a difference in my body. Losing weight motivates. When I see that I have lost 5 pounds I feel motivated to continue on. When I see I have lost an inch in my waist but see no change on the scale I do feel like "man, but I wish I could lose more weight". Dang society! It did that to us. It makes us think the scale still matters a whole lot. I am trying to get myself to think more on the line of just measuring rather than weighing but it is so hard.

When I started this blog I was 154 pounds and I have no idea what my measurements were. In January I weighed 157 and started to measure myself. I am currently 145 pounds. I have lost 12 pounds! That is very motivating to me. Now let me tell you about measurements. I measure my chest, waist, hips, arms, and thighs. I measure my arms when flexed because I am trying to build muscle in them and want to see bigger measurements there.  I will share with you my measurements from January in the bust, waist and hips versus what I am now. Then we'll talk a little more.
January 14th, 2013
Weight 157.8
Chest 37"
Waist 32.5"
Hips 42"

May 3rd, 2013
Weight 145.8
Chest 35.5"
Waist 28.5"
Hips 39"

So what does this mean? I have lost 12 pounds. I am slimmer in my chest by 1.5 inches. My waist is 4 inches smaller than it was in January. My butt is smaller by 3 inches. That is pretty awesome.  When I look in the mirror I can see it. When I looked at the pictures I took today I don't see it so much. But I am looking at all my flaws, not at my improvement. Society tells me that I should look like this:

and not like this:

The above picture I found under plus-size models. That is sick! This woman looks great but she is a plus-size model. I know maybe I am going all over the place. The point I want to make is that we are taught by the world that we should look a certain way. Thin and pretty. Well I am 5'1". I will never look like bikini girl up there. I feel like I look like plus size model over here and there is nothing wrong with that. She looks great. The world telling her that she is a plus-size model is messed up.

Try not to focus on the number on the scale. That is my goal this month. Focus on the measurements. Focus on feeling good. Focus on feeding your body good and healthy foods.  It's not about the numbers. It's about being healthy.

And now here is how I am looking these days:

I guess none of these skinny women who wear bikinis have a scar from their appendectomy either! I rock that scar!

3rd Day of Detox and ready for real food!

One thing about detoxing is you can't starve yourself. You need to "eat" (or drink your juices). Detoxing mean you are getting the toxins out of your body. You don't really do that by not eating. I was lazy with my detox and didn't plan out all my meals so I was really hungry day 2 and 3 of my detox. Being really hungry also helps you go off track and tempts you to eat naughty food. I ate some of my kids' cinnamon toast because I was so hungry. I should have had more juices and veggies and fruits. Naughty Kate!

But it is ok. It is. I am recognizing where I went wrong and I am changing myself. I am not giving up because I had a set back. Today I am eating raw foods (this means I am not heating or cooking the food. It doesn't mean it is just veggies or doesn't have flavor). This morning I made raw nut granola. If enough of you are interested I will post the recipe. It is the same recipe I had the last detox I did.

For lunch I was lazy. I made a quick raw guacamole (haha isn't it always raw?) and ate it with not so raw Triscit type crackers from my natural grocery store. It satisfied me.  I have to remember that I am training for a half marathon and I do need carbs in order to run longer distances. 

Detox time again...

I have had a set back. My husband's mom and nephew just came to visit and I did not eat very healthy. My body was upset with me for eating so many carbs and so much fat.  How dare I do that! I did feel weighed down by the highly processed foods I was eating. I also have been feeling bloated and fat and just yucky! It is amazing what bad food can do to you.  It is also amazing how fast you can get addicted to bad food. Once I started I couldn't stop. I wanted to. I wanted to detox my body but I just kept eating pizza and all you can eat Chinese buffet and all that.  Blah! That's how I feel. So it was time to detox again and rid my body of the toxins I put in it last week.

I started my detox yesterday. I drank loads of water and some Naked and Bolthouse juices. I really need a juicer. You are all welcome to donate one to me if you want! Drinking store juice is not the best because there is always so much sugar in it (even if it is natural from the fruit).  If you juice for yourself, a) you know exactly what is going in and b) you can add a ton more vegetables and just a little fruit. Anyway, I ate an apple. I had some watermelon. I ate cauliflower and broccoli and carrots. But mostly I drank these juices. The juices I had were the Bolthouse Green juice and the Naked Mango one. Oh how my body rebelled against me. I wanted all the food I saw. I wanted to eat donuts and cake and things I usually don't even think about.  I wasn't hungry, but I was food lust hungry. Do you know what I mean? My body was fine nourishment wise but I craved food--the fatty and sugary food. My body was going through withdrawals!

I also walked 5.5 miles yesterday with my sister-in-law. It felt good to get my body moving. My legs are sure tired today! I did my running for my half marathon this morning and now I think I need to rest my legs. Blogging and catching up on some shows are a great excuse to put my legs up.

I am doing better with my detox today. I made a smoothie this morning. It had frozen berries in it, water, a banana, some of the green juice and the mango juice, kale, and spinach in it. It was good and it was filling. Today my plan is to continue to drink tons of water and to keep drinking the juices. I will also eat raw fruits and vegetables.  I have apples, bell peppers, spinach, parsley, and cilantro so I may have a salad for lunch but without a dressing on top.

I also have some carrot juice in the fridge but I think it is nasty! I may make another smoothie later with avocado so I might add some carrot juice to that. I feel good. Detoxing my body and eating whole foods makes me feel so much better. I feel energized and healthy. I will continue to share this week's detox with you. Later this week I will make some more raw meals. I will post pics along with recipes.

Man, Olive Garden sounds so good right now! Hahaha. Mind over stomach!

My 3rd 5k

Last Saturday I ran my third 5k. The town I live in had a free 5k so how could I pass it up? I should actually start by letting you all know that I am going to run a half marathon this summer. There. It is official and I can't back out now! I found a training program that starts off running at 3 mile increments.  So I needed to train up to running 3 miles at a time. I went back to the program I used for my first 5k. It is a four week program that gets you up to running 3.1 miles (or a 5k). It just so happened that I found a free organized 5k to run just a few minutes away.

Let's back track to my first 5k. I ran my first 5k last October here is Texas with my husband. This is the training program that I used to get ready for the 5k. I ran the 5k in 33:38 minutes.  In my practice run I ran it in 36 minutes so I was really proud that I ran it faster than I practiced. I felt good about it.

My second 5k was in Utah. We were visiting for Thanksgiving. I ran this 5k with my husband, sister in law and brother in law.  When I say I "ran" it with my in-laws in means we were all in the race. We didn't run together. I am a lot slower than them! My husband always stays with me even though he is faster. I really appreciate that. It was a lot colder in Utah than in Texas. It was pretty cold. I also had strep throat. And I should also mention that I could feel the difference in altitude. It is harder to breathe up so high.  I ran that 5k in 34:34. So about a minute slower than my first 5k. You know what though? I am proud of getting that time seeing as I had strep throat and was not feeling the greatest. To me that is an achievement, running a 5k.

And now back to my 3rd 5k. I am most proud of this one. I ran with my husband. My brother and his wife also ran the race. And a friend of mine ran with her daughter. It was so fun. I felt most prepared for this race because I have been working out pretty consistently since January. Like I mentioned before I went by that 4 week program I did for my first 5k to prepare for this one. I modified it to fit my schedule though. I was doing my runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  I ran this last 5k in 31:47. My best yet! I would love to get my 5k under 30 minutes. I am sure I will be able to. I am proud of the 31:47 though, I really am. It feels good to beat my other race times. It also feels good that I am not continually getting worse.

When I think about it, a half marathon is 4 times a 5k. 4 times!! I am not ready for a half marathon at this point.  But I will be come July. I am excited. I am excited to get my body in running shape. And I look forward to running 13.1 miles and doing it for myself. It will be a great accomplishment!

What I've Been Eating and the Way I Feel

Since I started eating really clean and healthy I have been feeling really good.  I feel like I have more energy. I feel better about myself. It is also easier to make healthy food decisions. I see the naughty food and I don't want it.  I haven't eaten a lot of meat or a lot of grains. It has been mainly fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts. I made a pizza with a cauliflower crust. It did have some cheese in it. The next morning I felt awful! I know it was the cheese. I went the rest of the day without eating any processed food and I felt much better. It made me less likely to want any processed food back in my system. I have slowly added meat and grains back into my diet. I have been taking pictures of my meals and I wanted to share them with you:

This is my dinner on Saturday.  I cooked up some wild rice. In the oven I baked salmon, onion, and cherry tomatoes.  I added some spinach and sprouts to the dish, as well as yellow tomatoes.  I put just a little bit of feta cheese on top. I seasoned the salmon with lemon juice before cooking it.  And the onions and cherry tomatoes were seasoned with balsamic vinegar.  The dish was very filling and flavorful. I have not been adding any salt to my food.

This is a Chocolate Mousse with Vanilla Creme parfait that I made from a raw food cookbook.  It was so good! The mousse is made with avocado, dates, maple syrup, and 100% cocoa.  The vanilla creme was made with cashews, water, and vanilla.  The strawberries are a must with this parfait! It was delish.  I do need to say that it is not a low-calorie treat. But it is healthy.  A healthy treat. I think it is ok to indulge yourself, to have a dessert now and again.  The chocolate mousse and creme topping offer healthy fats and protein. The strawberries are a good source of fiber. 

Sunday morning again there was something that didn't agree with my stomach. Maybe it was the feta cheese. Maybe it was the salmon. I don't know. Maybe it was the rice. 

This was my dinner on Sunday.  We had wild rice left over from Saturday. I cooked chicken and onions in the crockpot with a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  I added sprouts and yellow tomatoes to the dish and some pine nuts. It was good. I was nervous about eating the chicken. But I only had a little on my plate.

I felt good this morning so I think I did ok putting the chicken in my body.  I plan on eating meat. Like I've said before I am not going vegan or vegetarian. But I am not going to eat meat everyday either. I have been reading Bob Harper's book "The Skinny Rules". He talks about his path of being a vegan and then becoming a "reluctant omnivore".  He mentioned that our bodies do benefit from animal proteins. Just not everyday. He also talked about eating whole grains and not eating carbs after lunch. I have heard my mom say that as well.  A lot of times we think of eating salads for lunch and rice or other grains for dinner.  I am going to start eating more salads at dinner and carbs for lunch.

This was my lunch today. Whole grain rotini cooked al dente. Yellow tomatoes. Sauteed onions and zucchini. And pine nuts. It was ok. Not enough flavor but I was a bit lazy.

I also have been drinking a lot of water. We need to stay hydrated! Sometimes I feel like I have to constantly pee. Sometimes I need to remind myself to drink more.

I think tonight's dinner will be a salad with tuna.  Yum!

A Much Needed Update

I know it has been too long since my last post.  I am pretty disappointed in myself.  The whole reason I started blogging about my fitness is because I wanted there to be a blog where someone wrote the good and the bad days. A blog where someone wrote about the set backs. Well when I started having set backs I didn't want to blog about them hahaha. What a hypocrite! Well I'm back and I'm better than ever.

A lot has changed since the end of January. I must tell you that I am no longer doing P90x. It is a great program, don't get me wrong. But it is very time consuming. Each workout is at least an hour long. My husband was too busy with school to keep doing it with me and it was hard to motivate myself to do it alone. In week 5 of P90x things started going downhill.  We got sick. Week 6 we had people visiting. Thing after thing, reason after reason came up and our P90x workouts kind of fizzled out.

It is ok though. I have been re-evaluating my eating habits and workout habits. I was starting to get fit on P90x when we were really doing the program. But I never lost weight. Right now that is most bothersome to me.. the extra weight I am carrying around. I don't like seeing it. I don't like feeling it.  I want it gone! I have always heard it is 80% diet and 20% working out.  I needed to change the way I was eating if I wanted to loose the weight. No more mint oreos (which are my FAVORITE!! But let's be honest here. Every time I ate them I got a stomach ache. So if they were causing me stomach problems every time I ate them, they couldn't be good, could they?) No more deserts every night, or even every week. But it is so hard to make a healthy change. I needed a kick in the pants to do it.

My family started a health challenge at the beginning of this year. My brother and sister-in-law have lost a lot of weight since January. They are doing great! They inspire me so much. And also make me really jealous because even though I was working out I didn't feel like much was happening. I wasn't loosing weight. I wasn't eating great. I wasn't feeling great. I was jealous that they were doing so well and I wasn't.

So what made me change? Because I have changed. It wasn't my mom (who IS an inspiration to me) telling me I should eat this and that and not eat this and that. It wasn't my brother and his wife who are eating and exercising and losing weight and getting healthy. In part it was myself. Waking up one day and kicking myself in the pants. And in part it was a few documentaries I came across on Netflix: Hungry For Change and Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.  I won't go into detail about them right now. If you get a chance, watch them for yourself.  They opened my eyes. And I decided to  make a change. Not just go on a diet. But to make a lifestyle change in the way I view and eat food.

I am not becoming a vegan or a vegetarian. I am not going 100% raw. I am simply taking processed food out of my diet. I am not eating foods that have chemicals in them (you would be surprised how many foods are filled with chemicals). I am not eating foods with added sugar (like foods that don't even need sugar but have it in them....). Well.. I am just trying to eat whole foods and fruits and vegetables. 

I decided to start off my healthy eating change with a detox. I needed to get rid of the toxins in my body and also get rid of the cravings I was having to sweet things.  I wish I had a juicer. Watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead made me want one. Alas, I don't have one nor do I have the money to buy one. That made my detox a little tricky. I wanted to do part juice part fruits and veggies for my detox, but how could I juice without a juicer? At the store I found a juice brand called Naked. They had a few juices that had only fruits and veggies in them--no added sugar and no preservatives or chemicals.  The only down side is they had more fruits in them than I would have liked.  It was better than nothing though, and better than starving myself. I didn't want to starve myself. I just wanted to get the junk out of my body.

I did 3 days of juice/fruits and vegetables.  I drank tons of water. I had a cooked sweet potato. I made a yummy salad from detoxifying veggies such as cucumber, parsley, cilantro, spinach.  I ate apples, cantaloupe. I was satisfied by what I was eating. The first day was hard. I felt "hungry". I wasn't really hungry. I wanted naughty food. I wanted sugar. I wanted Twinkies (weird because I NEVER want those). I wanted pizza.  It is funny because if I hadn't been on a detox I probably wouldn't have even thought about pizza.  I wanted all these things but I DID NOT QUIT. I DID NOT CHEAT. I kept thinking "Why did you do this detox, Kate? To be healthy. To get rid of the junk!" And that helped me.

The second day was better. But I had to go to the grocery store to get more veggies.  It was so hard to be in the store. The cakes looked so good. The chips looked good. My body was saying "Screw this detox and give me some good food!!" Mind over matter.  I repeated the words I would hear Gina from the Biggest Loser say, "Pain is temporary. Quitting is forever." I also knew it wasn't what I wanted. I want to be healthier.

The third day was hard because I did not prepare myself for the day. We had a play date planned and I did not bring food for myself. I was very hungry that day. I did eat a bite of my daughters peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I don't think that ruined my day.

I decided to do a raw food day for the fourth day of my detox.  It was a good day. I found a raw food book from the library and chose recipes from it to make.  Every meal tasted good and sustained me. I had a raw nut granola for breakfast with almond milk.  I ate this walnut pate on tomato for lunch. I had a mock rice pilaf for dinner with lots of veggies on the side. The meals were so tasty.  Again I drank a lot of water.  I lost 5 lbs from those four days of detoxing.  That felt really good.  

Today is my first day off the detox, but I am sticking with eating healthy foods (minimally or no processed foods.)  I made the raw nut granola again for breakfast. I made a quinoa curry for lunch.  I made pizza with a cauliflower crust for dinner. That was really good.  Since I have started my detox I haven't had any meat.  I have had hardly any dairy. I feel really good! I feel like the junk I had been putting in my body was weighing me down.  I feel like I have more energy. I feel more motivated to get up and move around.  I feel a difference in my body.

As for exercise, I am still working out even though I am no longer doing P90x.  Actually, I really want to run a half marathon. I found one in July and I have started a training program. I run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I cross train on Mondays and Wednesdays. On Fridays I do yoga.  I am really excited about the half marathon.  The other day we ran 2.5 miles and usually I would stop several times or quit altogether. This time I felt like I could do it. After doing this detox I feel better emotionally and mentally. I feel more positive.

The most important thing in the world to me is my spirit. It dwells inside my body.  It is important to have a healthy body to hold my spirit. I can't weigh down this body I was given with crap, no matter how good it tastes. One of the documentaries I watched said our bodies were not made to digest these highly processed foods. I believe it! And I am going to continue eating healthy. Like I said before, I am not going to become fully vegan, or vegetarian, or raw.  But I also think it is good to eat vegetarian meals, and vegan meals, and to eat raw now and again.

And I am motivated to get this blog going again. I will be posting the recipes I find. I will be telling about my struggles and victories. Tomorrow I run 3 miles so you will be hearing how that goes. Thanks for supporting me in my pathway to being HEALTHY and fit!