Veggie Tales

On my never ending quest to live a healthy lifestyle I recently decided to consciously eat a minimum of five servings of vegetables a day. Why? Every diet or eating plan that I've read or heard about can't stress the importance of eating veggies enough. But, like many of us, I've read and heard things until my ears hurt and my eyes were ready to fall out and I still didn't do anything about it. My turning point in motivation came from Sierra. She said, "Mom, you need to eat more vegetables!" No, not really but I've been lamenting the fact that it is a huge challenge to get Sierra to eat vegetables; she mainly survives on carbs. Lately I've noticed that if she sees me munching on a carrot or a sugar snap-pea than she'll too, gnaw on some. I need to lead by example.

• How hard could it be if I actually tried? As long as options were in the fridge it shouldn't be that hard. I figured I did pretty good already. Here's reality: 1 serving equals 1 cup of raw vegetables or 1/2 cup if cooked. It didn't seem like that much until I took out a measuring cup. Using that scale meant that I averaged 1-2 servings per day.

• Only 1 or 2!!!
• Yikes!
• Really??
• No way!
• How can that be?

We eat pretty healthy and always have veggies.

• Yup, it was true. I needed to seriously boost the rabbit food intake if I wanted to meet the standard recommendations.

Problem: (in a whisper) I don't actually like vegetables all that much. Please don't tell anyone, especially Sierra and Trevor (who I'm also trying to get to eat more veggies)

• With the serving size reality in check I thought, "is it even possible to consume that many vegetables on a daily basis?" You know what?

It is!

• You know what else?

I really do feel better and have more energy and it's only been a week and a half.

• I think I also might actually be developing a bit of taste for the stuff.

Don't tell anyone that either.

Me and My Girl!

We had a miserable few days recently complete with a lot of rain and cold temperatures. It had me dreading the inevitable arrival of winter even more. Then today things improved and I'm enjoying the lovely colours of autumn and the warm air.
Sierra and I went for a nice walk along tree-lined streets this morning. We listened to the crunch of dry leaves beneath the stroller wheels and every time the breeze picked up were showered softly with more as they fell. It was really beautiful.
Upon returning home Sierra played in her sandbox with glee. Sand was thrown everywhere - of course!

Me and my girl on a fall day!

Today happens to be my 31 birthday and last night I was actually apprehensive as to how I would feel. I really hadn't thought about my birthday at all until yesterday. How times have changed from being a kid! I remember intense excitement in the weeks leading up to my birthday. My family always made a big deal of celebrating special events with birthdays being no exception. It was always a special day.
Now that I'm older and married to a man who's family didn't make birthdays as big a deal things have changed. Not that they are any less special - just different.
Today I feel happy and content and loved. I fell asleep last night planning to make the most of every moment today and enjoy them, so far I am succeeding.
I still get a party- of course! - with my family. It's on Saturday evening when no ones' working or anything silly like that!

Diet Discussion

You might be all wondering what's going on with Carla's crazy 'Body for Life' plan is. Maybe you don't care but I'm doing to talk about it anyway. Not much.

I'm in the middle of week 11 and truthfully, had hoped for far better results by now. There hasn't been much change since week 6. I had a breakdown over the lack of progress one day last week and refused to work out and ate cookies even though it wasn't cheat day.

Then I dusted the crumbs off and got back on the horse the next day.

.

These are my thoughts:

1. Loosing weight a is slow process. After all, it wasn't put on fast.

2. I'm not on an unrealistic crash diet, I'm developing a healthy lifestyle that I can continue.

3. I officially quite breast feeding in the middle of this program so my metabolism is adjusting.

4. My palate has refreshed itself. By having only one day to indulge it has forced me to consider what I truly enjoy that isn't particularly healthy. Now, I may have a treat in the middle of the week but only a small portion and only if I know I really like it.

5. Vegetables are good.

6. I don't have Mariah Carey's chef, or personal trainer, or housekeeper, or wealth to afford all those things (she apparently is the same size now as she was in grade 10! I must stop watching Oprah).

I'm a mom and wife who doesn't have time to work out for hours on end, or money for exotic healthy fruit, vegetables, and super-lean meat.

.

I feel really good. Even without dramatic visual results this has helped me feel better; healthier. Who knows? Maybe in this last week and a half a bunch of pounds will magically melt off!

Ha!

Half way...

I have successfully completed six of the twelve weeks in the Body for Life program. My progress to date:

Weight loss: 4-5 pounds

Inches lost: 1.5 each on waist and hips.

I have noticed a bit of change, as has Trevor, but I dont' think anyone else does. Nothing overly dramatic has occurred but I'm telling myself that's okay. I'm working on a lifestyle that's realistic and healthy. Hard core diets can work but often when people go off of them the results don't last. Hey, if I double my losses in the next six weeks I'll be happy.

I feel really good and my cheat day yesterday wasn't even as enjoyable as it has been. My taste palatte must be adapting. The hardest part for me is eating nutritional snacks. Protein bars are good but they get expensive. Protein shake smoothies are good but they take preparation. Vegetables.. well, they're just not satisfying. Almonds and a piece of fruit are great. Yogurt is good and so is cottage cheese mixed with cinnamon and Splenda. That's not a lot of variety so I'll have to go on a nutritious snack hunt.

.

On a side note: My friend Kindra blogs about a monthly dinner evening they have with friends where the food is authentic to a particular country. My mouth waters each time I read one of those posts and I think "diet schmiet!".

Tesing my resolve

Trevor decided to bake chocolate cookies. They look and smell amazing and my mouth is totally watering. I loooove freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, especially with a glass of cold milk. They are calling my name: "Carla, eat me. We are incridibly yummy..."

Then I look at the before pictures I've taken of myself in a bikini - and the cookies don't seem nearly as tempting anymore.

Progress

It is the beginning of week 4 of 12 in my Body for Life journey. I was discussing the program with my mom and sister on Saturday night (we had a ladies night out, it was great!) and my sister stated that she could never eliminate the certain foods that the program encourages. It really hasn't been as hard for me as I thought it would. I am the type of person that has an extremely difficult time limiting myself to one or a little bit. When I taste one delectable cookie, heck, I end up devouring many more! For me it's best not to start. The crazy thing is, my 'palate' is starting to no longer crave the sweets and empty carbs the way it used to. Also, since I can only pack away so much food on Sunday, I'm more selective about what I cheat with. I choose only those things I really enjoy and then totally savor them. Oh yes I do! - and there is not one iota of guilt, how good can it get!

Overall program is going really well. My stomach seems less squishy and I feel pretty good. I did not cheat at all last week with my diet, however due to getting a cold I was only able to work out twice. I found yesterday a tough day to stay on track. I was tired and unmotivated and when I'm like that I tend to desire sugar more stongly. I sucessfully got through the day by telling myself no. If my body follows the same pattern as with previous times, I should start really noticing results by the end of this week.

The website is http://bodyforlife.com/success/goals/multichallenge.asp, explore the 'food and recipes' and 'exercise' sections in the top black bar. I personally think that this program can be modified to fit whoever wants to do it, I sure don't follow it to an exact T!

Highs and lows

Trevor, Sierra, and I had a really nice little jaunt up to Edmonton this weekend. We visited with two sets of long time friends. Friends that understand you a little better/differently than most because they've known you for so long. We shopped, because Lethbridge really sucks for shopping, and spent money we don't have. We drank wine, ate some very yummy home cooked meals, drank Starbucks and ate 1000-calories-a-bite Marble Slab Ice cream. We played games and laughed hysterically, and had some more serious, thought provoking conversations. We drove home yesterday feeling like we'd just been on vacation. It was great.
Than this morning I woke up with a small monster invading my throat and chest. I felt him lurking there all weekend and hoped he'd just go away, no such luck, the attack is on. It's not that bad, just not that good. I suppose I will have to temporarily suspend my exercising. It's a little hard to run or lift weights while coughing like a smoker! I can still follow the eating plan. You know, it never fails when I do this Body for Life plan: I'm all gung ho with nothing foreseen to get in the way and then something unplanned comes up, like getting sick. In the past it has discouraged me and I've quit, not this time.

A Long Time Goal

It's a cozy Saturday night and I've just finished a delectable meal of savoury salmon coated with a smoothy creamy sauce accompanied by whole wheat pasta draped in tangy tomato sauce and soggy salad. The soggy salad was yesterday's remnants and I ate it to get my veggies since eating veggies always makes me feel more healthy. I am also enjoying the last sips of a glass of crisp, fruity, sauvignon blanc wine. The Vancouver/Edmonton hockey game is progressing in the background, although there seems to be more fighting than playing. It is very intriguing how in hockey two grown man can beat the snot out of each other over school boy antics (he pushed me...) and we all cheer them on!

As a result of the relaxed, homey atmosphere as described above I am inspired to blog. Two weeks ago I embarked on a long time ambition of mine: to complete the twelve week Body for Life program.

*break* - the new McDonald's commercial with the mini-goalie, JC Petit, came on and I absolutely had to watch it. It is freaking hilarious! Anyway...

Body for Life is an exercise and eating program that makes more sense for me than any diet I've ever heard of. It doesn't require one to shell out weekly increments of hard earned money or buy special food or go to weigh-ins or count calories or anything that I personally find a nuisance. I realize that different things work for different people so this is not meant to be critical of those methods, they're just not for me. Body for Life prescribes 5-6 meals per day (one every 2-3hours) consisting of a portion of protein, a portion of carbs and at least one serving of veggies - when appropriate. (Carrots for breakfast have never been my thing) My favourite part about this is: you eat really well six days a week and then.....pig out and eat whatever you want on day seven! The thought behind this is that your body gets used to being fuelled by nutritious, well balanced meals throughout the week so that when it gets polluted with melt in your mouth sugary delights, or crunchy, salty oil-soaked fries and the like, it freaks out and wants to rid itself of the vile foreign substances as quickly as possible. Don't worry, it's not like you suddenly spend an hour in the bathroom or anything it's just that the body doesn't absorb as much, it just pushes the junk on through. Being able to have this "cheat" day ensures that I don't feel deprived of my favourite foods. There is some with-drawl at first of course but after about a month I actually tend to crave the tasteless veggies and dry meat and plain noodles or pototoes more than gooey chocolate chip cookies. Well, maybe not quite but I honestly do feel so much better with healthful eating. Even though my tongue salivates over the thought of rich, cold, ice cream my stomach prefers the above mentioned cardboard options. Despite popular belief - and my unappealing description - there are many ingenious ways one can create appeal in healthy food, for example the supper I just ate.

I know that I'm not fat, I have never though of myself as such. (Well, maybe there are days each month or so when a little gremlin gets inside my head and tells me otherwise but I've learned that this gremlin goes away.) Through the morphing process of pregnancy I gained 40+ pounds and got to the point where I practically couldn't move. Then I lost it but was left with a lovely area I've termed "my squish" in the mid-section. As a result I've developed a new appreciation for my body. My body went through all that and although it is marked by a few scars it has forgiven me and functions pretty much as it did before. Completing this 12 week plan has been a goal of mine for 9 years, I've been close to done twice, and half way about 5 times and started it 10 more. I think of it as a reward to my body for going through what it did with Sierra. The web sites, which I'll post later, show amazing results and I've always longed for that sort of transformation. With the feeling of awe of what my body can go through I've decided "why not this?"

I've been debating over whether to blog this or not. I'm afraid people will groan and say "not another one on a crazy diet!", or sit back with scepticism and doom me to fail, or roll their eyes and "think whatever for"? But this is not about others opinion, it's about me. Here I go, chronicling my escapade for all to read!

Body Talk

As most of us know, having a baby greatly distorts and contorts a woman's body. My muscles, joints and skin became completely unrecognizable both in how I looked and how I felt. I gained forty pounds by the end of the pregnancy and simply getting off the couch was a tremendous effort. I knew that it would take time to get back to my old self after Sierra was born. I have been an avid exerciser for years and didn't expect to be as out of shape as I was. I was constantly tired and my bones ached after a simple walk.
For the last month and a half or so I have been back to regular, fairly intense exercise. I love Tea-Bo DVDs and my treadmill. When I first started I just about cried - I could barely do a sit up! But I persevered and the other day my husband said that my mid-section was noticeably tighter! HUGE points for him. This week I suddenly noticed that my body felt stronger as I did the workouts. I can even do most of the sit ups in the ab DVD! (my abs suffered the most during pregnancy, hmm I wonder why?) I don't feel tired during the day and I sleep better at night. I am actually starting to look forward to my exercise time. Now about what I eat.......