Recipes Anyone???

I'm not sure many people are even looking at this blog, but if you are...I thought it might be fun to share some healthy recipes. Share one's that you have actually tried and like! Sometimes recipes that are low fat, low salt, low sugar, low carb, etc. are also low taste, low enjoyment. So, I will be thinking of my favorites and hopefully some of you share yours too!

NO FEAR WEEK!!!

I have been thinking a lot about fear when it comes to health and fitness since Shauna's last post. I want to declare this week: No Fear Week. Are you in?? I just realized that there really are a lot of things that scare me about working out and eating right. It seems weird, but it's true. Mostly, the fears come from being scared to fail. I've struggled my whole life with not trying new things simply because I'm afraid I won't be able to succeed or even finish what I've started. (This is also the reason I boycott making New Year's Resolutions. Oh dear!) So, I decided I needed to feel the freedom of conquering at least one of my fears. I HATE doing any kind of ab workout. Anytime abdominal work was even suggested in my high school gym classes or more recently, in "exercise group", I groan and feel the tension in my body start to increase. I really am nervous about doing crunches and supermans and all of that stuff because I have never had any strength in my stomach and I'm afraid of that feeling of embarrassment in groups when I wimp out after the first two reps. I am scared of trying them even at home alone because I dread the feeling of "uh, I am so out of shape" after starting the exercises, followed by the feeling of "I am such a quitter" after I give up. I always figured, it's just easier to not worry about those kind of things and focus on things I like better. But, that just keeps me in the same place forever, never knowing what I might feel like if I actually was successful. I know it seems like a dumb goal, but I am going to do 10 minutes of my old school ab video at least three times this week. I hope it will inspire you to tackle something you're fearful of. Maybe it's exercise in general. Maybe it's fear of failing to eat more vegetables and less sugar or salt. I don't know. I have plenty of fear of failure about trying to eat better too, but I am just tackling one thing at a time. We'll see how it works. I hope you'll join in and maybe we can all support each other by sharing our triumphs in conquering the fear that keeps us down. Let's do it!! Good luck!!

Jacobs Ladder

Did you guys see Biggest Loser this week? The winner of the challenge spent 2 and 1/2 hours on a Jacobs Ladder. There is a Jacobs Ladder at the gym I go to. I've actually mentioned to my husband before about how I wanted to try it. I never did because I didn't know how to use it, and I thought I would look dumb trying to figure it out all by myself. After this week's Biggest Loser episode, I decided that I would do it. Last night, I did!

It was actually pretty good. (Maybe cause I only did it for 10 minutes, not 150 minutes!) I had to explore and figure out how it worked. The waist belt that you strap on yourself, helps control the speed. The lower you are on the ladder, the less resistance. The higher up you are, the more resistance, which increases the speed. I thought it actually was a great workout. It will definitely help with my problem area thighs. I will definitely do it again, longer next time. I just have to find a way to not get bored! And I decided that I'm not going to be afraid of trying new things in fear of 'looking dumb'. We're all at the gym for a reason. You'll never experience those other things unless you try.

Beware of Turkeys...

Okay, so I am posting this in the hopes that everyone can learn from my mistakes/naivete. I was so proud of myself for substituting ground turkey in all my recipes to make them lower fat. In fact, I had just barely bought a huge bag of turkey burger patties because I found a screaming deal on them at our local market. A few days later, I was talking to Brynna about my huge accomplishment and she politely smiled and said, "Just be careful and make sure you read the nutrition facts. Sometimes turkey is actually more fattening than beef." I thought, "no way." But, when I got home and looked at my bag, I was shocked, and then really mad!! 17 grams of fat in ONE turkey burger? So anyway, I decided to include a quote from a website on family nutrition. Turkey is better if you make sure you get the right kind. Ground turkey breast is the leanest. If any of you have tips on where the best and cheapest place is to find it, let me know!

[You might be tempted to use ground turkey

for a low-fat substitute for ground beef, but check the label before you assume too much. Not all ground turkey has the fat and calorie savings you might believe.

If a package is labeled "ground turkey," what it means is that it can be any combination of breast and leg meat, and even skin. A 3-ounce cooked portion of this kind of ground turkey has about 200 calories and 11 grams of fat. A 3-ounce cooked portion of extra-lean ground beef contains 218 calories and 13 grams of fat, so you aren't really getting reduced calories and fat from using this type of ground turkey.

What you want to look for is a label on ground turkey that says "ground turkey breast." This type has 100 calories and 1.5 grams of fat for the same cooked 3-ounce portion.]

http://food.families.com/blog/is-ground-turkey-better-than-ground-beef

Finding your motivation when you have none...

This is my constant battle. Yesterday morning I woke up depressed because it was raining outside and I really wanted to keep up my new goal of jogging a bit each day (Jodi is trying to talk me into that crazy 10k!!) So, instead of throwing in the towel because of the rain, I decided to try running in the rain. It was so invigorating!! I ran longer, stayed cooler, and something about the rain made it so much fun - like a movie or something!

I know that each day is a battle of, "Do I exercise or not? Do I eat healthy, or not?" I think this blog will help us all find motivation when we have none. It always helps me regain motivation when I hear other people talk about their little triumphs.

Tip: This doesn't work for everyone, but definitely for me. I exercise first thing in the morning so that I eat better throughout the day. When I am faced with a temptation, I can think, "I didn't walk up that hill and almost had a heart attack to waste my calories on that cookie!!"

What works for you?

Well I haven't been too consistent with my running lately, but yesterday I decided that I wanted to run 6 miles. I wanted to run outside, but obviously Utah weather is unpredictable. I started out on the treadmill and made it about 2.7 miles. I was so bored, and my legs hurt. I decided to do the other 3.3 running on the track, and it was great. Do whatever you feel like! Switch it up if you need to. Do what works for you. My husband laughs, but sometimes I have to mentally push myself through things by saying, If someone offered you a million dollars could you do this? Granted all I get at the end of the run are sore legs and a foul odor! Anyway, we can all do what we set our mind to. With running, I think it's mind over matter. We'll see how far I can get on Saturday. . . . . What types of things do you do to push yourself to do 1 more set, 1 more mile, 1 more day??

The Birth of the Blog...

Okay, so raise your hand if you've ever made the goal to "get fit" and you're on fire for three weeks (or three days) and then you lose all momentum and decide since you fell off the wagon this early, you'll never make it to your goal, might as well give up. Been there. I think we all have. Recently I started going on walks with one of my friends in the mornings. A few months previous, she had starting making some changes in her life to try to be more healthy. I found that as our conversations turned towards what she was learning in her quest to be fit, I was inspired to do a little better myself. We started sharing tips, recipes, and have become exercise buddies as we've encouraged each other to stay on the healthy wagon...or at least, she is the one who helps me scrape the icecream off my face and get back on the wagon after I fall off every weekend! Anyway, we started talking about how many people we know who struggle, just like us to try to eat good and exercise and if we all had someone to support us and celebrate with us when we are making great choices regarding "staying on the wagon", it might help us all out a little bit. Thus, the birth of this blog.

Now let me clarify a few things: #1: This is not a place to type up your food journal everyday. I'd rather be chained to a tree and given a root-canal by a angry dentist with dirty instruments than have to count my calories every day. You may use this as a place to be semi-accountable, say by entering your goal to do twenty crunches every morning, or something similar, if you need to put it in writing. Then we can all cheer you on! #2: This is a PURELY POSITIVE POSTING blog. The last thing we want it to turn into is a place where we all groan about the cheesecake we ate last Thursday at the wedding. Talk about the GREAT things you ate or the new ankle weights you got..or something! Hearing about the cheesecake you ate just makes me hungry and inclined to daydream about how good it must of been until I go buy my own slice. #3: This is not a competition. If you happen to become the "Biggest Loser" then we'll watch you win on T.V., but don't talk about how much weight you are losing here. That is just a side effect of making good choices. We want to hear about the choices so we can try them out. Results will vary.

Now that the ground rules are set up, here's some ideas about what to post: healthy RECIPE ideas, TIPS you've heard from healthy sources (no crash dieting please-I crash enough as it is), GOALS you are setting for yourself, and most importantly SUCCESSES in achieving fitness goals (excluding pounds of weight loss--something like: "My energy is through the roof!" or "I walked 4 miles!" or "I did it! Three veggies a day for a week!") And no success is too small to celebrate.

Here's the disclaimer: we are not professionals. This blog is set up so lots of people can post, but none of us have our dietitian's license, at least that I know of. We're just here to encourage each other and celebrate when we make good choices involving our personal health and fitness. We're starting small, right now there are only about 6 people who are registered as editors, meaning they can post, but feel free to invite friends or family to participate if they are interested. You'll just have to let me know and I can register them. Or, they can just use the comments section under a post. That works too. All right! Happy celebrating! Let's see what we can do!

My GOAL: Since I am making the first official post, I guess I better put something on here that isn't just explanation. I am making it a goal to do some sort of exercise at least 4 days a week for at least a half hour this week. I have to take baby steps. There I said it, I mean, wrote it. No turning back now. Come on guys! Some encouragement please!I am think about committing to do a 10k in September, but I'm not going to commit yet. I need to take baby steps.

My TIP: I saw this on the Biggest Loser the other night: Eat your biggest meal in the morning and then slightly downsize as the day goes on so that your smallest meal is dinner. I actually tried it and it worked for me. I felt less hungry at dinner and didn't feel sickly full before bedtime. (I hate that!)