fuel, for your body.

but not gas. Gas is not good. Have you ever tried to work out when you're bloated? I have. Not great. I think that's one of the main reason I like to work out first thing in the morning. If I've gotten to drinking soda (can't stop, sorry), and eating... I just feel gross when the blood starts flowin', yanno?

But I digress.

One of the best diets (I hate to use that word, it really is a lifestyle change), in my opinion, is the glycemic index diet. It basically assigns a number to each food based on how long it takes your body to break it down into sugar. It's science, people. You can't argue with science. Don't even get me started on evolution.

This GI diet is the basis for a lot of fad diets out there... South Beach, Nutri system, etc. The difference here is that there is no book, or club, or membership. It's the bare bones. Ironic.



"Originally, the index was developed as a tool to help diabetics manage blood sugar control. In theory, if it works to help control blood sugar in diabetic people, then it should work for weight control."


Are we together on this? Okay.


It makes me think of one of the biggest misconceptions about diabetes. "Oh, here, I brought you a bag of chips instead of a cookie, cause you got the 'betes"


Nope. Not okay. Gimme my cookie, thanks. A carb is a carb, is a carb. The one difference is that some of them take longer to break down than others. For instance, a glass of OJ will spike your blood sugar fast, and a bowl of oatmeal with the same amount of carbs will raise it slower, but will level out and stay high longer. 


On the glycemic index scale, each food is assigned an index number from 1-100, with 100 as the reference score for pure glucose. Typically, foods are rated high (greater than 70), moderate (56-69), or low (less than 55).


Your low GI foods are going to be richer in fiber and protein, less processed, and overall healthier in most cases. We are looking for what we call perimeter food. Food you find along the perimeter of the grocery store... meats, dairy, fresh fruit and veggies, etc.


Your high GI foods are going to be the processed crap. Stuff that is going to make you feel sluggish and gross.


So, lets all take a vow now. Lets start perimeter shopping. Sure, you may wander into the aisles for miscellaneous fillers, but lets make the perimeters our main area of purchase. 


Soon to come, those promised recipes and pictures. While I upload, I want to ask all of my 7 followers (awesome), to get your favorite perimeter recipes ready! I am going to ask you all to share them only next post!


-C

remember that procrastination thing?

SO, it's been a while... two weeks, I believe. Sorry I've been neglecting my lovely little blog :( I have been continuing my workouts, and will be doing #9 today. I will also do a nutrition post this evening, complete with a yummy dinner recipe under 300 calories... with pictures!

How is everyone doing? Are you losing weight? Gaining muscle? Stamina? Tell me about it!

-C

parenting.

Am I the only one who worried about my kids behavior EVERYWHERE we go? I mean, he is a good kid, but a curious little fu... rugrat. He is into everything, everywhere. Lets no stone go unturned. I appreciate his curiosity, I really do, but man... it can be ever so tiring.

Take today, for instance. We went to sign him up for gymnastics (he has my grace... we need to remedy this). There are blocks to play with on the floor, but the boy just will *not* stay away from the tumbling mat. By the 3rd time pulling him off of it while the other brothers and sisters of the gymnasts happily build towers with the blocks, I am red in the face. Then I feel like the asshat mom who can't control her kid. What do I do? I just don't know.

The good news, is that we did get him into said gymnastics class, and he will be starting in the next couple of weeks. I need somewhere to direct this crazy energy.

Look out for my next fitness blog in the next 2-3 days. It will be chock full of healthy nutrition, and recipes with pictures :)

-C

deal of the day!

I won't take credit for finding these on my own... I scour various websites looking for coupons and deals daily. I would like to save you the trouble, so I am going to start posting my most awesome finds here :) Today, get a free coffee maker with Gevalia purchase of just $24.99! So, you get the coffee maker, plus (4) 8 oz. packages of Gevalia coffee.

I think this is an awesome deal, and signed up for once every 12 weeks delivery. What deals have you found today?

Nutrition basics

For my first post in the nutrition series, I am going to go over how to read a nutrition label. This can be confusing for people, and can lead to diet failure. One of the most common mistakes people make when choosing food is that they assume sweets are worse for you than say, a baked potato, or pasta. A carb is a carb (refined white carbs, especially). They all break down the same in your bloodstream, turning to sugar. How fast these break down will depend on the glycemic index of your food, but that we will go over next week. First, we are going to go back to basics.

Here is the line-by-line breakdown. Above you see the calories. You want to make sure to notice how much of your product you are getting for those 90 calories. This example is a half cup. For me, this is the reason I stopped eating breakfast cereal. I never ate the 3/4 cup recommended, so I was really getting twice the amount of everything listed... not good. Measuring out your food may seem like a chore, but once you do it a few times, you get the hang of it all, and can almost eyeball it. So, in this example, lets say it's cereal we are talking about, you get 90 calories in a half of a cup. You are also getting 3 grams of fat. I don't pay much mind to fat content, unless it's saturated fat. It just doesn't mean a lot to me. There are so many kinds of fats, and really, you can see how much 'bad' stuff is in there by the net carb count... so unless you have another medical reason to avoid fats, we're just going to skip this one. Sodium. This one can be a killer if you are trying to reduce bloat, especially. We want to get less than 3100 mgs of sodium per day as women. I try to stay less than 2500. Overly processed snacks like cup o noodles? Forget it. Don't even look. Here's where the good stuff starts. Carbs... we have a love/hate relationship. I love how they taste, but hate my thighs. There is a direct correlation there. First off, lets look at how many carbs we need to get each day to lose weight. I promise next week to go more into depth about how carbs break down in our bodies, but for the sake of keeping this at a readable length (not bore you to death), lets get right into numbers. This is the most comprehensive weight management calculator I have found on the interwebs. For me, I want to consume 1800 calories per day (the minimum recommended while breastfeeding). This breaks down to 199 carbs per day... this is a fair amount... something I can live with. Essentially, this is 3 meals of 50 carbs, and two 25 carb snacks. I can break it up into smaller meals if I wish, which I usually do for breakfast. An example of this for lunch is a sandwich with two slices of wheat bread, and no cheese. Maybe a side salad with hard boiled egg, and vinaigrette dressing. Oh, and did I mention water, water, and more water? Once you figure this for yourself, your life becomes easier. Angels sing, and unicorns will cross your path regularly. Okay, the last part isn't entirely true, but you catch my drift. What is helpful after doing this is keeping a log of everything you eat. This not only helps you to see what you are taking in, but also helps keep you accountable.. you have to write down EVERYTHING you eat. Just a bite of a cookie? Write it down. Just a few spoonfuls of your kids mac and cheese that they didn't finish (I *know* I'm not alone on this), write it down. Got it? Good. What is equally as important as not taking in too many carbs, is taking in enough. So often I see people who starve and deprive themselves. This won't work, because you aren't making a lifestyle change. If you are craving a piece of chocolate, eat it! But I guarantee that if you make better choices and cut out the refined sugars, you will have less of these cravings. Okay, now the fun part that I find a lot of people don't pay much mind to. See that fiber count? If it is higher than 5, you can subtract that from your carb count. For example, if you have 30 carbs, and 7 grams of fiber, your net carbs are only 23. I like to make a game of this, finding items that have as much fiber as possible, so I can eat more without taking in as many carbs. Awesome, right? Protein? Well, protein is awesome because it slows down the breakdown of carbs in your system, making your energy last longer. Protein is great... that might be the title of my next nutrition blog :) Thats all for today... I know it's a lot to digest (pun intended), but this is the first step to realizing your potential and living a healthier lifestyle. If you have any feedback for me, or any specific questions I can help with, please let me know. I want to make this a comprehensive and fun blog :) -C

Jillian Michaels.

Today it begins. I am officially starting my workout routine. Mason will be 4 months old on May 9th, and I have 30 pounds to lose before October (I will be the matron of honor in my sister-in-laws wedding). I know I can do this, I just need to hold myself accountable, right? Okay, before we begin, I am going to disclose some very privy information. I weigh 170 pounds right now. Yup... I am 5'9", 170 pounds. What alarms me about this is that by this time with Crue, I was down to 155. I can make up excuses, but the truth is that I eat like crap. THis is going to change. I notice that when I work out, I don't want junk food, because it wastes all my hard work. Granted, there will be cheating, but my day-to-day eating habits will change. So, back to the stats. I am 170 pounds, and a size 11. This is not the weight I am supposed to be. I feel tired, heavy, and just all around crappy. Here's to a healthier, lighter, more fit me. ANyone want to join me in the journey? Maybe we can update in the comments section daily? Hold each other accountable? A circle of accountability? Oh, did I mention outside of the title that I am doing the 30 day shred? My goal is to start with that and add into it more workouts in a week or two, since it is only 25 minutes. Has anyone else had luck with this? -C ETA- Workout #1 complete! Man, it was a challenge. Reminded me just how out of shape I am :) I wish I had another TV in the house, because Crue wouldn't stay down for his nap, so I let him come in, thinking he would just try to work out. He started to, then got bored and acted like Jillian. When she would go over to the other girls and comment on their form, he would mock her... it was pretty funny. He did get a time out for not staying out from under me, lol. So, the first day is always the hardest, right? Done.

a cold. A bad, bad cold.

I hate being sick... so so so much. I hate feeling completely useless and unproductive. So, needless to say, no updates on the 'afters' today. Womp womp. I am still going to try to catch up on some stuff tomorrow, depending on how my night goes. I have also decided that I want to move to Finland. But thats a different post, for a different day.