Let’s talk food

So that’s where it began. Food. Let me take you back 5 1/2 years ago, we were living in Kansas, I was a wife and working mother to 3 children (our children were 10, 2 and a newborn), working 45-50 hours a week as a Supervisor at a Natural Gas Company. After getting up at 6:30 am getting kids up, ready, and off to school and daycare centers, then work, I was so pooped that my family was lucky enough to get a meal out of a box….warmed up. I was a mom of convenience. But in Nov. 2007, our lives changed, my husband accepted a job across the country in North Carolina which meant I was able to stay home with our kids. So having more time on my hands I starting reading, I picked up a couple of books about food. The first one was “Skinny Bitch” by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, some people love this book and some people don’t. I liked this book a lot. It really started to open my eyes to food, the processed junk. I began to research and read more, reading books by Michael Pollan and Jordan Rubin and a few other authors. It was a bit overwhelming. But I had to start somewhere. So I did… where I began was soda. I stopped drinking soda in May 2008, it wasn’t that hard to stop since I was drinking diet and what I read about aspartame scared the crap out of me. I did not want any of the unwanted side effects from that crap.  So I stopped drinking it. And I wasn’t about to switch to regular soda with high fructose corn syrup which on average has 30g of sugar, no way! So I quit… I started to drink water… and lots of it. I drank lemon water, lime water, cucumber water. Now, the first thing I do when I get up in the morning is have a full glass of water before I do anything else. It’s good for you! Ok, so moving on… I probably won’t make a complete list of the things I purged, just a few basics. Also, if someone is reading this and they are wanting to eat healthier. Please don’t think this was a quick change for me. This took time… almost a year for the shift. The next thing I did was switch from white to wheat, this included breads and pastas. It took a little while for our family to get used to both… mainly the pasta. Then I moved on from white rice to brown. I started excluding foods with high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils. I stopped buying canned fruits and vegetables and bought fresh. I know that’s hard to do and can get expensive. Sometimes I buy frozen, they are so much better than canned. I started making my own seasoning for dinners. I had everything in my spice rack. For the most part, we stopped eating at fast food restaurants. That wasn’t hard. I watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYyDXH1amic and was grossed out FOR LIFE! I switched to olive oil and coconut oils. Of course, we still eat meat, just not a lot of red meat, I’ve incorporated a lot of lean cuts. I switched from margarine to REAL butter! Yes, REAL butter. Real is always better than fake any day of the week. I stopped buying fat free, low fat anything. Those products are not good for you, they have more ingredients than the real thing. Take for instance half and half, regular half and half has maybe 4 ingredients….. fat free half and half has about 10-15. I love Michael Pollan’s philosophy…. EAT. REAL. FOOD. So that’s what I started to do. I started to cook with real food, I got rid of anything boxed and quick to make. And I started making my family real meals. As I stated in my first post, the weight slowly started to come off. Of course it did…. I was giving my body REAL food.  So I stuck with it.

So fast forward to today…

I eat quite often. I snack constantly during the day. I eat about 4-5 times a day. Because I’m no longer sedentary and am highly active, my body needs it. I have to have a few key items in my pantry and fridge. I have to have these items around for breakfast: eggs, spinach, oatmeal, non-fat greek yogurt, granola, bananas. Lunches are pretty easy: tuna, white fish, steamed veggies, chicken, salad, quinoa. I snack on things like nuts, hummus and veggies, cheese, apples, bananas, tuna, celery, carrots, edamame. Within 30-60min of getting home from the gym every day, I have a protein shake with 40g of protein, 13g of carbs and 2000mg of L-Glutamine.  Because I’m on the run a lot of the time, I keep snacks like nuts and fruit with me in the car and a full water bottle. I never have to stop at a gas station to buy anything processed because I’m starving or thirsty. For me, planning works. Knowing that I have the things I need for a successful day helps me. I’m not tempted to pick up something that I’ve set aside for the kids like a granola bar or crackers. I have the food I need.

Am I perfect? Pfffft… heck no. If the health food gurus were to audit me right now I’d probably get a C. But I’ve made some real key changes and this journey that I’m on is always in progress and always moving forward.

I hope this helps at least one person.

Thanks for reading!

Salina

Hey, Fat Girl

So I’ve seen this on a friend’s blog and in another forum. And this letter speaks volumes to me even now… I cry every single time I read it. I was this girl.

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Hey, Fat Girl.

Yes, you. The one feigning to not see me when we cross paths on the
running track. The one not even wearing sports gear, breathing heavy. You’re slow, you breathe hard and your efforts at moving forward make you cringe.

You cling shyly to the furthest corridor, sometimes making larger loops on the gravel ring by the track just so you’re not on it. You sweat so much that your hair is all wet. You rarely stay for more than 20 minutes at a time, and you look exhausted when you leave to go back home. You never talk to anyone. I’ve got something I’d like to say to you.

You are awesome.

If you’d look me in the eye only for an instant, you would notice the
reverence and respect I have for you. The adventure you have started is tremendous; it leads to a better health, to renewed confidence and to a brand new kind of freedom. The gifts you will receive from running will far exceed the gigantic effort it takes you to show up here, to face your fears and to bravely set yourself in motion, in front of others.

You have already begun your transformation. You no longer accept this physical state of numbness and passivity. You have taken a difficult decision, but one that holds so much promise. Every hard breath you take is actually a tad easier than the one before, and every step is ever so slightly lighter. Each push forward leaves the former person you were in your wake, creating room for an improved version, one that is stronger, healthier and forward-looking, one who knows that anything is possible.

You’re a hero to me. And, if you’d take off the blaring headphones and put your head up for more than a second or two, you would notice that the other runners you cross, the ones that probably make you feel so inadequate, stare in awe at your determination. They, of all people, know best where you are coming from. They heard the resolutions of so many others, who vowed to pick up running and improve their health, “starting next week”. Yet, it is YOU who runs alongside, who digs from deep inside to find the strength to come here, and to come back again.

You are a runner, and no one can take that away from you. You are
relentlessly moving forward. You are stronger than even you think, and you are about to be amazed by what you can do. One day, very soon, maybe tomorrow, you’ll step outside and marvel at your capabilities. You will not believe your own body, you will realize that you can do this. And a new horizon will open up for you. You are a true inspiration.

I bow to you.

 

 

 

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Ok, I must admit when I first started to read it… it rubbed me the wrong way. With the title of it being ‘Hey, Fat Girl’, I thought man that’s not a good way to address that letter but then I got down to meat of the letter. And it really made me break. I can totally relate to this. There are days that that girl still wants to come out and play and I question myself walking into the gym. It sucks. But I have to remember I’ve overcome so many obstacles, I’ve come a long way on this journey. I’ve fought and I’ve won. I won’t go back there… not ever. I’m stronger and more determined now than ever to keep going with this.

Thanks for reading!

Salina

My first post

Hello world! My name is Salina. Welcome to my blog. I’m a wife and a mother of 3. I have been on a journey to getting healthy for it seems like my whole adult life. After having my first baby my body changed drastically. I wasn’t this tiny little petite thing anymore, my body was transformed and rightfully so, my body had cared for a beautiful baby for 9 months. But after the 6 week check up and so on, I struggled with my weight…. for a while. I went on fad diets, on Weight Watchers, took diet pills and I even skipped meals to try to lose weight to fit into that perfect outfit. At my heaviest I weighed over 200 lbs and I was a size 16, I was in a fog, I felt sluggish, always tired and not happy with myself. So about 4 years ago something changed, first of all I started reading about what’s in our food and how processed our food is, it made me sick. I couldn’t believe I was feeding my family junk.  Second, I was sick and tired of feeling the way that I did, sluggish, tired, not happy, no energy, and realized there was no magic pill that could make me lose the weight and there it was a light bulb went off. So I began to purge our cupboards, very slowly. One or two things every couple of weeks, first soda, then white flour, white rice, HCFS, partially hydrogenated oils, MSG, etc. The pounds slowly started to come off. Then my husband and I joined a gym, and I started this weight training class, I did it twice a week. I had this amazing instructor named Wendy and she pushed me to start running. So I started the Couch to 5K program. I must admit I didn’t fall in love with running. In fact, I hated it, I loathed running but I stuck with it. I had pretty much cut out junk, started clean eating about 80% of the time and started moving my butt. The weight was slowly but consistently dropping and I was happier, I had more energy, going to the gym was habit forming, addicting. Fast forward to today; I am now a size 2 or 4 (depending on what brand I wear) and I’m a solid 135 lbs with 18% body fat. Remember I mentioned I hated running, I don’t anymore, sure I have crappy running days. But honestly, I love running. I’m one of those runners that gets jealous when I see another runner and I haven’t ran that day. I weight train 4-5 days a week, I’ve recently taken up yoga and boxing. I prepare almost every single meal my family eats. I’m happy where I’m at. I couldn’t imagine going back to that place I was 4 years ago. This blog is about the ins and outs of my journey, what works for my life. I know how it feels to be overwhelmed, to feel like there’s this massive mountain and there’s no way you can conquer it. But I’m here to tell you…. You can and you will conquer it. I’m proof.

Here I am at 190lbs: