Cleaning up your diet

When I wake up in the morning I take a shower and brush my teeth and then i sit in bed for a few minutes reading emails on my Iphone and checking out all of my daily deals and health tips.  I read them all, but some of them are more meaningful than others.  This morning the email was from Prevention and it was called 9 Ways to Clean Up Your Diet.

I thought that it was really interesting and thought that I would share it with you.  Check out the article and also Prevention's website.  They have great health tips and recipes on there.  I am not getting paid to endorse them, I just think that their site is awesome and love getting their emails!

1. 86 (get rid of) the processed junk.
Ditch the soda and corn oil.  I am four weeks into kicking soda to the curb and honestly I feel better than ever and my sugar cravings have seriously decreased.  Will I never have a soda again in my life? No, but it is becoming a very rare occurance and I like that.  Also try to replace white bread and things with refined flour with other items that have whole grains or wheat in them.

2. Buy organic when you can for your lifestyle.
The article suggests that buying organic produce if you're a vegetarian is wise.  I am not a vegetarian, but I still try to buy organic when I can.  I get that their message is that organic is expensive, so if you eat meat you should try to buy your meat without hormones, grass-fed and natural and stick to the regular produce to save money.

3. Stick to the four corners of the store.
I read this everywhere, but it is so true.  Stick to the outside perimeter of the grocery store and avoid the overly processed and fattening foods found in the middle.  I have been working on this for the past month and really it is true.  Everything that is good for you is usually on the outside of those long dreade aisles.

4. Read the labels.
This seems really obvious for someone who is trying to lose weight, but it is more than just looking at the fat, calories and protein.  You should skeep to the bottom and see what is IN the food that you are putting IN your body.  If you can't say it, skip it.  The more simple the ingredients, the better!

5. Consider the nutrients first.
This goes along with reading the label.  Make sure that your hard earned money lasts longer and get things that pack a nutritional and filling punch.  Think fiber, protein, minerals and vitamins and not things high in fat, calories, sugar and carbohydrates.

6. Say NO to eating out.
Buy a cute apron and cook at home.  I know that Ron and I have struggled with some of the food that we are eating and we still miss our favorite restaurants, but we are really loving cooking together.  It makes eating the food a lot more enjoyable too!

7. Tastebud Makeover.
Do your tastebuds crave the the sweet and salty demons from your past?  Try to retrain your tastebuds to crave the good stuff.  I know that this is easier said than done.  I have by no means mastered this yet.  The article suggests that one way to move over is to try introducing some of your favorite foods with healthier alternatives in varying amounts until you are evntually eating the healthy one entirely.  Personally, I am a cold turkey kind of girl.  If I try to ween myself off of it I will only miss it more.

8. 80-20
Ever make a dieting plan and get so wrapped up in it and cut everything out that you find yourself one month later binging and losing control?  Make and 80-20 rule.  That means you should try and eat clean and healthy 80% of the time and the other 20% you can allow yourself to indulge a little bit.

9. Find a new way to love food.
This one is hard.  Food is so comforting and non-judgemental and soothing.  It really should be an enjoying thing, but you should choose things that are healthy and in the right portions to enjoy.  It is when we indulge too much or with the wrong food that our love for it becomes unhealthy.

Happy Wednesday!  I have a presentation today for a Leadership class that I am taking at work and I am nervous.  I have been doing it for 6 months now, so I should be over it, but I just get stage fright worrying about if I have memorized it or not.  Oh well!  Tomorrow's post is going to be the one about clothes and Friday is my 100th post and I am giving away two prizes that will be announced tomorrow!

Girl's Night, Grocery Shopping and New Food

So, Tuesday night was one of our first girl's nights in a long time.  My friends and I have been really busy moving, traveling and working so it has been hard to get together, but somehow all 7 of us were able to get together on Tuesday night.  To say that we had a blast is a complete understatement.  We laughed until we cried and laughed some more and drank too much wine (okay not me because I didn't want to waste the calories).  My girlfriends are amazing and I love them all!  Some of them I have known since I was 7 years old!  They are all great in their own unique ways, but we all get along so well as a group.

What is the other great thing about hanging out with my girlfriends?  They are all a healthy weight and for the most part they make healthy decisions, so hanging out with them doesn't leave me with guilt.  In fact I am surprised I have gone on this long with skinny friends and I haven't started losing weight sooner.  Anyway, we made veggie and chicken kabobs and fresh corn on the cob and it was amazing!

This was before cooking, but don't they look great!?

After having this fresh, healthy and satisfying meal on Tuesday I was inspired to pull out all of my healthy cookbooks and do some meal planning.  My fiance and I each took a book and looked for 4 recipes that we wanted to add to our list.  I went out grocery shopping yesterday and I got everything on the list and nothing that wasn't on the list.  This is normally hard for me.  I used to go grocery shopping and buy everything that looked good to me (which was pretty much everything salty, fatty, cheesy and not healthy).  This time I avoided all of the bad foods like a pro. 

I got to the check out and the person in front of me was extreme couponing.  I have seen the show, so I know how it goes, but to actually see it happen in front of your eyes is surreal.  This woman bought $600 worth of groceries and paid $23.42 for them.  I was SHOCKED.  My shocked feeling quickly turned to bitterness after I checked out and spent $143.00  Blah.  I packed up my food and drove home crabby.  I got home and set out all of my food and then it hit me. I got a lot of good food!  I have tons of healthy options.  I remembered some of the woman's order in front of me and it was at least 10 bags of chips, 6 packages of cookie dough, 20 frozen pizzas, frozen fries, donuts and about 10 packs of pop.  So, when I think about it like that it is easier for me to think,

"I would rather spend $143 for healthy food, than $23.42 for WAY more food than I could eat or need to eat that will not help me get to my goal!"

Having said all of this, if you know a way to healthy extreme coupon I am all ears.  I am not knocking couponing in the least, but it just doesn't seem beneficial for me to extreme coupon since I only have two people to feed and healthier options don't seem to be as cheap as the other food.  Check out my haul below. 

I think I did pretty good!  What do you think?  I had to take two seperate photos because I couldn't fit it all in one photo.  A lot of the things that I got are items that I normally buy when I am eating healthy, however there are some new things that I have heard about or that I saw in the store and wanted to try.

Shantal over at My Journey talked about Veggie Straws the other day, so I had to try them.  They were not disappointing and perfect for someone who misses her crunchy salty chips.

A couple of recipes call for this.  I have to admit I am a little scared of it.

A couple of recipes call for this.  The word germ is kinda of gross, but I am willing to give it a shot!

Some fresh herbs and some deliciously hot jalapenos.

Do you have Salsa Lisa by you?  If you do go and get it!  It is a local MN company and I always try to buy local.  Even better than that though it is freshly chopped, with limited preservatives and thus less sodium (only 80mg per serving rather than like 200+ in other salsas.

Hmmm, Ginger.  Will I like eating you?  I like ginger ale, but actually ginger is up for debate. 

Stay tuned to see what I use this in later tonight when I post the first recipe from our weekly meal planning. :)