Fooooood

What About the Grub?

Now…..I did not know if I should or should not add this section in here because of all of my flaws one of my biggest weaknesses is FOOOOOD! But if I am going to talk about Fitness that sort of goes hand in hand with your diet intake.

Before I even begin, I AM NOT PERFECT. As I mentioned in my Exercise section there are days where I might not make the “healthiest” meal decision. Now putting exercise aside lets get down to food. I feel like the first thing I need to say is:

CRASH DIETS DO NOT WORK!

While you might get the numbers down by not eating, taking “diet pills”, laxatives etc it WILL NOT LAST! Ladies and gents do not do it! You will drop down for a little bit but not only will you just get that weight back and then some as soon as you start to eat normally but more importantly you are damaging your body! Ladies, I know there are times when you think “I need to fit in that lovely new dress” or gents “I want that six-pack Abs” but is that 3 hour party or 2 week vacation really worth the damage?

My tips:

Now there are somethings I can/should mention while talking about a healthy diet intake.

Water

Numero Uno WATER!!!! DRINK WATER and LOTS of it! Ok …full disclosure time…. I do not like the taste of water. And I know what you are thinking….”who does not like the taste of water…and more importantly what taste”? And that is my problem! There is no taste! I am all about taste…be it food or drinks. So if I am supposed to drink around 2 liters of water a day…how can I force myself to drink something that I feel is tasteless?! And my solution is add lemon slices, orange slices or even cucumbers …add whatever. Some of you do not have this issue so just ignore this part :). However, if you are like me add something that will help give you the feeling of flavor (do not add half a cup of sugar that sort of defeats the point)!

Breakfast

This is something that people tend to skip…especially if they have a hectic life. Now me on the other hand… my day does not start if I do not have breakfast. I do not function and by lunchtime I am basically toppled over clutching my rumbling tummy crying “food give me foooooood”!

EAT IT! Eat something when you get up. It makes no sense skipping breakfast and eating a light for lunch (e.g. tuna salad) if you are just going to binge by dinner (especially if you are going to eat late at night when you know you will not be doing anything apart from rolling/crawling over to the sofa and then bed)!

Balance

Again, I am not an expert nor am I always unbiased, especially when it comes to eating out. For some reason I always and I mean ALWAYS want the one item that is not the healthiest! But, I think it is important to have some kind of balance in your life. So if you decide to eat 3 slices of pizza do not say “oh that’s OK I will do something about it later”. When you get home do that exercise even if all you are doing is walking in place while watching TV. At least you are doing SOMETHING!

Moderation

I know that by now you must be thinking “geese she must fall asleep while eating” :D. But another thing I feel I need to add is about incorporating all of the food groups and at least cutting down on some of those you should be avoiding.

“Eating a balanced diet means choosing a wide variety of foods and drinks from all the food groups. It also means eating certain things in moderation, namely saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, refined sugar, salt and alcohol. The goal is to take in nutrients you need for health at the recommended levels.”(Source: http://caloriecount.about.com/article/what_is_a_balanced_diet)

I am not going to say “DO NOT EAT PIZZA – because it is terrible for you and you will just put on weight (blahblahblah” because I would be a hypocrite. What I am saying is if you are going to eat it maybe try and make your own pizza so you monitor what you are eating. I am also not saying “go ahead eat to your hearts content on anything and everything”. There is no need to eat the whole thing in one go and try to balance it out by doing a little extra workout.

Also try to incorporate all the food groups. My sister HATES most vegetables she looks at salads and says “why would I eat leaves”? LOL. But she does like Cauliflowers, Broccoli and the occasional Green Paprika so my mother makes sure she includes that when she eats. You do not have to force yourself to eat Brussels Sprouts if they make you want to gag but if you like Carrots then eat Carrots!

Research Options

If you are like me… (a little bit of a Internet Junkie), the Internet has endless supplies of recipes that you can modify to fit your own needs. Everything and anything you need you can find online …and it is all for free! If you like owning/collecting Menu Recipe books then of course there are endless amounts of cook books. I prefer selecting things I know I want to make and just printing them off, binding them and creating my own cook books. So just spend a few minutes listing the things you would like to make and do a little search! I also found that if you are making your own food from scratch (and I mean from scratch) you not only are saving money but you know what is in everything you eat! Honestly it is cheaper to buy Eggs, Milk and flour to make your own dough rather than buying it! Think about quality and quantity…how many loaves/slices can you make compared to store bought stuff.

Ok I think I need to leave it at this because as always if I keep going I will write a book. All of what I have said is not rocket science nor is it “breaking new news”! But I hope some of this was helpful!

Thanks