As I look back over the past year- 2013, I'm amazed at lots of things- how much has changed, how much is changing, and just how fast time has flown. Of all the wonderful things that have taken place this year, my journey to healthier living has made a drastic difference in my life.
For so long, I had to force myself to eat healthy and work out. It wasn't something I enjoyed at all- I'd starve myself on salads and fruit for a week- resisting all unhealthy food until I couldn't take it any more. Then I'd splurge on a burger and fries at Swensons- and hate all healthy food from then on.
Wow- how things have changed! My vegetarian/ or only eating lean meat occasionally( until Spring 2014) lifestyle
has given me a love for fruits and vegetables that's amazing- I literally can't live without them. Not only do I feel better & look better since pursuing a healthy lifestyle, but I'm forever hooked on healthy food!
Eating lots of salad, apples, and bananas used to be such a drag for me- like something on my to-do-list that wore me out.
Now I hate not having these things around- because I feel terrible with out them- lol!
Overeating: I've always loved food- since I was a little girl. But when I look back on the past 2 years, I think I loved it too much. I had a problem- a big one with overeating, based on the fact that something tastes good. My day was filled with heavy meals- breakfast( 2 or 3 slices of bread, pancakes & sausage, or other large meals) lunch- meat, pasta, or bread, more than i should eat) dinner- the same thing( sometimes salad). If not for changing my lifestyle, that would not have turned out well at all! Not to mention over-snacking on pretzels, chips, and unhealthy buttery crackers in- between meals. I ate like a king & felt like total crap!
And when it was the holidays- watch out! I snacked and snacked and snacked on appetizers- and then ate a large meal- with red, fatty meats the center of my palet and hardly any vegetables!
I wanted to change to try eating healthy but truth be told, didn't no how.
In October 2012, my dad started taking me to the gym to work out- I walked on the track for an hour, did elictipical for 20 minutes( burned 220 calories), and did crutches every morning. By 11am, I was back to filling up on worthless protzels and eating two slices of turkey for lunch:0. Bascially, the fact that we worked out for 3 months meant nothing when I wasn't eating that healthy:)
In April 2013, I decided to put all excuses aside and get my body in shape!
I started eating a large salad every day for lunch- with some fontina cheese and light salad dressing. Along with this, I'd have a whole wheat, low calorie, pita. It was a filling lunch & soon became a habit I did without even thinking about it. In addition to this, I started working out to my mom's high step intermediate exercise dvd with Cathe Fredrich. By the end of April, I had decided that a good step to eating healthy might be to stop eating meat. I became a pescetarian and imlimented shrimp once a week- as a filling substitute. I'm sure everyone thought I was crazy- I remember going to a movie, eating yogurt and almonds on the way there, and being the only one not eating- when we stopped to pick up a bite to eat at Dairy Queen:)- I remember being grossed out by the food too (I still am!)
By May, I was reading vegetarian articles, making new recipes, and loving my new life-style.
Alas, despite the pros of this, there were some cons too- 1: I had no idea what the heck I was doing!
Like many vegetarians, I became so hungry- avoiding meat at all costs, I plunged ahead and ate white bread, pasta, filling up on these things and crackers, protzels, and chips. I would eat and eat and eat until I finally felt full. My diet consisted of pierogies, shrimp, and salad at night. ( Not balanced at all!) I had no idea how unhealthy eating so many carbs( and simple, unhealthy ones) was! It wasn't until November this year that I realized my mistake after reading" 5 Mistakes Vegetarians Make & How You Can Avoid Them" by a renown doctor. Let's just say I wish I had read this article in the beginning! It would have helped me so much! But oh well I learned a good lesson & am now on the pathway to a healthier diet. I still love some pasta ( pierogies once a month & macaroni and cheese occasionally), but i feel better when I don't go for alfredo pasta and some of my used- to be favorite foods. Pasta just makes me feel terrible & it's so addicting and bad for you. I still like to splurge a little bit sometimes & have pierogies, because there much more filling( there's potatoes & cheese inside) and don't make me feel bad afterwards. There just more nutritious and nutrient- rich than some carby pasta with some sauce thrown on it. Now I enjoy some classic vegetarian foods instead of pasta- beans, almonds, and veggie burgers make up but 2/3 of my diet. I have these mushroom veggie burgers that I absolutely love- I like to have them on a whole wheat bun with mustard. And I got this super- easy, low fat & high protein soup from Jolinda Hackett that I'm hooked on. She's awesome by the way! She's been a vegetarian for 20 years and vegan for 8 years- and her recipes are always healthy and yummy. Anyway, this soup is amazing! It literally takes only like 10-15 minutes to make and makes a lot. It's perfect for taking on the road! I packed like 6 cups of it for our vacation to Branson last month.
Main Things I've learned:
Fat & Carb Phobia: for months I've been paranoyed about how much fat and how many carbs I was eating- until I finally learned the real truths that freed me.
1: Fat is not as important as we've been led to believe. Now I'm not saying you should blow your diet and have a ton of it- but it's not super important! As long as you implement fruits & veggies and stay physically fit, it shouldn't be a big deal.
2: Instead of going low carb( which I find impossible, because I don't eat meat), go smart carb.
Eat healthy complex carbohydrates( whole grain bread, whole wheat things, air-popped whole grain popcorn)
If not for finding out these two things, I might have lost my mind, after reading countless articles and getting to a point where: I didn't even enjoy eating any more; because I had a irrational fear of gaining weight because of my food choices.
The center of healthy eating & living I believe is this; eat plenty of fruits and vegetables- (5- 9 servings a day), eat lots of whole grain stuff, & work out as much as you can.
I've finally come to see that, occasionally, it's okay to splurge a little bit and enjoy some unhealthy food. And when I say that, again, I don't mean completely blow your diet- I just mean you should let yourself enjoy a milkshake or a cookie every once and a while. I feel like God made us to enjoy good food- and didn't mean for us to never eat our favorite foods( especially when eating out)
A couple of mine: pumpkin pie, cheesy quesidillas , and pumpkin cheesecakes
my theory is to make these foods( when I make them), as healthy as possible. To use low-fat cream cheese, less sugar, and other healthier stuff- that way I can enjoy them as guilt- free as possible.
The " I'm still not full phobia"
I've finally come to a conclusion with this awful thing. For years I've used the excuse " I'm still not full" as a reason to eat more than I should. But I think I'm finally realizing that I don't have to be full( thanks to Carrie Underwood) I could eat and eat and eat and still be hungry- true, but does that mean I should? No. As long as I eat enough to satisfy my hunger but not make me feel heavy, I'm good.
and as Carrie Underwood puts it(she keeps a food journal), " You know that feeling when you get full? Well, I don't get full. And I can eat a lot. Mike( her husband) and I recently went to Italy- I must have put on 8 pounds. But in real life, I want to make sure I'm not eating just to eat."
Exercising
Exercising has gone from something I whole-heartedly hated to something I whole-heartedly LOVE!
And I mean I love, love, love it. It makes me feel good= it makes me happy, healthy, and fit.
My favorite workout video- my mom's high step ( cardio, resistant tubing, and 5 pound weights) is awesome! The instructor Cathe Fridrich it just amazing! She keeps you concentrating on what you're doing, encouraging you the whole time, and even makes you laugh. I just have a blast every time.
For christmas this year, my mom got me a new 54- minute workout( It's divided in 5 10-minute workouts). It's mainly a pilate workout. I tried it out this morning & loved it!
I did the Waist Slimmer, which made my stomach look and feel flatter like it's never felt- it was intense stuff!
and when talking exercising, I realize it's not always going to happen- ( when I'm traveling or just don't find time in my day). I just have to make it a priority enough to where it really counts as my physical exercise for the week.
Animals; When it comes to animals, let me just say first of all that I love them! Sweet little puppies, soft kitties, gentle baby bears, pigs( weird I know!) and placid cows- there so adorable!
And being a vegetarian has really opened up a window to loving them even more than I had in the past- trust me it's impossible to go vegetarian without developing a love for them!
When I went vegan for 2 weeks during our vacation to Missouri, it also made me love animals a lot!
It was also really hard though- it was like a combination of horrible & wonderful at the same time. It took everything in me to resist that cheesy pizza tempting me from the cupboard, the smell of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, and the idea of a restaurant milk-shake. If I ever went vegan for life, I think I'd definitely find dairy the hardest thing to give up. I've always loved yogurt and gooey cheese oozing off pizza and quesidillas- ahh it would be quite hard! Sometimes I joke that I wish there was no such thing as dairy- because then I would find it really easy to go vegan . I mean I don't like meat at all aanymore- it's impossible to get my appetite worked up for it and eggs grose me out( well most types of them). So with those things out of the way, the only problem would be dairy( which, unfortunately I don't want to give up!) At any rate, being vegan was really good for me for many reasons- 1: It made me appreciate vegans more 2. give me a unique love for animals and 3: taught me self-control and stubborness when resisting something( animal products). I remember , laughingly now, remembering the days when I though vegans were crazy humans who ate nothing but vegetables all day and never enjoyed any good foods. How wrong that was! Vegans are awesome- and being one can be awesome too- if you go about it the right way and don't annoy people by being too strict or too much of an activist about animal= rights/ and in fact there are lots of awesome substitutes for cheese/eggs/chicken/burgers. etc that vegans can enjoy. True they may not be as good
as the real thing but they can come close enough. But, back to the point of this paragraph: unfortunately my short experience as a 90% vegan had led me to acquire some false truths about animals and their role in the world. After 7 months of being a vegetarian, I began to notice soon enough just how many of the foods we consume come from animals. I mean, come on, think about it. You go to a drive- thru or cafe and what are the first things that pop up- steak, burgers, chicken, grilled cheese- the menu is teeming with animal- by products. That's when I seriously contemplated going vegan for a while- even though it will never be something I'll want to do permanently like those awesome people who seem made to tackle it head on and stick with it( Carrie Underwood, Natalie Portman, need I say more? There amazing!) I was just growing tired of eating all these foods- and i wondered- ''What happened to eating natural, more healthy, foods that come from the ground? Beans, quinoa, fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts? But what I didn't realize was the natural design of God's plan that involved using animals for food. It's completely natural, if you chose to, to sink your teeth into a burger, or a grilled chicken breast- or indulge in a omelet or two. But at the same time he designed to enjoy a variety of things- plant foods. If you still want to eat some meat, yet still get the benefits of a vegetarian diet, you should try a plant- based diet, that is not based on animal products- but on fruits and vegetables, the true staple of our diet.
On this conclusion I came to, I decided I still love animals- but am not going to be all wacky and annoying about them. Though I'd prefer to not eat meat, I feel it completely natural to enjoy animal products sparingly when I feel that I want some cheese or yogurt. But I think its' true that too many animal products are bad for you- which is why it's healthiest and more beneficial for your palet to eat lots of plant products- and cut down on making meat the center of every meal.
I'm not saying being vegetarian/vegan is right for everyone. I've found it to be awesome= it makes me feel better- have more energy and I never want to eat much meat again after my experience with it.
But for some of you, you may find the opposite as a result of trying it out.
whatever way you find best works for pursuing a healthy lifestyle is the one you stick with. But the benefits of a plant= based diet are truly amazing- a great place to start. Go read an article about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet and you'll find out just how great it can be.
Healthy eating in it's essence is summed up in this thing I real about food once:
"Food is how we nourish our bodies & communicate with each other." ~Ashley Adams~
That struck me as so compelling- even though the last part I know is a little strange. For so long, I've though of food as just this habbit I don't even think about- eating was something I'd never put much depthful thinking into. But now it's just so fascinating to remember that what I'm feeding my body every day is nourishing it with proteins, irons, and vitamins to help it function correctly. Don't I want to nourish it with the best ingredients/ best foods possible? so I can take care of the body God has given me and be healthy,happy, and love the interesting, complex world he created:)
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