Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by Becca.

I’m a snacker.  I eat three well balanced meals everyday, but I usually also eat three snacks.  Snacking can be wonderful for your health.  It’s a good way to keep your blood sugar levels even throughout the day, it can keep you from over eating at meals, and it provides your body with a constant fuel source which can boost your energy resulting in a higher likelihood that you will be more active.  The list could certainly continue!

Unfortunately, snacking can also be a major speed bump on the road to living a healthier life.  If you snack without thinking about it or really seeing what you eat, you can derail your otherwise stellar eating habits.

I keep this from happening by planning my snacks the same way I plan my meals.  Sure, sometimes it feels a little bit like kindergarten when I look up at the clock and think “oh, it’s morning snack time” or “is it time for afternoon snack yet?”, but maybe we were on the right track back then.  Now, if I could only get away with “nap time” every day!

Posted in Tips and Tricks, Healthy Eating | Print | 1 Comment »

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Becca.

There’s something about this time of year that makes baked goods taste even better than usual.  This is especially true if the baked goods are still warm from the oven. One of my favorite things to bake is a banana bread recipe handed down from my great grandmother.  I have her recipe card, in her handwriting, covered in spots and stains from it’s many years in many kitchens.

Unfortunately, my great grandmothers recipe is not exactly healthy.  Which is why I was so happy to discover Fiber One’s new Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.  I found these yummy little muffins in the freezer section at my grocery store.  I stuck one in the microwave for 15 seconds tonight and was not disappointed.

I will admit that I miss my whole house smelling like my favorite banana bread, but if it did I probably could not stop at one serving.  For 190 calories, 4 grams of fat, and 7 grams of fiber per muffin, these muffins will be my new answer to my banana bread cravings.

I will, of course, still make my great grandmothers banana bread but I will make it for friends and for parties this winter and I will sure to leave the leftovers behind for others to enjoy.

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Tuesday, October 13, 2009 by Becca.

Confession: yesterday I ate most of a box of chocolate frosted mini wheats.  Straight from the box, shoveling them in with my bare hands.  Wait, there’s more.  That’s not the only emotional eating I’ve done this week.  I’m not looking forward to weighing in tomorrow morning!

I had been doing well avoiding emotional eating until a few weeks ago and it’s amazing how slippery and steep that slope is.  I try to stay away from that “well, if I’ve already eaten something terrible today then I mine as well eat what I want for the rest of the day” thinking, but we all fall victim to that train of thought sometimes.

I’ve heard “nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels” more times than I can count, but have a hard time agreeing with that sentiment when I feel a need to binge.

See, it’s not really about how something tastes, at least not entirely.  Sometimes it’s about what that particular food means to you or how the act of over eating makes you feel.

For me sometimes is even about the need to rebel, to resist the control, to be “bad”.  Which is all very silly, of course, since I’m the once enforcing the control in the first place.  Then again, if eating healthy and being fit was easy, we might all look and feel a little differently.

I think what made me snap out of my emotional eating downward spiral was realizing that I really deserve to be treated better.  I may not be able to do much about how other people treat me, so I better treat myself as nicely as I can!

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Monday, August 31, 2009 by Becca.

I fell off the wagon this week in a big way.  It all started with a sore throat.  About a week ago I started to get a sore throat so I made sure I got a little more rest and made myself some tea.  I stuck to making healthy eating choices and continued to keep up with my exercise routine.

I maintained that for a few days but by mid week I was exhausted.  I was sleeping a solid eight hours at night but still yawning at my desk by 3pm.  It was a struggle to force myself out of bed and out the door to work in the morning.  My boss told me to stay home but I have been know to be stubborn and had work that needed to be done this week.

So I forced myself into the office all week, which took a lot of will power.  By the time I got home from work, I had no energy to cook or do dishes and no will power left to resist ordering takeout or swinging through the drive thru.  As far as exercise goes, let’s just say the walk from my front door to my car door was looking pretty long.

I’m embarrassed to admit that this week I probably consumed as many calories and grams of fat as I did the previous two weeks combined and moved about as much as a sloth.  So it’s been about a week and I still don’t feel that well which probably has something to do with how I’ve been treating my body for the past week.

Today is a new day and every new day is an opportunity to live my life in a healthy way.  Time to dust myself off and climb back up on that wagon!

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Friday, August 21, 2009 by Becca.

Sometimes being heavier is easier.  It’s hard when shopping for clothes or trying to ride any form of public transportation without becoming extra friendly with the person next to you, but it’s easy sometimes too.  At least, it’s been easy for me in the past.  It’s been very easy to tell myself that I don’t care how heavy I am.  I could tell myself I wasn’t concerned with appearances and that I wasn’t interested in other people’s opinions of how I look.

All of which is true, sort of, on my good days.  What shook me out of my nice little cocoon of denial was my health.  I’ve had some health problems that I would not have at such a young age if I took better care of myself.  So I’ve made changes in my lifestyle and slowly I’m losing weight and getting more fit.

I miss that denial though, more than I miss greasy double cheeseburgers or giant chocolate cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles.  It’s hard to look in the mirror everyday and see someone who’s working on bettering her body, hard to give up the security of that bigger sense of self.  I need to remind myself why I started this whole process.

Of course it’s hard, of course there’s a struggle and obstacles to overcome.  In my experience, the easy things in life are rarely as rewarding as the hard ones!

Posted in Health, Encouragement, Body Image | Print | No Comments »

Friday, August 14, 2009 by Becca.

Office culture can be hard on a gal who’s trying to live a healthy life!  For one thing, being stuck at a desk most of your day limits the activity you get.  You can counter this by walking to a coworkers office instead of emailing them or hand delivering paperwork instead of using interoffice mail.  One trick I use is to run something to the copier or fax as soon as it’s ready instead of “saving up” a few items to copy or fax.

Another hurdle to overcome at my office is resisting the “goodies”.  Almost every week, there is some type of baked good in our kitchen, which doubles as our copy and fax area, making it impossible for me to keep it out of sight.

I have a few strategies for dealing with this.  I have become the unofficial party planner in our office.  I’m the one who organizes the potlucks and ice cream socials. This works for me because it keeps me busy while everyone is eating at gatherings.  It also gives me the power to insist that people take leftovers home.

I also try to prepare myself if I know there will be a yummy treat nearby.  I try to  have some guilt-free treats of my own on hand.  Sometimes I even prefer these treats to their more fattening counterparts.  One of my favorite treats is berries mixed with fat free sugar free pudding.  Another is fat free cool whip on top of almost anything.  If I really want a piece of that danish on the kitchen counter, though, I just have a piece.  I enjoy it, I don’t beat myself up about my “slip”, and I move on to my next meal.

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Monday, August 10, 2009 by Becca.

Fiber One’s newest food additions are awesome.  If you don’t already eat them, you definitely should try them.  Their chocolatey chewy bars are way better than a regular granola bar and actually satisfy my candy bar cravings.  I would suggest starting off slow, though, especially if your body isn’t used to a whole lot of fiber!

Recently Fiber One introduced single serve yogurts.  I’m not usually a huge fan of yogurt since it tends to be fairly high in sugar, but these are totally worth it.  Each cup of yogurt has 50 calories, 0 grams of fat, and 5 grams of fiber.  As my Weight Watchers friends know, this means they are 0 points.  That’s right, 0 points.  As if this wasn’t enough, they are available in Key Lime Pie flavor.  I stuck one in the freezer on a hunch and sure enough, it was yummy!  Fiber One yogurt may be a little pricey, but I definitely recommend you pick some up next time they are on sale!

Posted in Fabulous Finds, Favorite Things, Deceptively Delicious, Healthy Eating | Print | 1 Comment »

Monday, August 3, 2009 by Becca.

Why the heck is it so hard to eat healthy in a restaurant?

I went to Buffalo Wild Wings on Sunday (not my choice) and I couldn’t believe how unhealthy!  Yeah, they have salads on the menu.  I know better than to assume those are actually a good choice, though.  I wound up ordering a grilled chicken wrap, figuring the tortilla had to be a better choice than a bun.  I also wasn’t about to order a grilled chicken sandwich, hold the bun, seeing as I can go get a chicken breast anywhere.  So I asked if, instead of the usual side choices (french fries, coleslaw, etc…), I could have a side salad with lite Italian dressing on the side.  In other words, I was trying to be logical and sensible in my choices.

When my meal came, the salad was piled high with giant croutons and shredded cheese.  And I mean PILED.  Think titanic proportions.  I’m actually scared to think about what their entree salads look like!  So note to anyone going to Buffalo Wild Wings - if you order the side salad, ask for either no cheese and croutons, or get them on the side!

There was a positive to all of this, though.  The salad dressing was actually in a single serve pouch, which I assume is what they use with take-out orders.  That was nice since I actually trust the packaging a little more than a restaurant just telling me it’s lite dressing.  (Dea and I both have worked at restaurants - trust us, NEVER take their word for it!)

Am I the only one frustrated by trying to eat healthy out in the real world??

Posted in Restaurants, Weight Loss, Healthy Eating | Print | 4 Comments »