A Whole New Grocery Store

Tonight I stopped to pick up groceries. I went to the same Grocery store that I stop in at least a few times a week, but it really felt like a completely different store. Tonight was the first time that I have shopped for food since we started watching documentaries and doing research about our food choices.

The last few days have included more information that I thought possible. At this time there are still many things that I have not quite figured out my position on in regards to food, but some themes definitely came out of the things we were watching:

a) Eating a lot of meat is not healthy and the knowledge of how meat is raised and slaughtered in North America is actually enough to make me second guess eating it even if it was good for me.

b) Dairy and eggs may not be meat, but they come from animals. Again questions are raised about how healthy they are for you as well as concerns about the conditions in which eggs and milk are created.

c) Unprocessed foods are better for you, fruits, vegetables and whole grains are the building blocks of a healthy diet. There is research to show that a diet based on these nutrients may not just be good for you, but can reduce your risk of many diseases some obvious such as diabetes and heart disease and others more removed such as cancer.

d) Buying these products can cost more money, but really how expensive is a cartoon of free run eggs when you compare it to what you pay for a single omlet at a restaurant.

e) Some of the research available today widely questions the nutritional beliefs we were raised to believe, but as a mom I am still weary of throwing away all of what I was taught because this is not just about me, its about my kids.

This was the knowledge that I took with me today when I stepped inside the grocery store. After leaving I realized a few things - I did not go into the meat department at all, I went down very few of the actual aisles and everything that I normally buy I got to buy.

Milk and cream were replaced with non dairy versions. I actually bought coconut, soy and almond versions to find out what our family likes best.

There are still lots of non dairy frozen deserts so my fears of missing out on ice cream were put to rest.

Upon the advise of some friends and family I was steered towards the right brands when looking for Soy products and meat substitutes.

I was talking to someone today who was describing a dinner which heavily included meat. It really did not appeal to me at all.

I started this process with one goal - to lose weight. I want to get healthy too, but weight loss was definitely the priority. I never expected to be in a position where I was questioning the very basic foundation of my eating after 31 years nor did I honnestly ever expect to put vegan margarine my shopping cart.

I still have lots of questions such as how safe is soy to eat/drink in large quantities, particularly when it comes to my kids. Should we actually refrain from eggs and dairy or just reduce our quantities. The good news is that I don't need the answers today and as an added bonus - I've never lost weight faster.

The Month of Motivation

The appeal to start a diet or fitness routine in January is that health and diet is absolutely everywhere so it's easy to get motivated.

Every gym is offering a deal, the first thing you see when you walk in Walmart are vitamins and exercise supplies and everyone is starting a diet. Even Giant Tiger was advertising work out wear this week.

The challenge becomes keeping that motivation. How do you stay strong when there are now half as many people in the gym and the vitamins in the seasonal section of Walmart are replaced with Valentines Day chocolate?

I'm not writing about this because I have the magic answer. Last year when I started my weight loss efforts my motivation came in waves and then finally crashed on the beach in May. I'm not sure yet what will be different this year. I'm hoping that developing a good routine will help. This year I've also started using lose it right away instead of taking a few months to figure out what works.

I'm also trying to become more informed about diet, exercise and also my food by reading and watching documentaries. I recently watched Food Inc. and Meet your food and both had a big impact on me. It's 3pm the next day and so far today I haven't eaten any meat. I don't know yet if that will be a lifestyle change, but it definitely made me think and I firmly believe that thinking might be a part of what is different this year.

Thank God Its Friday

TGIF - It has been quite a week. For a week were there were few expectations on me and little that I had to do, it has felt like this week has taken forever and my stress has been constantly on high.

I think that part of the reason for this is because there was little that I had to do this week and I thrive better with lots of structure. I'm just not great at creating it for myself when I don't have to. I am definitely looking forward to returning to our regularly structured week, regardless of how much I usually complain about our crazy Monday - Friday routine.

Both kids are home with me today and the goal for today is simple - not go crazy and try to get a few things done around the house. My goal for the weekend - complete part 2 of my healthy grocery stock up and clean out my fridge and cupboards. It is a lot easier to prepare healthy food when a) you can see what you have in the fridge b) the fridge looks nice and appealing c) the first thing that you see when you open the fridge is healthy food and not left over Kraft Dinner. The fridge above is not my fridge, but I can dream can't I.

Today's breakfast is definitely a miss - I made plain oatmeal and flavored it with cinnamon and brown sugar splenda. The splenda may be low in calories, but I am not a big fan of the flavor in food - coffee no issue. Next time I will budget and extra 60 calories and add some honey or agave nectar.

I have been asked over and over to post my meal ideas and recipes, the only problem is that I am not big on recipes. Last night I used one of my clean eating staples - home made chicken breast nuggets.

The recipe is simple:

Cut up chicken into bite size pieces

Dip in egg white

Coat in a mixture

Bake

The mixture is the fun part where you can add anything you like. Last night we used a combo of oats and ground flax seed, but any dry oat, nut seed, grain will work.

This Weeks Shopping List

- almond butter

- honey

- english cucumber for clean tzatziki (sweat diced cucumbers add to yogurt cheese, add lemon)

To make yogurt cheese strain plain low fat yogurt through cheese cloth overnight, the water will drain out, what is left is yogurt cheese

- sliced almonds

- fruit

- veggies

9 years and 60lbs

Today is my 9 year wedding anniversary. The 60lbs is about the amount of weight that I have put on since that day. This year both my husband and I resolved on New Years to get healthy for our 10 year anniversary. The pressure is now on as this day is now only one year away.

Today was a stressful day as I was home alone with the kids who were wild, which in turn makes me want to eat, but we got through the day and no cookies or chips were consumed in the process.

Tonight I am heading to Zumba with a friend. I love exercise classes as they keep me from getting bored 5 minutes after I start exercising. The down side is that my friend and not just strangers will see how the 60lbs has drastically affected my grace and coordination.

Breadsticks

Now I love carbs as much as the next girl, but this post is not actually about bread sticks, but about a trigger that often makes me reach for the bread stick, or any other carb around - stress and emotions.

Now I know that stress and emotional eating covers a wide variety of topics that we could discuss at great length, but I think that it sums it up appropriately to say that most emotions and stress have habitually had me reaching for food.

I've know this for a very long time, but have struggled to harness this as stress and emotional eating is often a reflex and by the time that I have realized what has happened, the damage is done.

Tonight the cause is unimportant, the food of choice, well I think you can probably guess from the picture.The important piece is what I did when I stopped long enough to think about what I had done. What I had done was 300 calories in breadsticks. I responded by logging each one and then headed to the gym where I burned off the breadsticks and a bit more.

While exploring the stress trigger I realized that this week will be challenging for me. I am home  wiht the kids and out of my regular routine. It seems funny that at work I manage high intensity and stressful situations daily, but at home caring for my two kids alone can raise my stress level almost instantly. I think that a lot has to do wiht the fact that being home with them full time is not my regular routine and also because I feel pressured to make sure that they have a great week becuase I'm not always home with them.

I think that planning ahead will be my greatest weapon to push back against my triggers. Tomorrow I have a planned Zumba class with a friend which I know is a great calorie burner and as far as the kids, well  todays stress came from trying to get them dressed and out the door so tomorrow may just be a pyjama day.

Ground Zero - A New Year

It's taken me a long time to get back here. Last year I started with the best of intentions, but despite my best efforts I found that I continued to have the same struggles that I have had for many years.


I thought that my making my journey public it might give me the motivation that I needed to break past those barriers. I think that it was very simplistic of me to think that simply having other people know about my journey would erase the barriers that I have faced over the last 15 years each time I try to lose weight.


It is a New Year and I am back at Ground Zero. I weigh no less than I did last year at this time, but I also weigh no more.


I have a strong partner who is also dedicated to a more healthy lifestyle and I've got two very precious reasons why I need to be healthy not just now, but for the future.


Today is Day 1.
I will continue to write, not every day, but when I can find the time or when I have something to say. I will share meal ideas that were a hit at my house as well as any tips I learn along the way.


My secret weapon this go around is my Iphone. There are 2 apps that I have started using that are going to be a key part to my success.


The first is Lose it. This app is also available online
The other is Daily Water
Both are free.

Take 2

Well nobody is perfect on the first try.


I have been trying to motivate myself to get back on track and back on my blog for the last few weeks, but nothing was working.


Today the simplest thing happened, I wore a dress to work and I could tell that the couple of pounds that I have gained had gone straight to my stomach area. It was when someone complimented me on my progress that I felt this overwhelming sense of guilt for allowing myself to slide off track.


It was not hard to immediately start tracking my food. This week is pure stress for me both at work and home as I get ready for a week off work and 4 days away from home. I figure that if I can get back on track this week despite all the craziness I will be in good shape for the summer, literally.