Did you know....yeah I know, but

I don't know about you, but I love reading anything about health. I like to learn about new exercises, new super foods, and the latest health risks. My parents and I even swap information - I can not tell you how many times our conversations starts with "Did you know". I guess my point is, I know ALOT about health - I am sure not all of it is true but I know enough to know what I should be doing to be healthy. Why am I telling you this? Because I don't USE the information. I battle with food and being healthy as much as the next person. Leading a healthy life is hard, I think we all know what we are suppose to be doing - we just don't do it. Part of it is being honest with yourself and the other part is looking at being healthy as a lifestyle. Being healthy is not just going to the gym and eating healthy because you know you should. Choose this lifestyle because you know it will help you live the life you want to and live as long as you want to live.

Some of you are thinking "I've tried and it didn't work" well let's find something that does. If you need help figuring out what will work for you - let's brainstorm together, send me an email and we'll figure it out.

Next level: Getting a trainer

SO I have been working out consistently six times a week and getting 3 days of cardio and 2 days of weights. I am feeling good, but I need to step up my running endurance if I am going to compete in a triathlon in August. Some of you might be reading this thinking, "why do you need a trainer? you seem to be doing fine?". We all get a trainer for different reasons. I want a trainer to kick my ass and break my mind block that I can't be a runner. Other people need a trainer to get them started and educate them on what they should be doing. I will be meeting a trainer on Monday (Valentines Day). I am not excited about my trainer. The trainer I wanted to be with is not at my gym anymore - probably because she did not have enough clients. I just don't think trainers do enough to sell themself. Here are some things I wish my trainer did:

1. Wrote a blog and gave me resources to help me live a health life, or find new moves or good recipes
2. email with me and find out about who I am and what I want out of my training sessions, maybe even follow-up between sessions
3. asked me what kind of trainer I want and what I expect to get out of the sessions

I wish I could follow my class instructors on FB or Twitter, then I would know if they were going to be at class or if they had a HORRIBLE sub. I had to get that out.

Post Update: I met my trainer and let me just say I have once again learned not to make assumptions...I am happy about my trainer - she says her speciality is glutes which is good because I want my booty back!

Superbowl Sunday: How to survive

Eventhough I am a Bears fan I will be watching the superbowl this Sunday and I hate to admit it but I will be supporting the Packers. I just have too many cheesehead friends :) plus I love WI - they have great BEER! Yes I said it, BEER, I love BEER - good beer, beer that is worth the calories.

Some of us who are searching for our health recipe fear parties because there is just too much temptation. Let's talk about some tricks to surviving any party that is going to have LOTS of yummy food that you may regret later if you over indulge. Here are a couple that work for me:
1. Eat super healthy all day before the party
2. Go to the party with a full stomach
3. Make sure to drink water (inbetween drinking the alcoholic beverage of your choice or soda if you don't drink)
4. Do not hang out around the food, make yourself a plate and walk away
5. Try to eat vegetables if they are there
6. ENJOY the food you are eating - eat slow, think about how the food tastes, YUM

Don't torture yourself with trying to count the calories or fat grams of everything. Being healthy is a lifestyle and it should not be painful. Maybe you have not figured out your health recipe, it takes time - keep studying yourself and be honest about what works for you.

Notes of Encouragement

Ok - so you all know that I use a notebook when I work out. Well I have been going to these weight lifting classes on Tuesday and Thursday (which are killer workouts) and I have not had much to write about in my notebook, untill today. In the Tuesday class we start out with a BAZILLION push-ups - the instructor is evil. I have bad shoulders because I was a swimmer so I do as much as I can (about 20) and then substitute with planks or push-ups on my knees. After we got done with the push-ups I wrote down "I suck at push-ups". I should probably be nicer to myself, but someday when I can so all BAZILLION push-ups I will look at that and laugh.

Lesson for you, write down whatever will motivate you and help you track progress.

Study yourself

This takes patience because you have to do a little trial and error sometimes, BUT it can have HUGE pay-offs. For example, when I was a teacher I was always baffled at how tired I was in the afternoon and at night. There were days that I would come home and take a nap...seriously? This was awhile ago. I started to look at what I ate during the day and started making substitutions to try and figure out what was causing my energy low. What was the culprit? Chocoloate milk - well it was not the only thing. I started paying more attention to what foods I was eating that had high-fructose corn syrup in it. I started to realize that there was WAY too much sugar in my diet. After I cut out alot of the sugar my energy increased, I couldn't believe it. Will this work for everyone? No, but you should study your eating habits and figure our how the food you are eating is affecting you.

Over the years, I have been successful with changing my exercise and diet to improve my physical well-being. I have been able to decrease my stress, eliminate migrane headaches, increase my energy, and gain more muscle. Again - this might not work for everyone, but you never know unless you give it a try.

Diet Pitfall

I have started out 2011 on the right foot. I am SO motivated to go to the gym! I have been going six times a week for 4 weeks - WHOAH! Exercise is only HALF of My Health Recipe. Exercise is the ingredients, but without the instructions the end product is not guaranteed to be edible. So let's talk about a common struggle.

Common struggle: Working out hard = hungry + tired = poor food choices

I need to make snacking easy and delicious, otherwise I am going to cave in to eating some not so great for me stuff (like bread with brummel n brown (butter spread type thing) - YUM). This morning, I took my prune baby food plastic containers (see Choc Chip recipe for how I use prunes as a fat substitute), that were empty, and filled them with trail mix. THis will help me keep track of how much I am eating since each container is a 1/4c. PLUS I need to drink more water! Ok - mission get diet under control is in full effect!

Choc Chip Flax Cookies (low sugar)

I love choc chip cookies and so does my husband, so I wanted to find an inexpensive healthy substitute for store bought cookies. This is what I came up with.

Bowl 1: mix together the following:
2c whole wheat flour
1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Bowl 2: mix together the following:
(2) small prune baby food containers (I use the plastic Gerber)
1/3c flax seed meal
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla
3/4c sugar

Mix bowl 1 into bowl 2; once mixed add choc chips
Bake at 350 for 12-15min

DO NOT eat LOTS of these cookies, they could have an affect on your digestive system. I make the dough and leave it in the frig so if I REALLY want them I have to heat up the oven and make the cookies.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think. I get lots of compliments on them.