New Year Resolutions

I haven't made a New Year Resolution for several years.  I used to do it, but usually I would forget about them within the first few months of the New Year.  I have decided this year that I'm committing to 3 New Year Resolutions.  Why the change of heart?  Weekly, the Pocatello Marathon Facebook site puts on a "Fab Friday" contest.  They ask a question and then someone is randomly chosen to win a $20 gift certificate to a local sports store.  This week the question asked it you had met your goal mileage for 2012 and what is your goal for 2013?  I have never set a mileage goal (I'm not going to set one for this year either), but this question got me thinking.  Then I ran across an article on www.eatcleandiet.com by thegetinshapegirl.  It was about how to accomplish your goals.  She used the acronym S.M.A.R.T.

S-Specific (Who, what, when, where, why, how)

M-Measurable (know when it is to be accomplished)

A-Attainable (goals that you are capable of doing)

R-Realistic (how will this affect other aspects of my life) 

T-Timely (has a deadline)
She encouraged her readers to journal or blog their goals for the New Year.  I decided to start small and set three New Year Resolutions.  One of them is spiritual, so I will not share that goal on this blog.  The other two are fitness and nutrition based.

Fitness:
I have already set goals in previous posts that I am still working on, like getting into the best shape of my life by my 36th birthday in July.  Every day, week and month I set new goals for fitness and I post them on this blog or keep track of them in a journal.  Of  course my grander, more long term goal is to have a bikini body and become a personal trainer one day, but I have A LOT of work to do to get there and I'm not sure if I am ready to put a time frame for those goals yet.  In order for me to set a resolution that is SMART, I had to come up with something else.

In 2013, I have planned to run in at least 3 races: I will run in the Utah Valley Marathon on June 8, the Pocatello Marathon on August 30 and the Just Cuz Half Marathon in November.  I also hope to run as many local fun runs as possible.  My resolution for 2013 is to set a personal record in each of these races.  This means that I have to beat a 4:20 marathon time and a 2:02 half marathon time.  I want to get my P.R. for the marathon under 4 hours and the half under 2 hours, but since I am keeping with the A and R of  SMART, my goal is to train hard and stay healthy and just beat my previous times.

Nutrition:
I recently noticed that my blog address is oneyearofhealthyeating.blogspot.com.  I don't know exactly why I named it that for sure, since the blog itself is "My year of healthy eating."  I do know that I have changed a great deal about the way that I even think about food since I started the blog and that this is not something that I want to do for only one year.   Clean Eating is something that I feel very passionate about.  I do want to make 2013 a year of transition for not only my body, but also for my cooking.  I already have made a daily goal of keeping my food clean and tight,  weekly I get one cheat meal and one clean treat, and once a month (at book club) I will eat dessert.

I mentioned in a previous post that I have struggled with finding super delicious foods that my family will eat and enjoy.  My 12 year son even said that he hates clean eating.  This is not what I want.  I want to teach my children how to eat foods that fuel their body.  I want to present healthy foods to them, that they will eat.  I also don't like recipes that have crazy complicated ingredients and instructions.

In 2013 I want to use this blog as a tool for myself and others.  I want to introduce clean eating to my friends and family.  My nutrition resolution for 2013 is to become a clean eating family.  I want to clean up the recipes that my family already likes and then share them with others.  I also want to use this blog as a sounding board, so that others can share their thoughts on clean eating, exercise, and hopefully their recipes.    My goal is to present one of my recipes, cleaned up, or a clean recipe that my family actually likes, at least once a week.  Hey, if my family likes it, anyone will.  I will get up the courage by February 26 (this is a random date and Ian's birthday, but I needed a time) to make this blog public.

No Bake Cookies

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but I LOVE no bake cookies.  They are just the perfect combination of sweet and chewy and salty deliciousness.  I have been looking for a great recipe for several months, but I haven't been able to find one that actually makes me feel like I'm eating a cookie.  Today I decided to experiment with a No Bake Cookie recipe from the Gracious Pantry Blog.  What I came up with was super yummy.  I even ate 1/2 the batch and had a sugar high.  Just what you want from a cookie, right?

1/4 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 c creamy natural peanut butter
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
*1 tbsp almond milk

Put the honey, vanilla, and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave until they are easy to mix, but not boiling.  Stir in the chia seeds and oats. Add milk until you reach the desired consistency.

I do not recommend making these when you are the only one home or else you might sit down with them and watch TV and before you know it, they will be half way gone and you will be wondering who snuck into your house, knocked you unconscious and ate your cookies.  I'm pretty sure that's what just happened to me.

To exercise, or not to exercise?

That is the question. Well, at least when I'm sick, that is. I have been under the weather for 6 days now. I believe that it started out as an upper respiratory infection, that progressed to a sinus infection and then moved into my ears. Fabulous! I started Amoxicillin this morning and I'm feeling somewhat better. I hope that I can be back to my energetic self very soon.

I usually figure that if I can breathe, am not vomiting and can walk without passing out, then I might as well work out. Yesterday I started my workout with a warm up on the elliptical. I felt ok, so I moved onto my leg workout. It took about 3 sets for me to realize that passing out was possible, so my workout came to an abrupt end. Today (which is also Christmas) I have gone back and forth on what to do. I finally decided to take the day off and hopefully I'll be able to hit it with a vengeance tomorrow.

Surviving the holidays

It's almost Christmas. I love Christmas. Even as I write this, my family is watching "National Lampoon Christmas Vacation." There are just some Christmas traditions that may be inappropriate, but I sure love them.

There seems to be a bit of chatter out there about the holidays and clean eating. Should I keep all my holiday food clean? Should I sneak in a cheat treat or meal here or there? Should I just let it all go and then start again on January 1st? I have even heard a podcast questioning why we have to "get" through the holidays. These are all things that I have been thinking about lately.

I come from a large family of 8 children. I have 3 sisters and 4 brothers. My sister Ali lives 3 miles away from me. She has 3 grown children with spouse/significant others, 4 stepchildren, and 2 grandchildren. Ali is a great cook and entertainer. We have always gone to her house for holidays and special occasions. We call the get togethers food extravaganzas. My other 2 sisters are also great cooks and when we all get together it's all about food, food, and more food. My family really knows how to eat. The problem: I'm the only clean eater.

Tonight we had dinner at Ali's house. It was a large, noisy, fun family gathering.


This is just the desserts. I was in charge of the veggie tray, which was good because I knew that I would have something clean to eat. Ali also made green beans that were clean and some other nearly clean options. Compared to other years, I rocked it, but it wasn't completely clean. I decided to sample the desserts. I kept my portions small, but I did have a little of everything. I didn't go crazy though, since all that sugar can be overwhelming. And now I'm home and I left all that temptation at my sister's house.

Back to the original questions. What to do during the holidays. This is what I decided. The holidays are not something to dread or to get through. The holidays are something to enjoy. I am learning through this process what I can and can't do. I know that I need to surround myself with clean food and things that encourage me to keep my goals. I have also learned that when I totally deprive myself, I am setting myself up for failure. If I'm going to splurge, it's best to do it and then leave it behind.

I also learned today that my husband isn't totally enthralled by my obsession with clean eating and fat loss. Before I started clean eating, I was a decent cook, but an even better baker. I loved to make cookies and breads and muffins and cupcakes. When I started to cook clean, I changed everything. I'm still trying to figure out recipes that my family likes. Most of the dinners that I have made have been a total flop. After much deliberation (in my head), I have decided that I need to figure out how to combine my old style of cooking, with the new. I have really enjoyed The Gracious Pantry food blog and I think that if I put my mind to it I can clean up some of my family's favorite recipes. It's going to be quite the challenge, but then again challenge=change.

Clean eating on a vacation

This is a food diary of sorts that I wrote while traveling to my nephew's wedding in Mesa, Arizona. I knew it would be challenging, so I decided to track what I ate here and also on an app on my iPhone. I meant to take more pictures, but I felt a little silly about it. I packed clean snacks and breakfast items in my suitcase. I also carried a cooler that looks like a purse with snacks for my daughter and me. I have found that the best traveling foods are apples, nuts, sugar snap peas and protein powder. I also took 86% dark chocolate with me for emergencies.

Day 1: I started out my clean eating on this trip by drinking a green smoothie in route to the airport. We ate lunch at Wendy's in the airport, which is not my favorite. I shared a Cobb salad with my daughter. Then I had clean snacks that I had brought for my mid afternoon snack. When we got to Mesa, we had a family dinner of pulled pork and salads. I stayed away from the pasta and sauces and ate the meat and green salads. I did not have dessert- hurray!!!

Day 2: Off to the gym at 5 am for legs, core, and cardio. The gym at our hotel was really well equipped for a hotel gym. I has more time to devote to legs, so I added in some extra lunges and squats and core.

I ate the foods that I brought for breakfast and snacks. And for lunch....


I feel really good about this option. It was so delicious. I even kept my hand out of the chip basket. I had the waitress bring me hit water for peppermint tea. I drank that while everyone else munched on chips. When I was ordering, I looked at the menu and just thought "what would I make at home that is clean?" There were several options that looked yummy, like tacos and tamales, but I opted for the cleanest option. I think that I ate more than half of it though. I still need to work on portion sizes.

The reception: I went to the reception not hungry. I had cashews and 86% dark chocolate about an hour before. I know, not the best choice. The food consisted of lots of white breads, artichoke dip and crackers, potato and bacon soup, tortilla soup, and a spinach salad. For dessert they had hot chocolate with toppings, chocolate and carrot cake, mint brownies and butter cookies. What did I eat? I ate the soups and a little bit of salad. Hurray for me!!! I'm over 24 hours into this and I still feel like I'm making great choices. Just the fact that I haven't eaten any dessert is incredible for me. Yes, I have eaten more nuts than usual. Yes, I have eaten dark chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth. But I have also steered clear of processed food as much as possible. I usually wouldn't eat soup without knowing what was in it exactly, but I kept my portions small.

Day 3: I'm kind of regretting my intense leg and core work yesterday. I went with my sister to her gym here in Tucson. We were the only 2 in the class, which was awesome because I got free training advice. We did kettle bells, Burpees, mountain climbers, squats, pushups, and core work. Ouch!!!

We ate out for lunch and dinner. For lunch I got fish tacos: mahi-mahi with avocado, pico de gallo and salsa. I stayed out of the chip basket! For my clean treat for the week we went to a frozen yogurt place and I got no sugar added mint with berries and walnuts. Dinner was my cheat meal for the week, which might be silly since I have eaten out so much. My splurge was fries and a sandwich. I hadn't had fries in 12 weeks and they were pretty yummy. However, I think I can go another 12 months without any. As for the sandwich, I has wheat bread and the house dressing. Still no sweets. Hip, hip hurray!!!

Day 4: Going home.
Of course I got a cold. I'm sure that it's because of all the travel, stress and lack of sleep. All of throws off my immune system. Last night I think I coughed more than I slept. This morning I got up and went for a slow 3 mile run with my sister. I don't think I could have done more than that.

I ate the food I brought for breakfast and snacks and we grabbed sandwiches at Quiznos for the drive home. I didn't get any sauce but I did have cheese on it. I also got a broccoli soup which I'm sure is not remotely clean, but my throat hurts and I wanted something warm and soft.

All in all, I'm pretty proud of myself. I think that I stuck to all of my goals. It wasn't tight, but i think I made really great choices. I have to admit that a lot of the food was highly mediocre. I am becoming quite the food snob. My favorite meal was the mahi mahi tacos. They were probably the cleanest too since I did not eat the tortillas. I also loved that I never felt stuffed to the point of discomfort. I'm really looking forward to returning home to my normal routine and feeling better.

New mantra and running

I heard this on an Everyday Paleo podcast that I was listening to and it really resonated with me. I don't remember ever eating "non-food" and thinking how great I felt but I do remember always feeling guilty about it. This time is especially difficult because friends and neighbors bring over goodies and there is a plethora of treats at work from co-workers, drug reps, and other offices in town. I put this picture on the lock screen of my phone so that I can see it often and remember why I'm doing this.

I am really missing running. When I was training for the Ragnar, I was running almost everyday. Now because of the weather and my schedule, I'm lucky if I get two runs in a week. I'm even considering joining a gym so that I can use the treadmill-which I despise. I'm looking forward to running in Arizona. I need to sign up for a marathon so that I can commit to at least 3 runs per week- rain, shine, wind, snow, or whatever this crazy Idaho weather might throw at me.

Week 12: I have so much to write about!!!

After last week, I felt so down trodden.  I knew I wasn't going to give up, but I wasn't sure how I was going to start back with being a true clean eater.  I really tried to keep my food clean all week, but by 1:00 on Friday though, my eating fell apart and I made some poor choices which gradually got worse.  By the time I went to Book Club, I had totally undone all my hard work.  Saturday morning, after going to bed at midnight and then getting up at 6 am, I went running with Priscilla.  I felt terrible!!! I think that it was the lack of sleep  and the poor eating on Friday.  After that run, I was once again fully committed to the clean eating lifestyle.  I know that I feel, look and perform better when I eat clean.

This week I learned so much, about so many things that I don't even know where to begin.  I am writing this as an outline so that I can get through everything that I want to write about.

Detoxing: While waiting in the airport in Las Vegas last Sunday, I researched detoxing.  Most of the detox regimens I found were simply clean eating.  Tosca Reno and Rita Catolina's blogs were the most helpful.  I found some good tips and recipes for green smoothies.  The best thing though was the warm lemon water first thing in the morning. I added the tea to it though and it was so rejuvenating.  It is such a great way to start out the day.  I used to also add 1/2 TBSP of flaxseed oil to my smoothies and I have restarted that practice also.  Flaxseed oil is a great fat that also helps to keep your system regular.  All week I drank either green tea or peppermint tea with lemon in the morning, a 24 ounce water container with lemon in it throughout the morning, and water the rest of the day.  I finished the day off with lemon, chamomile, or mint tea with Miralax (a gentle laxative).  I added lots of greens to everything I ate.  I felt like this really helped to clean out my system.  I am going to continue with these practices.

Cross Fit:  This week I also went to my second cross fit class.  I am really sad to say that I was greatly disappointed.  The instructor that was supposed to teach was sick, so one of the "easier" instructors taught the WOD.  I didn't hear him say it, but my friend said that he had said at the beginning of the session that he was going to be easy on us since it was Monday.  If I would have heard that I would have pushed myself harder, but instead, I took it easy so that I could work more on form.  The class got over early and I was thinking "this is it?"  This was on Monday and I had the rest of the week to attend classes for free (with a canned good donation).  On Tuesday I had to work early so I did my own workout and it was a killer.  I worked legs and back and biceps.  I felt like I got more out of that workout than I had a cross fit.  So I started to think- Why had I quit going to the gym?
1. On the days that I work, my time is tight so I don't want to wake up even earlier to account for driving time.
2.  My schedule varies day to day, week to week so it's hard for me to adjust my life to fit into the class schedules.  I wasn't even able to make it back for another session because of time conflicts.
3.  I really enjoy that time I spend by myself.
4.  I can set my fitness routine for the week according to what I have going on in the week.  
I really think that cross fit is an awesome workout for people that only workout 2-3 times week.  I felt like I worked every muscle group and I got some cardio in too.  However, I like to exercise at least 5 days a week (I prefer 6, but sometimes I use Thursday as a rest day).  The workout schedule I am using right now has me doing 5 days of strength training.  On these days I have specific muscle groups that I focus on.  I couldn't figure out how I was going to incorporate an all over body workout into this schedule.

Packing food for a trip:  When I ran in the Ragnar, my husband and I drove to Las Vegas.  Because we had our own vehicle, not only could I bring a cooler full of clean foods, but I was also able to run to the store for anything else I needed.  This last trip to Las Vegas I was limited on what I could bring since I was flying and I relied on other people to drive me around.  This week, however, I am going to try something new.  My daughter and I will both be checking bags, so I am going to take more food in our suitcases.  I am even debating taking my Magic Bullet so I can make shakes in my hotel room.  I will have to figure out my snacks and meals and then decide what to pack.  I will report back on how it goes.

Eating out:  I have been faced with the challenge of eating out a lot lately.  When I plan to eat a cheat meal at a restaurant I know that it is my one cheat of the week so I allow myself to eat what I want.  However, what do I do when I am traveling and I need to eat more than one meal out?  I have also worried about ruining my relationship with my sister and co-workers because I used to go out to lunch with them at least once a week.  This week I had already eaten out on Wednesday night for my husband's work party and then Friday with my friend and I also had book club.  Adding up those meals, I had three cheat meals already for the week. Then on Saturday, my sister wanted me to go to lunch.   I hadn't seen my sister, even though she lives 3 miles away from me, in several weeks so I didn't want to say no, but I also didn't want to cheat again this week.  I called Priscilla, my clean eating coach, and vented to her.  After discussing it, I had an epiphany.  Why does eating out have to mean cheating?  I just need to order the closest thing to what I would eat at home as possible.  Such as grilled chicken and steamed veggies.  Why am I making this so hard on myself.  We didn't end up going to lunch because our children's activities conflicted, but I am so glad that I was faced with that dilemma given that this coming week I will be eating out at least 3 times while traveling.  Also, sometimes it's easier while traveling to pack food for snacks and and breakfast and then eat out for lunch and dinner.  I will just chose foods that are clean and leave off any sauces or dressings.

Sweets:  Oh how I regret my choices on sweets.  I don't know why I have such poor self control when I am confronted with processed sugar.  I love it so much!  I have flip flopped on what I'm going to do with eating sweets so much in the past 12 weeks that I have confused myself.  First, I wasn't going to eat it at all.  Then I was going to only eat it at book club.  Then I decided I could have sweets once a week.  Well, enough is enough!  Sweets only at book club PERIOD!  I am going to have a clean treat weekly though, just to keep myself sane.  These clean treats will either be ones that I make or frozen yogurt (no sugar added) with nuts and fruit.  This will give me a little wiggle room for holidays, birthdays, and special occassions.  That means that all this week I will not be eating sweets at the wedding or while I am out with my sisters.  It also means that I am going to have to bring a clean dessert to Christmas and New Year's celebrations.  What a fantastic plan!!! Right?

I think that I have gotten everything out that I had on my mind.  I apologize that this has ended up being a book.  I need to make my goals for next month, but many of them I have also addressed here.  I am also going to start my daily food and progress journals again (I haven't been keeping them lately).  I'm keeping it clean all week, with one cheat meal and one clean treat.  I haven't figured out how to adjust my workout schedule yet for Thursday and Friday, but I will and it will be awesome.  I'm going to rock this!!!

Week 11: I'm feeling very Dirty!!!

And it's not just because I'm in Sin City. I guess that I just took 2 days off of clean eating. Yes, I feel a little bit guilty,but as George Washington said “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one,” so I will not make excuses for my behavior.

I texted my husband today and told him that I have a stomach ache from eating dirty. He texted me back that falling off the wagon is part of recovery. Funny, but true. I remember writing a post recently about being addicted to sugar. These past 2 days I felt like a recovering alcoholic in a bar, except I'm a recovering sugar-holic in a house filled to the brim with sweets.

Since this is a process, then that means that I'm just trying to figure this out. What did I do right on this trip? I brought healthy snacks and breakfast. I exercised 6 days this week. I have stuck with eating clean, with few cheats for nearly 11 weeks. What did I do wrong? I overrate. I did not limit myself to 1 cheat meal and treat. I just ate whatever for 2 days straight.

This is the question: Since I ate clean for the past 3 months and then ate like crap for 2 days, will it effect my long term goals? Have I totally destroyed my chances of a bikini body? No, even though I have totally taken 2 days off, I can jump back into it tomorrow. I just need to kick myself in the butt and press the reset button. The new me know what to do to live a clean eating lifestyle.

And tomorrow: detox!!! I will be drinking lots of lemon water and green tea.

Cross fit and packing

Today I tried out cross fit. Wowzers!!! I just hope that I can walk tomorrow. There were a lot and I mean A LOT of squats. I'm glad that today was my planned leg day. I really liked cross fit. The gym that I went to today is having a food drive and as long as you bring in a canned good you can try it out for free until next Saturday. I'm going to try it out a few more times next week. It was good to try out something new.

Right now I'm on my way to Las Vegas. I really stressed about what food to pack since I'm flying. I ended up packing oatmeal and walnuts for breakfast, a container of almonds, 6 servings of protein powder, chia seeds, apple cider vinegar, seal packed tuna fish, nutty cookies, and some dark chocolate for snacks. I'll have to go to the grocery store and get bananas, apples, veggies and almond milk. As for my regular meals, I will have to make the best choices that I can since we will be eating out quite a bit. On Saturday night we are going to have a big family dinner, which will be my "cheat" meal.

I have found that if I make a commitment here on my post that I follow through with it better than if I just make it to myself. I'm only going to have one treat while on this trip. I haven't decided what it will be yet though. I know that we will be celebrating my mom's birthday with cake and there will be dessert at the bridal shower. I'm allowing myself to have one sweet and only one. I will report back on this- just to keep me honest. Wish me luck!!!

December Goals

December goals:
1. Will power
2. Take it one day at a time
3. Keep food clean and diet tight
4. Challenging workouts

I'm going to need a ton of will power to keep my paleo/clean eating lifestyle in check this month. I will be traveling for a total of 8 days over the course of the month. And, of course, I haven't forgotten about Christmas. I have a book club dinner, my husband's work party, and at least 2 family parties. My plan is to take each day at a time. It has worked well to write my daily goals down in a journal. As for traveling, I will be able to pack some snacks, but since I'm flying I will have to do some grocery shopping when I can. I figure that protein powder, nuts, and maybe some apples will be easy to pack in a suitcase. Other than that, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do.
I had debated changing my exercise regimen so that I lifted 3 days a week and did cardio the other 3 days. After much contemplation, I realized that I will be able to meet my goals sooner if I stick with lifting 5 days a week. My clean eating/ running buddy, Priscilla, gave me a copy of her weekly schedule. I'm going to follow it, with some changes since I don't have weight machines in my home gym.
A few years ago, someone told me that the reason I didn't like lifting was because I was doing it wrong. Maybe it wasn't the nicest thing to say, but I have realized that she was right. I have actually started to look forward to my workouts. I still prefer cardio, but I don't hate lifting anymore. However, I still do hate pushups and lunges. I'm going to overcome the hate and face it head on. I'm going to devote one day- shoulders, chest, back and triceps day- to pushups. I found a great workout in a fitness magazine that covers all those muscle groups, plus core. What's also great about this workout is that I can do most of it in my hotel room if I'm not able to get to the gym when I'm traveling. I also put lots of lunges into my 2 leg days. I found a leg workout that I can do with a resistance band while traveling also.
I have been debating whether or not I want to do a spring marathon. If I decide to do one, it will be the Utah Valley Marathon on June 8. I will probably follow Hal Higdon's marathon 3 schedule so that I only run 3-4 days per week. This is a 24 week program, so I will have to start training for it at the end of December. Decisions, decisions, decisions...