What does HEALTHY FOOD mean?

I was sitting in a crowded area a couple of months ago, listening in on a conversation between two moms about eating healthy. Both of these moms are drastically overweight, and I think it is GREAT that they were having this talk about how to start eating healthier. What wasn't great was what their idea of healthy food is, it was shocking.

They were talking about packing food to go to the beach and how they used to just eat the concessions food but now they decided to stop eating that "junk food" and pack ahead of time. GREAT! However, they went on to talk about what they packed. They said they were bringing lunchables, chex mix and fruit snacks... ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Everything they mentioned is prepared packaged food loaded with preservatives, sodium and lacking nutrition. Let's start with the lunchables, this is not healthy and if you give these to yourself or your children please stop. Look at the ingredients, can you even understand half of it? The lunch meat is loaded with preservatives and nitrates, horrible for you. They have well over an entire day's allotment of sodium. Chex Mix not sure why I have to clarify that this is not healthy, but I will. Look at the ingredients, may of it you can't even pronounce which typically means it is not good for you. Again, the sodium content is unbelievably high. Sodium can lead to so many health problems and it also has a lot to do with why even children are so overweight. I will leave the detailed sodium discussion for another blog. Now to the fruit snacks, just because it has the word "fruit" does NOT make it healthy! Again, look at the ingredients and you will see words that are unrecognizable and corn syrup and food coloring, none of which is good for you at all.

So how do you eat healthy when you are on the go. This isn't just about packing for the beach, it's about packing food when you are out and about and how to make healthy choices for you and your family. Sure it is easier and quicker to grab something that is already packaged, but it is not the healthy choice. You first need to make sure you set aside a little extra time to prepare some food to bring. It doesn't have to take long, at the most 10 minutes. We take 10 minutes to stop and put gas in our car, so take 10 minutes to put good fuel in your body too. Grab a cooler and put fresh fruit in it. It takes as long to grab an apple or an orange as it does to grab a bag of chex mix, so no excuses there. Carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and grape tomatoes are another great snack to put in your cooler. Peel your carrots, cut up your vegetables the day you buy them and have them ready to grab in your refrigerator. I do this once a week and it makes my entire week so much easier to stay on track. If you must have a dip with them buy a ranch from the healthy foods section and look at the ingredients! Or make one with plain greek yogurt and seasonings like dill and garlic. Did you know that most mainstream ranch dressings have MSG in them??? So now some of you are probably saying, well I don't like fruit or I don't like raw vegetables... well I don't love them either but I know my body needs them so I eat them. There are so many to choose from, I am sure that you can find some that you will eat and figure out the best way that works for you to eat them. I had to start by flash steaming my veggies and then cooling them - especially the broccoli and cauliflower. I don't love them raw, but I like them slightly cooked and even chilled after cooking them. Now I can finally eat them raw. I also like to cut up a ton of vegetables and marinate them in a light balsamic vinaigrette or a light italian dressing. You can make your own with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and italian seasoning or buy one that has good ingredients. Poor it on your veggies, shake it up and let them soak in it in the fridge.

Basically keep a small cooler handy in your kitchen to load in your healthy food options to bring with you when you are out and about. If you are thinking that your kids won't eat fruit and vegetables as a snack... I bet they will if that is all you have. They are not going to let themselves starve and if you stand your ground your children will also learn to like these foods the more they eat them. I also put Thousand Hills beef sticks in my cooler and Organic Cheese Sticks, my kids love these. Hard boiled eggs are another easy on-the-go snack - just try not to load it with salt and if you do use salt, use sea salt! You need less because sea salt is natural and has so much more flavor in smaller amounts. My rule is that my kids have to eat a fruit or a vegetable before having anything else. They are learning to like more and more veggies by doing this! I also will bake or grill chicken breasts and then slice them into strips and keep it in the fridge. It is another great thing to grab and snack on. Make some lettuce wraps using a large leaf lettuce, some of that chicken and chopped up tomatoes and cucumbers... you can add some hummus or garlic laughing cow cheese. Wrap it up in plastic wrap. Make them ahead of time and keep them in your fridge to grab when you need it, they will hold up for a few days prepared in advance.

We are all busy and can make all the excuses in the world as to why it is easier to grab a packaged food instead of a healthier raw food choice. Stop making excuses and start prepping. Do things that will make it easier to grab healthy choices. If you are someone that thinks things like Lunchables and Baked Doritos are healthy snacks I encourage you to start educating yourself on nutrition and eating healthy. The first step is to try to avoid buying or eating things that come from a package. I know it is not realistic for some people to eliminate these foods entirely, but start to TRY. Start with what you snack on and make small changes, baby steps, to eating healthier snacks. Then start to tackle other meals. I will continually blog about some healthier choices for all of our meals and I hope that you can learn from them. I also hope that people will take some time to comment here on some healthy on-the-go snack choices they like for themselves or for their kids to give everyone more ideas. Now I am craving some marinated veggies, good thing I still have some prepped and ready to grab in my fridge!

Schedule your workouts!

Do you find it hard to "find" time to workout? I know I do. There are so many things that need to get done first, four kids to take care of, so much housework and business work, and, and, and.... There is always something and there will always be something in the way of squeezing in a workout if you allow there to be. I definitely am not one of those people that wakes up and looks forward to working out. Don't get me wrong, when I do it I feel great and love it! It's the getting started part that I have a hard time with. Sounds funny coming from a personal trainer right??? I am just being real and honest, I make all the excuses in the world! So how do you overcome this?

Most people use some sort of calendar to keep track of their appointments in their lives. Most people also have it on their phone too, so it is always with them. I live by my calendar with all of the activities and appointments for a family of six people, it is busy. So use your calendar to schedule your workout time. Why should any other appointment be more important than the one to take care of your body? Schedule in a realistic time to workout, set the reminder on it and then stick to it. If your alarm reminder goes off for a meeting with your boss you wouldn't miss that... well your workout appointment is even more important. Look at it that way, put it on your calendar and stick to it. You will be so glad you did and it will help you "find" the time you were looking for to workout!!!

Plan ahead for success!

Do you open your refrigerator door and stand there wondering what to eat? Or worse yet, stare into your pantry and wonder what you are in the mood to eat. You are hungry and you just can't decide what will curb your hunger or your craving. Oh man, that is so typical of what I used to do! Here is how to stop that cycle.

First, lets talk about what you are going to eat. Instead of looking around for something, have it planned out. Take some time to sit down and do a meal plan for the day. If you have time, do one for tomorrow as well. Better yet, take the time to do an entire week. On my meal plans I also create a grocery list off to the side that way I can go through my kitchen and cross off things I already have and there I have my grocery list for the week! Here is an example:
Today: 
Breakfast: banana & vitamins (kids: pancakes and banana or berries)
AM Snack: hard boiled egg and apple
Lunch: Romaine Hummus wraps (3-4 romaine lettuce leaves, hummus spread down the middle, chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, roll it up and eat like a burrito) (kids: turkey wraps, grapes)
PM Snack: Marinated Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers tossed in a light balsamic vinaigrette)
Dinner: BBQ Pork Chops, Mashed Cauliflower and Peas (BBQ sauce: 1.5 T honey, 3 T organic ketchup, 1.5 T braggs aminos (soy sauce alt or use low sodium worcestershire, 1/4 tsp dried ginger, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp ground red pepper - adjust any of these ingredients to your liking - brush the sauce on your pork chops for a glaze)

Groceries:
Produce: bananas, berries, grapes, apples, romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower (2 heads), carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peas (fresh or frozen)
Deli: hummus, turkey
Dairy: eggs
Natural Food/Organic Section: light balsamic vinaigrette, honey, organic ketchup, braggs aminos, dried ginger, dried thyme, garlic powder, ground red pepper
Meat: Pork Chops

Now do the same thing for the next day adding on to your grocery list. Pretty soon you will have an entire week completed. Then save it! Do it again and create another week of different items, and soon you will have 2 weeks of meal plans finished, complete with grocery lists! If you are watching your calories you can even add quantities, measurements and calories to make it really detailed. That will take more time, but remember, do it once and use it again and again!

The next step is the most important: PUT THE MEAL PLAN ON YOUR FRIDGE DOOR. Make it visible. Instead of looking in the fridge and potentially grabbing something to eat that you shouldn't, look at what is planned for that meal and only grab that. This works great for everyone in your family. I have adjustments on my meal plan for the kids. For example I didn't send them romaine wraps in their lunches, I sent them turkey wraps. They also had pancakes with their banana this morning, so on the meal plan I have 2 entries. The rest of the meal plan is the same. This avoids all of the "Mom can I have ...." Pretty soon I have four kids all wanting something different to eat for a snack or their meal! I don't think so. I simply tell them to look at the meal plan and that is what they get to have. Why shouldn't kids learn to eat healthy right from the start, I wish I had!

I challenge you to take five minutes today to plan out your meals for the rest of the day, or for tomorrow. Let me know what you create... leave me comments or email me: laura@fitnesswithlaura.com  It would be fun to share healthy meal plan ideas with each other!!!

Back on track!

We all fall off the healthy band wagon, it's normal. So don't beat yourself up if you blew it over the weekend. That doesn't mean you should do that every weekend, it means you should learn from your mistakes so that you make better choices the next time. The weekends are the hardest time for me to stay on track; to continue eating healthy and watching my calorie intake. Without fail I do so well during the week and then the weekend comes, and we eat out more and have people over and the food choices are never what they should be and the extra calories in liquor doesn't help either. So, it is time for me to get back on track and I am going to blog about my journey. Hopefully you can learn something from me during this process.

I am not proud of my eating and drinking choices over the weekend. I did great on Friday, even had shrimp tacos when out to eat. Saturday I blew it. I was craving a burger so badly so I dug in. It wouldn't have been a big deal to have a burger if I hadn't eaten almost the entire thing! I should have had half of it and avoided the onion rings, but I gave in. And it really was good. To balance that I had planned to do a good hour or more of a workout and then it really would have been fine. But the workout didn't happen either. That is the bad part of the whole thing. Sunday I had planned to eat only the fruits and vegetables and a little chicken from the football party food, but I gave in to the other wonderful dips a little more than I should have. And some pizza too. Oooops. Again, could have worked out to balance it out, but I didn't. Not a very good example am I? Like I said, this weekend wasn't a good example of how to balance a healthy lifestyle and realistic choices. Now that it is over, it is in the past and next weekend I will not allow myself so many indulgences.

Back on track for me means that I will eat mainly from the outside of the grocery store, things that are not packaged. The entire outside of almost all grocery stores contains the produce section - fruits and vegetables, and the meat section. Did you ever notice that even the natural foods section is usually found around that area as well? Probably not a coincidence. Eating foods from these areas is the best way to give your body the fuel and nutrients that it needs. This is very similar to the Paleo lifestyle. Notice I said "lifestyle" not "diet". Look at the Paleo way of eating as a way to give your body the proper foods that it needs to be a fat-burning machine. Don't demonize foods that you "shouldn't eat" like grains, refined foods and pasteurized dairy, simply remember that our body wasn't build to properly digest and use these foods for fuel. You wouldn't put diesel gas in your car, so don't put diesel food into your body! Treat your body better than you would your car and it will run better and longer than you ever imagined. So what do people eat on the Paleo lifestyle... well this blog isn't intended to give you a full lesson on Paleo, there are so many great books and websites for that... but I can give you a quick overview and you can follow my menu plan over the next few weeks as I blog about it. Basically Paleo entails eating WHOLE FOODS that provide optimal nutrient rich fuel for your body (lean proteins, fruits and vegetables) and avoiding processed, refined, nutrient poor foods. I tend to do a modified version of Paleo because I allow myself some dairy and I also allow myself grapes in the version of wine. ;)

My meal plan today:
Breakfast: banana and tea
AM Snack: orange and hard boiled egg
Lunch: sauteed vegetables over fresh greens (squash, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli sauteed in a non-stick pan with a dash of olive oil, fresh garlic and a dash of balsamic vinegar all on top of a bed of spring greens) sometimes I add a wedge of garlic and herb laughing cow cheese
PM Snack: mashed cauliflower (steamed then mashed with a dash of pepper)
Dinner: Grilled chicken breast seasoned with fresh lemon juice and sea salt and pepper, garden salad, left over roasted vegetables from lunch
PM Snack: apple or other fruit

Give it a try and let me know how you do! You will be amazed at how eating these whole foods keep you feeling full longer. I honestly have to remember to eat, which is important to keep my metabolism going strong. Eat when you are NOT hungry, before you get that hungry sensation, and you will avoid pigging out. And remember to drink water before you put anything else into your mouth!

No such thing as a plateau!

I know this is going to be a touchy topic, but there is so much evidence to support this statement: there is no such things as a plateau. Let me explain...

I have gained and lost weight more times than I care to admit. Even recently I have gained back about 15 pounds since Christmas. I am on the path to losing it, but it is hard. I am happy to report that I am down 4 in the last couple of weeks, but these last 11 are the hardest. Is that because of a plateau? No, it is not. And all the times I have lost weight and then hit some magic number that my scale just won't go below, I was tempted to blame it on this theory of a plateau, but that just isn't so. There are many factors that make people feel like they hit a plateau and I will explain some.

My body likes to weight around 135 pounds. For some reason that is where it wants to be. Actually it isn't so much the scale weight as it is the body fat percentage... my body wants to be around 24% body fat, which is where it usually is at 135 pounds. That is at the edge of the "overweight" category and I refuse to be there! So I have to work hard at getting below that scale and body fat number. I have to eat right, count my calories and workout more regularly. I am not talking an hour a day, it can be done with 20 minutes a day, or even 3-4 times a week. Just because my body wants to be at this weight doesn't mean that is a plateau. Now, when I start to dip below this, I usually struggle again to get below 125 pounds which feels like a "plateau" but it is NOT.

What happens during the weight loss process is that people reduce their calorie intake and they usually increase their activity or calorie burn. The body will start out by losing the extra fat to use as fuel. Once the body has lost a certain amount of weight, my body is 10 pounds for example, their needs to be a readjustment in either the calorie intake or the activity level to compensate for the new body weight. In other words, when I weight 135 pounds I can eat around 1500 calories and maintain my weight (without exercising). To lose from here I have to reduce my calories to around 1100 and add about 25 minutes of exercising 3-4 times a week. This causes me to lose 2-3 pounds a week. Once I get to 125 pounds my body has TEN POUNDS less on it, so I can't logically do the same thing and expect the same results. My body needs less fuel because it has less mass! So I now have to drop down to around 1000 calories and increase my activity level to 30-40 minutes 3-4 times a week to continue to lose. That is NOT a plateau, it is a needed adjustment in calories and activity based on a new body mass due to weight loss.

The moral of the story is, if you are blaming your stagnant weight loss on a plateau... STOP. Do something different and stop looking for excuses. If you are accurately (and most people do not do this accurately) counting your calories by weighing and measuring everything and tracking your exercise, you will usually notice that after 10-20 pounds of weight loss you have to make and adjustment. Drop the calories down and increase the activity level. You also do not get to eat the extra calories that you burn while working out if you want to lose weight... that comes when you are maintaining your weight. More about that another time.

And don't forget to eat frequently. The more raw and fresh foods you eat, the MORE food you get to eat and more often. Speaking of that, I am off to go eat a huge salad... yummy.

I want to pig out!

I woke up starving, and I hate that. I want to devour everything in my fridge, actually in the freezer because that is where the pancakes are. Instead of giving into this temptation, I put a post-it note on my pantry that says, "you are not really hungry, drink water." I am not sure that will help me all day, but it helped this morning. I made myself scrambled eggs (one whole egg and one egg white) and I put a wedge of garlic and herb laughing cow cheese in them. Only 135 calories for that. And I forced down an orange... don't love fruit but I am eating more of it because I need to. Under 200 calories for my breakfast which is better than what I wanted. I am still dreaming of the stack of pancakes with strawberries and syrup that I wanted to have, which would have cost me about 500 calories. Pancakes are just something I can never eat just one of, kind of like pizza. So I try to avoid them on days where I feel so hungry.

Anyway, I am trying to get back on track from having gained 15 pounds since Christmas. Yes seriously, 15. Stop right there... those of you that know me are rolling your eyes. I know I am not "fat" by society standards, but my body composition (aka body fat and muscle percentages) are off the chart in the wrong direction. I cannot fit into any of my adorable jeans I bought last fall or any of my shorts and capris. I don't like how I feel and my muscle tone is gone. It was a stressful 7 months the first part of this year and I wasn't eating well and I wasn't exercising at all.

So now it is time to get back on track. When I get these urges to pig out I try little things like post-it notes on the fridge or the pantry door. They usually say things like: "Drink water! You are probably not hungry at all!" or "Choose a fruit or vegetable." or "Don't go in here!" It may sound stupid but it makes me stop and think about the choice I am about to make. Most of the time when we think we are hungry we are actually thirsty, so grab water first. My rule of thumb is to drink a large glass of water before I put any food in my mouth, and this goes for all meals and snacks... water first! So instead of giving into the temptation to pig out, I urge you to try the post-it notes and drink water before any else goes in your mouth!

What's for dinner? Salmon!

I am not a short order cook and I never will be. I have four kids and they would all like to order something different for dinner every night. I don't think so! My kitchen is not a restaurant and I make one thing for dinner... most of the time. Some nights my husband and I will have a late dinner by ourselves, so the kids get to eat a different meal than us. But 6 out of 7 nights a week we all eat the same thing and it is usually healthy. Notice I am saying "most of the time" and "usually." That is because living a healthy lifestyle means that you can have some things that may not be perfectly healthy by some standards just as long as you don't do it all the time. I enjoy pizza and burgers and spaghetti with meatballs with lots of parmesan cheese. We eat out once a week as a family, it just works with better with our schedules and lifestyle to do that. More about eating out another time. So, back to dinner. It works best for our busy family to create a menu plan. If you have never created one or used one religiously I highly recommend it. Whether you have kids or not, it helps to keep you accountable to what you are eating and you can even include calories to make sure you are staying on track with your caloric goals. Start creating a menu plan by just planning a week of dinners. Here is our dinner plan this week: Monday: dining out night Tuesday: Steaks, Steamed Veggies and Salad Wednesday: Salmon, Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) and Salad Thursday: Chicken Fajitas, Refried Beans, Salsa and Chips Friday: BBQ Pork Chops, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Peas Saturday: Salad and left overs I wouldn't consider anything on this list weird, maybe the Quinoa - but once you have it you will realize it isn't weird at all. Everything has passed the test of my four kids, and a couple of them are very picky eaters. Even the salmon gets eaten because when kids are hungry, they will eat. I am not going to get into parenting here, but I will tell you that if you enforce a rule that everyone eats the same thing you will find that your kids will eat, they will not starve themselves, they will try new things and they will eventually become less picky. Preparing tonight's dinner: Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) can be found near rice at the grocery store. It is becoming very common because it is a grain that is loaded with protein! Such a great choice over rice or potatoes. I make the entire box according to the box instructions not adding salt or butter. Once it is cooked I add freshly squeezed lemon juice, chopped green onions (chopped so small the kids don't know they are in there), a little dried parsley and a little sea salt. It is wonderful! You can adjust any of these ingredients to your own liking. Note: the reason I make the entire box is that any left-over I put into zip locs bags and put in the freezer so I have a quick side dish on a busy evening. I use salmon from Schwans, the Alaskan wild-caught salmon. I like their salmon because it is wild so it has all of the essential oils that I would want in fish, in other words avoid the farm-raised fish! It is also individually packaged so I know my serving size and calories. One good size piece has only 120 calories! It also turns out great cooked from frozen, which makes busy nights much easier! Sprinkle some garlic powder or use fresh minced garlic on the salmon. Then brush a little REAL maple syrup on top - none of that fake stuff loaded with high-fructose corn syrup! Put it in the oven for about 20 min at 375 degrees. Make a fresh salad and choose a healthy salad dressing. Read the labels and look at the ingredients. Keep reading my blogs and you will definitely learn more about label reading through me. So that is tonight's dinner. Healthy not Weird!