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ByAnn
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Meal Prep and Planning

Preparing your meals the same day that you plan to eat them is very difficult. A lack of planning to prepare meals can lead to unhealthy food choices.

It’s important to find a routine that works for you. Meal prep should save your time and make it easier for you to eat healthier during the week. Getting into a routine may take some trial and error before you finally find what works best for you. Here are some tips to get you started:

—Storage—

If needed, buy new storage containers (I prefer glass containers with snap lids). It’s a good idea to buy containers that are the same size so that they can be stacked easily in your refrigerator.

—Plan—

Planning is essential before you go to the grocery store! Make a shopping list based on the ingredients you will need. DO NOT go to the store when you are hungry or have no idea what you’re making.

Come up with a menu for the week that will include each of your meals and snacks. Remember to make enough to have leftovers so you don’t have to cook every single day.

—Preparation—

Do all of your food preparation in advance: dice and chop vegetables, hard boil eggs, and/or grill or bake protein. These can be used during the week to make meals, such as salads.

Make easy meals that don’t require a lot of ingredients and time. A crockpot is a great way to make a large quantity of food for the week.

One-pan meals are easy and delicious too. Don’t forget to add seasonings, herbs, and spices to make your meals taste great!

Make whole grains (quinoa, brown rice, barley) and potatoes (sweet or regular) in advance. These will stay fresh in the refrigerator for a few days and can be added to salads or used as side dishes for your main meals.

—Time—

Set time aside for yourself on a weekend day to meal prep for a few days. For example, prep on Sunday to get you through Wednesday. Then prep on Wednesday for the rest of the week. Put everything in containers and store them in the refrigerator so they are easily accessible. Do what’s best for you – package all your meals for the week in containers at one time or package meals day-by-day with the foods you’ve prepared.

—Cooking—

The point of meal prep is to make life easier for you during the week, but this doesn’t mean that you have to pre-cook everything! For example, you can marinate chicken breasts or lean beef, place them in the freezer, and defrost them when you’re ready to cook them. The same thing applies to other food items, such as homemade turkey burgers, meatballs, and soups.

If you like your vegetables or proteins freshly cooked (like me!), then you can portion them out for each meal and put them in containers when they are ready to be steamed, sautéed, or grilled. The only thing you will have to do the day of your meal is to cook them.

—Snacks—

Portion snacks into snack-size bags, but look at the serving size on the label too. This is very helpful in preventing you from eating mindlessly straight out of the bag and consuming too much at one time.

BySara
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Vacation Time!

As we near the end of August, most people are getting ready to wrap up their summers with travel plans and various festivities.  I always look forward to vacations with my family and have the Go-Go’s “Vacation” stuck in my head for days as I pack (even though the song isn’t 100% appropriate).

At the same time, this can be when people let their guard down and possibly gain some weight, but it is possible to still have a great time without losing control and preventing weight gain.  Going on vacation and preserving your waistline can be done, I promise!

Take a look at some of these tips to see how you can maintain control but still enjoy those last few days of summer:

—Don’t drink your calories—

If you like a cocktail, go for it: but be mindful of how much and what kind.  For example, avoid cocktails that have extra syrups and sugary base beverages (e.g. soda, juice) and limit those Pina Coladas and strawberry daiquiris to one time during your trip.

Drink 1 bottle of water between every alcoholic beverage to space out the number of caloric beverages you consume in one sitting.

Look for drinks that have lower calories, such as hard seltzers, light beers, or mixed drinks (e.g. rum and diet coke, vodka with seltzer and lime).

—Avoid the all you can eat buffets—

I loved buffets when I was a kid, but now I find them to be very overwhelming and dislike them for more reasons than one.  Thinking of all of the caloric damage that can be done at a buffet starts to make me nauseous.  Sometimes these can’t be avoided on certain types of vacations (e.g. cruises, all-inclusive resorts), so try to make the best choices possible.

Before taking any food, survey the whole buffet first to see what foods are available.  Then put together in your head what you want to put on your plate.  Here are some options of foods you can grab:

 – Proteins (e.g. omelets, greek yogurt, lean breakfast meat, seafood, legumes)

 – Vegetables (can also be in your omelets)

 – Fruits

After eating these items, you may feel full and satisfied enough that you aren’t even thinking of grabbing one of those breakfast pastries you saw earlier.

—Share, share, share—

Remember: sharing means caring!  I do love trying different foods in the area I’m staying, but I don’t want to consume all of those calories.  Sharing meals with friends and family allows you to enjoy all of the delicacies without going overboard.  Plus, it also saves a few dollars.

—Stay active—

Vacation can be a great time to increase your daily activity since you have more free time.  Dust off that fitness tracker or use the feature on your smartwatch to track your exercise and aim for about 10,000 steps a day.  Whether it’s window shopping, biking, hiking, yoga, or just a new activity for you, get out there and move.

If there’s an activity you love to do, try doing it in a new place when on vacation.  I love doing yoga, so I will go to different yoga studios or do yoga on the beach.  You never know what you might learn that will be different from what you are used to at home.

Vacation can be a wonderful time, but you don’t have to regret all the eating and drinking you did when you get back home.  Remember: once you get home, get right back into your routine.  Drink lots of water to help you “de-bloat”.  If you can come back with about one or two pounds gained or lost, I call that a WIN.

ByAnn
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Ways To Boost Your Metabolism

Many people believe that severely restricting their calories is the only way to lose weight. This is FALSE! Your body wants and needs to be fueled properly to function. Your body uses energy for lots of things, such as your brain to function, your heart to beat, your lungs to breathe, and your digestive system to digest foods. When you restrict too much or completely eliminate any particular group of foods, your body will not be able to work the way it wants to.

It’s often forgotten that it’s not always about the physical amount of food you are eating, but also the type of food. For example. living on protein bars isn’t the same as eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and proteins. Your body utilizes these foods better as opposed to artificial or highly processed products.

What is metabolism anyway? Metabolism is the process of converting food into energy to power everything we do, from moving to thinking. Here is a way to think about it: picture a fire. If you keep putting wood (the fuel) in the fire (your body), it keeps burning. If you stop fueling the fire, it starts to weaken.

Here are some ways to boost your metabolism and help you lose weight:

  1. Incorporate weight training or body weight exercise into your routine. Increasing muscle mass is beneficial because muscle is active tissue. This means that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest, even while sleeping. Fat mass is inactive tissue.
  2. Stay hydrated. Your body needs water to process calories. Being dehydrated all the time can ultimately slow down your metabolism.
  3. Snack smart. When you go too long without eating, your metabolism can slow down over time. You want to eat every 3 to 4 hours throughout the day. Choose snacks that include proteins, healthy fats, and high fiber carbohydrates to keep you full as opposed to high sugar and highly processed foods.
  4. Incorporate whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats into your meals. These foods take longer to digest, so you end up burning more calories during the digestion process to break these foods down.
  5. Avoid fad diets! Jumping from one new restrictive diet that you hear about to another can have a major effect on your metabolism over time. The word “diet” is a red flag since it is short-term. Focus on lifestyle changes.
BySara
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Coping With Chronic Illness

Most people don’t know this about me, but I suffer from an autoimmune disease. The formal diagnosis is still to be determined, but my type-A personality finally got the best of me and my body decided to attack itself. The disease can show itself in many different ways such as allergies, hair loss, GI issues, or, like me, joint pain.

In my mid-30s, I started to feel pain in my hands and wrists. Several months passed where I wore carpal tunnel braces and tried various PT exercises that a dear friend of mine taught me to do, but there was very little relief. At one point, my fingers became so swollen that I couldn’t wear my wedding rings or any of my other rings. I even had to go to the ER one afternoon to have them surgically cut off my finger because I couldn’t get them off no matter how hard I tried.

My doctor was running bloodwork, but we still couldn’t pinpoint what was happening. As time passed on, I didn’t have any answers and my symptoms got worse when the pain went to my knees. I could no longer go from sitting to standing without being in excruciating pain. I was frustrated and mad at my body. All I could think was “How can this be happening? I eat healthily, I exercise, I don’t drink, and I don’t do drugs.” I lived my whole life trying to prevent the onset of disease and this was the thanks I got.

One thing I have come to learn is that aging is an inevitable process – we all know this, but we don’t ever really stop to think about it (at least I didn’t). Although I lived this healthy lifestyle that I thought would keep me young and healthy forever, I had to accept that this isn’t always the case as time passed.

Most of us will suffer from something at some time because our bodies are just like a car: with time and age comes more needed maintenance and repairs. In my case, I needed to make changes to help reduce the inflammation in my body. I already ate right, but more changes could be made to manage my personal symptoms, such as paying attention to certain foods and how they made my body feel when I ate them.

For me, one of the foods I had to give up was peanut butter. It was natural peanut butter, but I started to realize that it was not good for me. My body felt achy, I got funky stools, and my eczema occasionally flared up. It took some time to accept this because I LOVED peanut butter – I had it literally every day for breakfast on my toast. Once I got my head around the fact that peanut butter no longer loved me, I had to walk away from it. The pain that came from eating peanut butter was just not worth it.

Another food that I had to give up was cow’s milk. It ripped my stomach apart every time I had it. I started trying different non-dairy milk options and found that my stomach felt so much better. I could get away with eating some cheese, but using milk in my coffee was just not possible anymore. I also switched to almond yogurt and used nutritional yeast when I wanted a cheesy flavor on some of my foods.

It’s really important to recognize that our bodies are constantly changing – and continuously address those changes. If you change your perspective and accept that some things are beyond your control, it will make the transition a lot easier. The market is loaded with alternatives for all of those foods we love but don’t love us back. You must keep an open mind: it won’t taste exactly like what you’re used to, but it will be good enough and you won’t suffer the negative side effects. I hope that you will take some time today to listen to what your body is telling you and start making changes for the better.

ByAnn
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Stop The Excuses, Just Start!

A few weeks ago, I participated in my first ever Aquabike event. It was a 1-mile swim and then a 25-mile bike ride. I have done a few triathlons before but I don’t enjoy running, so I was excited to try out this option. I was also nervous and wasn’t sure if I was prepared enough. However, I was as prepared as I was going to be as the day approached. I swam a few mornings each week, rode my stationary bike at home, and completed some outdoor rides here and there.

As we all know, it is so easy to think negatively and talk ourselves out of things. The morning of, my brain started: “I think it’s going to rain. This is too early, I’m tired. I hope the water isn’t cold. Should I cancel?” Were any of these good reasons? Nope. In order to calm my nerves, I had to switch my thinking: “Ann, you are fine. You love to swim. Even if it rains, you are in the water anyway. Take your time. The water will be warm, it’s summer. It’s a great day for this.” As I kept repeating these types of thoughts in my head, I felt myself calm down and couldn’t wait to just do this.

In the end, I finished feeling great and got 3rd place in my age group! I was so excited and happy that I did it. Moral of the story: you CAN do this! Just because something is hard doesn’t mean you aren’t capable. If we weren’t so hard on ourselves with everything we do, we’d be able to move forward faster and keep going. Expecting perfection is not a realistic goal. Don’t give up on yourself and when it comes to making changes to your health and lifestyle, it is worth it to STOP the excuses and just START.

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