Day 32 Get Focused, Know What You Want, and You Shall Have it

Apr 29th, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

“We are here for a higher purpose – and when our passion and focus are unshakably on the target, we can achieve against all odds.”

2008 NFL Hall of Fame-Nominated place kicker
Nick Lowery

When you’ve had a tough day and you want a candy bar or a beer, remember your goal.  What choice will bring you closer to your goal?  When our goals are clear, this kind of choice is easier.  When our goals are fuzzy, our default is to go for comfort and immediate gratification.  Being clear about our goals makes success possible.

Get out a piece of paper and write your goal on it.  Be as specific and clear as you can be.  What do you want, why do you want it, how will you achieve it, and how will you feel when you achieve it (or when you don’t).  And then write what your most likely obstacles will be and what you will do when each of them surfaces…because they WILL surface.

Because I’m a wellness practitioner, one of my goals is to walk the talk.  I want to be the picture of health and wellness, and I want to be able to say “follow me, I’m practicing good health and wellness behaviors.”  If l say one thing and do another, what help am I to you?  Since my passion is to help people live healthy, happy lives…in this lifetime, I need to be on that path myself.  Having a clear goal, taking action, and staying focused on the benefits is my 3-step plan for success.  I’m not always 100% successful, but this goal keeps me moving forward.

What is your plan for success?  What keeps you on the path?  Share your thoughts at the comment link below.

Day 31 Reminder of Where We Started…and Where We’re Going

Apr 27th, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

Thirty-one days ago I invited blog readers to join me in a 6-week blog series called Spring Clean Your Body.  Now, I want to welcome new readers and give you a quick review of where we started and where we’re going.  You can also begin the series by scrolling down to read Day 1, 2, 3, etc.

After being cooped up over the winter months, eating richer winter foods and laying on an extra layer of fat, I thought it would feel really good to do a 6-week body cleanse.  I’ve been writing about my experiences in this series.

Here’s a quick summary of foods and beverages I have decided to avoid for at least 6 weeks:

• Processed, packaged foods
• Coffee
• Sweets
• Gluten
• Dairy
• Alcohol

If this sounds challenging, you’re right.  It has been.  I need more practice—that’s why I’m extending the series beyond the six weeks until the end of spring.

I was inspired to do this cleansing program by Dr. Mark Hyman’s books, The UltraMind Solution and UltraMetabolism.  He practices functional medicine which means he looks at the entire body, not just body parts or a single system, to determine how the entire body is functioning.  Dr. Hyman recognizes that everything is connected to everything.  If one part of the body isn’t working, other parts of the body are affected.  In fact, all parts of the body are affected.  I highly recommend these books if you’re interested in taking this body cleanse thing seriously.

Diet, exercise, quality sleep, stress management, and self-care are all critical components of living a healthy, happy life.  So all of these topics will be addressed in this series.   I’ll share my personal experiences as well as tips and tricks that may help you with your own body spring cleaning project.

I invite you to freely share your comments and experiences at the comment link below.  And if you have specific topics you would like me to cover, please let me know those as well.

Day 26 Noticing Healthy Changes

Apr 23rd, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

I took the day off so I indulged in reading for several hours while sipping hot green tea.  I never thought I’d be a green tea drinker.  As I’m getting used to it, it tastes better and better.  Knowing that it’s also really good for me adds an additional incentive to stick with it.

It’s really reinforcing to me to notice improvements in my body, mind, and spirit while doing this body spring cleaning project. 

Here are a few things I’m noticing:

• I used to sweat quite a bit.  But in recent years, I rarely sweat – it sounds good, but it’s actually not a sign of good health.  In the sauna today, I sweated a good deal which shows my health is improving.  I was very happy!
• Also, when I stick to my whole foods diet, I do not crave sweets, junk food, or fast food.  When I stray from whole foods, a whole host of cravings kicks in.  Every day that goes by that I don’t crave low quality foods, I am happy and try to acknowledge it as a sign of success.
• With a clean, whole foods diet, my processes of elimination work perfectly, as intended.
• After a day of taking good care of myself, I feel good about myself.  Quietly pleased.
• When I’m really on the wellness path, I get new ideas for ways to take better care of myself.  When I’m on a worseness path, i get more ideas for ways to take worse care of myself.  I like the wellness path better.
• My mood is definitely elevated when I eat whole foods and stick to my healthy living plan:  healthy diet, exercise, stress management, and good self-care.  It takes a little time to do these things but the payoff is exponential.

How is your Spring Cleanse going?  Any news to report?  Any new signs of health and healing? Click the “comment” link below and share your experiences.

Day 23 Avocado and Egg Salad

Apr 20th, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

This weekend I was introduced to an interesting egg salad filling with avocado.  You may think that you shouldn’t eat avocados because they’re high in fat and therefore high in calories.  The calories are good calories, though, because avocados are nutrient dense and are a high quality fat.

I made a good guess about what to put in the batch I made tonight.  It’s very tasty, and I thought you’d like to make it too.  You can make substitutions according to foods  you have on hand and your personal preferences – I’ve made several recommendations for substitutions.

Avocado and Egg Salad

3 or 4 hard boiled eggs (sliced or chunked)

1 avocado (peeled and diced in large chunks)

1-2 scallions rough chopped

Dressing

2-3 Tablespoons Mayonnaise or Nayonaise (made with soy)

Stir in a little milk, soy milk, or almond breeze (almond milk) to make it a little thinner.  I used Almond Breeze.

A tablespoon of spicy brown mustard (or any kind of mustard, or no mustard)

Salt and Pepper to taste

I’m planning to eat mine on gluten free crackers (Martha’s Gone Crackers), on celery sticks, and as a side dish with my salad.

If you make this, let me know how it turned out and if you made a different version (comment at the link below).  I think you could go crazy substituting and making several different versions.  If you don’t go too crazy, even kids would like it.

Day 17 More Healthy, Fast Food Meals

Apr 14th, 2010

I keep wanting to tell you about what I’m eating because even I’m surprised by how easy and fast my meals have been to prepare.  When you live a busy life, cooking can seem like a big chore.  It doesn’t have to be.  Here’s what I ate for dinner today:

Spicy Bean Tostadas

I purchased GMO free natural corn tortillas that were not crisp so I crisped them up on a skillet—either dry or a little oil.

I heated a few tablespoons of organic refried beans in a small pan and added several spoonfuls of salsa

After smearing the hot beans on the tortilla I topped it with chopped avocado, green onion, chopped cilantro and a bit more pico de gallo.

Two of them filled me up and provided the perfect amount of fat, protein, and carbohydrate.  They were so good I’m going to have them again tomorrow night.

The entire prep & cook process took about 10 minutes.  I couldn’t drive to Taco Bell that fast!

Please Comment:

What healthy things have you been eating for breakfast, lunch of dinner?  Do tell….at the comment link below.

FREE RESOURCE

I received a sweet email from someone who uses resources from CherylMillerVille and wanted to share it with you:

“I know you’re often sharing cool resources with your list and I wanted to send you a mini e-book I’ve written that would fit perfectly with your post on “Eating on the Road.”  My e-book isn’t for sale, it’s a gift I give to my list and I thought maybe your group might benefit from the content too.”

http://www.reasonablediet.com/pdf/vacation.pdf 9 Great Tips for a Diet Friendly Vacation

I read it just now and I think you’ll find it helpful.

Day 15 Handling Special (Food) Events

Apr 11th, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

Recently, I celebrated my birthday.  Birthdays and holidays present special eating challenges.  There are family celebrations featuring a host of temptations—abundant food displays, high fat options, desserts, expectations, etc.  Thankfully, for my birthday there was no birthday cake.  In fact, the friends I usually celebrate with were out of town so I did not have a lot of temptations.  But I noticed that eating out several times this week, even selecting the healthiest options on the menu, activated food cravings.  I’ve been doing so well I thought I had escaped the cravings.  Not so much!

Besides eating out a couple of times, I’ve also gotten less sleep than I need.  My mother called for my birthday and we talked until past 11am.  The alarm woke me at 6am … I was tired and ready to roll over.Sprin

As you have probably heard from the recovery field, it’s not a good idea to get Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired (HALT) and I was 3 of the 4.  To recover and regain my balance, I went to bed the next night at 8:30 to read and fall asleep early.  You’ve heard that life looks much better after a good  night’s sleep.

What do you do when you have cravings?  Do you cave in?  Distract yourself?  Go to sleep?  Tell us at the comment link below.

Day 11 Travel Food Containers

Apr 8th, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

If you travel a lot (or bring your lunch to work) these handy food containers can be just the ticket.  A friend just clued me in to them.  They’re unbreakable so they’d be good food containers for kids too – especially on vacation.  The ones shown below have been customized by companies who purchased them for employee giveaways (great idea!)but they’re the Aladdin brand.  I haven’t done a search on the internet to compare prices but I found some good prices – listed below.    You can also check Amazon.com and Tuesday Morning.

Aladdin Chill & Go – You can fill this container with salad or other raw veggies.  The description says that the double-wall insulated polycarbonate container keeps food cold for up to four hours.  And the lid doubles as a salad dressin180g (or hummus) container with additional screw off compartment.  This little baby is going into my lunch box!  If you fly, you can get this through security because the salad dressing compartment holds just three ounces.  http://www.hotref.com/Aladdin-Chill—Go-p-3065.html

$11.25  Chill & Go

Aladdin Snack & Go – Here’s another neat snack container.  Load it up with nuts and seeds, dried fruit, or any other dry food.  It has a removable divider  so you can fill it up with either one or two snacks (great for your desk drawer or the snack pack when you travel).  The pull-off lid has two openings so you can dispense separate snacks.

http://www.hotref.com/Aladdin-Snack—Go-p-3064.html

$ 6.10  Snack & Go

Can you think of any other uses for these handy food containers?  Do you have any travel food containers to recommend?  Comment at the link below.

Day 9 Eating on the Road

Apr 6th, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

I knew there was a box lunch waiting for me for lunch at the health fair.  Those words “box lunch” clued me in that it was probably a sandwich, cookie, and chips…maybe a piece of fruit.  Bingo – that’s exactly what was in  it.

Because I’m not eating processed foods, I knew I wouldn’t eat anything but the fruit.  So I packed all of my own food and brought it in an insulated lunch bag.  Here’s what I brought for the day:

• Fruit-Rice Protein Smoothie (I drank this in the car at 7am driving to the event)
• Stainless steel travel mug with green tea (remember I stopped drinking coffee…..actually I haven’t missed it much and never got a headache from withdrawal).  I had experimented with green tea off and on for a couple of months and was growing used to the taste.  I stopped once or twice at convenience stores to fill up on hot water.  For some reason hot water is a satisfying beverage in the morning.
• For lunch I made the same salad I had the other day – spring greens, fresh pair, raisins, jicama, walnuts, and vinaigrette.  (I took a break from the wellness fair and sat in the sun eating my salad – spa living!)  I didn’t feel the least bit denied.  In fact I felt lucky and smart.
• For fruit snacks I brought a tangerine, black plum, and orange.
• For crunchy snacks I brought a small mix of dried fruit (fig, date, cherries) and walnuts.

Dealing with Temptation

Because I brought tasty healthy snacks (abundantly), I was not tempted one bit by the junk food all around me at the convenience store when I stopped for gas.  But just to be sure, I kept my eyes focused straight ahead. The one temptation I had on the drive home was the chips.  I wanted those chips SO bad.  Part of the problem was that I was sleepy, really sleepy.  I pulled over for a 30-minute nap at a rest stop.  That helped.  Also, I resisted those chips by remembering my goal.  And I knew that if I caved in and ate them, they wouldn’t taste as good as I thought they would, and I would have started down the slippery slope which I had no intention of doing.  Feeling virtuous feels a lot better than feeling disappointed in myself.  Having a powerful, clear goal makes all the difference.  And of course the goal has to be backed up by lots of planning and preparing.

How do you handle eating on the road?  Please comment at the link below this post.

Day 4 Fish, It’s What’s for Dinner

Apr 1st, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

I made fish for dinner tonight.  I don’t much like fish but I know it’s good for me and I try to make myself eat it now and then.  I was surprised how good it was.  Here’s how I prepared it….and will definitely prepare it again, and again.

Tilapia with Fresh Lemon and Cilantro

• Sautee garlic and asparagus in olive oil – add a touch of salt  (I’ve been eating asparagus every night – not tired of it yet – so crisp and delicious)
• When the asparagus is tender crisp, add the filet of tilapia (same pan so fewer dishes!)
• Squirt fresh lemon juice over it and top it with cilantro (optional).   Cook each side for a couple of minutes and serve.

One pan, one plate.  Easy clean up and delicious.

How do you feel about eating fish?  What’s your favorite way to cook it?  Comment at the link below.

Day 3 – What to Eat for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Mar 31st, 2010

Spring Clean Your Body

It seems we’re always interested in what people eat when they’re on a healthy living plan.  Coming up with ideas that aren’t fast food, packaged, full of sugar and white flour kind of boggles the mind.  So periodically I will let you what I’ve been eating, how I prepared it, and the “recipe.”  I put that word in quotes because I usually just make stuff up when I cook.  I rarely measure.  That’s why this kind of cooking is good for me – it’s fast!  And it tastes good too.

Here’s what I ate today…..hope it gives you some ideas.

Brunch (I slept in!)

Stir fried veggies and egg (fast and delicious for breakfast, lunch, or dinner)

• Pour a bit of olive oil in a small skillet – use medium heat
• Sautee one clove of garlic (optional) and add veggies according to the length of time needed for cooking. I prefer my veggies to be tender-crisp.
• I add a couple shakes of Italian spices, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to the oil and garlic…then the veggies.
• Use whatever veggies you have on hand. Compatible veggies include, but are not limited to, green onions, red/yellow onion, spinach, asparagus, red-green-yellow peppers, cooked cubed potatoes, mushrooms (any kind).  [What other ideas do you have?  Tell us at the comment link below]

Here’s the order I would add veggies to the oil and garlic:

1. Asparagus (1 stalk) and mushrooms (2 button)
2. peppers and cooked potato cubes (I didn’t include these veggies in mine)
3. spinach and green onion (handful of spinach and one green onion)
4. 2 eggs whisked in a small bowl (I use a tea cup)

It’s FAST! The whole cooking process takes about 6 minutes – don’t over cook it (or over think it). It’s just veggies and eggs – scrambled in whatever order makes sense to you. Find your own special combination and share it with us at the comment link below.

For Dinner

I’ve been doing a lot of stir fries lately and to keep from getting bored with healthy food, I’m switching it up tonight. I’ll have hormone antibiotic free steak (4 oz), sautéed garlic and asparagus (crisp), and a mixed spring green salad with fresh pairs, walnuts, raisins, jicama, and a vinaigrette dressing.  BTW it was great!

NOTE:  If you buy lean meat, you can slice it thin and flash fry it (just about 1 mintute) and it will be more tender.  The longer it cooks, the tougher it gets.

Today’s Fitness Routine

I walked Toby on the Kansas River for an hour and a half.  Felt great.  We kept up a good pace and were the only ones out.  I start to get possessive of that walking trail…..

Your turn – Thoughts about today’s post?  How is your program coming?  Tell us what you did today on your Spring Cleaning Program….