Diet, always a struggle

Currently I am in phase 1, find a routine. Alteast for me, if I do not have a good routine then I will not follow it and therefore I will fail. I love to snack - I would rather eat 4 appetizers than 1 meal. Of course my husband is the opposite so thank goodness we do not eat dinner together most days. I am currently trying to find high protein snacks I can make so I can easily eat a little and be satisfied without alot of cooking or prep involved. For example, I made a version of Ellie Kriegers edamame/walnut salad - SO GOOD. The other thing I made, which is original as far as I know, is a pre-workout snack containing peanut butter, flaxseed, fiberone cereal and some maple syrup. I stirred all the contents together and put int he refrigerator and before I leave to work out I eat a Tbls. For me, food is not only about taste it is about function. The pre-workout snack needs to be a good balance of protein, fat and carb to give me energy and keep me satisfied. The edamame salad is similar although makes a very good side dish.

The holiday, proceed to step backwards

For those of us who are passionate about health, the holidays can be very challenging. I do not deny myself any food - but I have learned to balance what I eat and how much I eat so I do not feel horrible later on. The holidays are difficult because you are depending on the host providing that balance of foods to choose from. Just a hint - offer to bring something healthy like a vegetable or salad and eat your vegetables first. By eating your veges first you will become full and not eat as much of the other yummy goodness on your plate. Do not deny yourself any food - just work on the portion size, atleast that is what has worked for me. Hope you all survived the holidays.

My battle with finding my health recipe

I believe that everybody needs to find their own health recipe, something that works for them. I am going to share my battles with finding a health recipe. After graduating in Fall 1997 with my second bachelors I started a mission to become the person I always wanted to be - athletic, full of confidence, and overall happy with myself inside and out. I had tried this before, but this time was going to be different. After doing some self-reflection about when I failed before I decided to make a plan that would be sustainable and successful. I decided to work on my health recipe in two parts. Part one involved slowly changing my food choices towards an overall healthy diet. This took alot of time and patience as a searched for healthy substitutions and developed my will power. Once my diet was not a daily struggle and just part of who I was, I moved on to Part two. Part two involved incorporating exercise. I took it slow and was very honest with myself about what was working and what was not. By 2009 I had become an athletic, confident, happy person who was working out six days a week and loving every minute of it.

I am condensing my story because between 1998 and 2009 I hit alot of road blocks and my health recipe took some hits, but in 2009 I was finally that person I wanted to be, inside and out - then I got pregnant. I was very happy to be pregnant and I wanted to be as fit as possible - but due to the hot weather and being exhausted I was not as active as I hoped. Although I have a health recipe that has worked it is a little different now - but I know I can do it.

What is a Health Recipe?

I was driving today with my husband when I saw a van with the words "Healthy Life" on it. These two simple words, Healthy Life, got me thinking which made me ask my husband (Joe) lots of questions. I came the conclusion that every person has their own health recipe and that recipe may or may not be yielding the results they want. I am on a mission to understand all the possible ingredients that are out there and if they are helping people get to the desired result. Wish me luck!