hometapstoryprogresscontact

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Natural, Organic, Gluten-Free, Conventional....say what??

We've all heard these terms and more describing and classifying our foods, but what the heck do they all mean??
I consulted the Oracle, Wikipedia, for the precise definitions:

ALL NATURAL-  are often assumed to be foods that are minimally processed and do not contain any hormonesantibioticssweetenersfood colors, or flavorings that were not originally in the food.The terms are often misused on labels and in advertisements.
The international Food and Agriculture Organization’s Codex Alimentarius does not recognize the term “natural” but does have a standard for organic foods.
Fundamentally, almost all foodstuffs are derived from the natural products of plants and animals; therefore, any definition of “natural food” results in an arbitrary exclusion or inclusion of food ingredients; likewise, since almost all foods are processed in some way, either mechanically, chemically, or by temperature, it is difficult to define which types of food processing are “natural”.
GLUTEN-FREE - gluten-free diet is a diet that excludes foods containing gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat (including kamut and spelt), barleyrye, malts, and triticale. It is used as a food additive in the form of a flavoring, stabilizing, or thickening agent, often as "dextrin". A gluten-free diet is the only medically accepted treatment for celiac disease, the related condition dermatitis herpetiformis, and wheat allergy.
The term gluten-free generally is used to indicate a supposedly harmless level of gluten rather than a complete absence.
ORGANIC - Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Organic foods are also not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.
Processed organic food usually contains only organic ingredients. If non-organic ingredients are present, at least a certain percentage of the food's total plant and animal ingredients must be organic (95% in the United States, Canada, and Australia) and any non-organically produced ingredients are subject to various agricultural requirements. Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripeningfood irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients. 
CONVENTIONAL - Industrial farming is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestockpoultryfish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are technoscientific, economic, and political. They include innovation in agricultural machinery and farming methods, genetic technology, techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, the application of patent protection to genetic information, and global trade. These methods are widespread in developed nations and increasingly prevalent worldwide. Most of the meatdairyeggsfruits, and vegetables available in supermarkets are produced using these methods of industrial agriculture.
Now, everyone has their own thoughts on this topic and their choice of what they feel is best for their family, and I won't argue. All I know is the difference eating primarily organic foods has done for me and my family. A few examples, notice how much larger non-organic meats and fruits are, this is because of the hormones and other injections to cause them to grow bigger and faster. For instance, when we decided to start buying organic meat, the chicken breasts were significantly smaller and more expensive, which my garbage truck of an eater husband wasn't too happy with. However, when he grilled them, we realized they don't shrink when they cook, and end up actually being the same size as the 'normal' chicken breasts because they shrink a ton! Another story, watermelon and corn on the cob are my absolute favorite summer-time treat. So Norah was just a few months old when they became a regular in my diet, and every time I'd eat corn on the cob, she'd get gassy and fussy. One time it was our turn to bring the corn and the Organic ones were on sale so we got those. I couldn't resist eating it, so I did, and from then on out, she had no problem with corn if it was Organic. Sure enough, when it wasn't organic, she'd get gassy. I seriously could not believe what we had come to realize on poor little Norah's expense. From then on, we knew that it was different. Since then, when Norah started eating real food, we've always bought Organic produce for her and made it ourselves. She has never been sick, no ear infections, rashes, coughs, colds, anything that is very common for babies to get multiple of within their first year. She has only been sick once after the Holidays when she was around tons of other people 24/7 for weeks straight and when everyone was getting the flu/cold bug. I just can't imagine how much quicker she was able to heal because her body was getting proper nutrition to fight off the bug in her little body. Like I said, this can be a heated topic and I don't disagree with anyone, I'm just sharing what I have experienced first hand. With all the early on-set of everything these days, including periods in girls just keeps getting younger and younger, I can't help but think that it has something to do with the added hormones in all of our foods. 

Funniest thing I found in the local grocery store the other day...


Clearly, since these are Gluten-Free and say Healthy Living on the tab, I can eat these because they're totally healthy for me, right? Yeah, I wish! Gotta love all the marketing tactics to try and get the consumer to buy something!









[edit]

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Emotional Eating part 2

So yesterday morning was a little a rough...obviously. Haha, thanks for dealing with my rant. I just wanted to be completely honest, and share how every day is not perfect (not even close) and that is all about recognition. Some of you may not even turn to food like I do in times of stress. It could be anything, but the most important thing is to recognize in those moments why you're turning to your "food". Somewhere in between the chips and Oreos, I started to recognize what I was doing, but wasn't sure why yet so I kept going. Then a little further in to the Oreos, it was coming together and I knew I just needed to step away and get it out, so I did that by splurging it all on here. Once I finally stepped back and just took a deep breath to gather my thoughts and figure out what it was I was really feeling, I understood and knew that going to more food was just going to make me feel worse. 

All of this emotional eating stuff happens on a subconscious level mostly when we are feeling any kind of negative emotions-denied, lonely, sad, repressed, stressed, loss, bored. If you don't address and recognize these feelings that can lead to feelings of unworthiness, low self-esteem, cravings, and excess weight gain just to name a few. The only way to get over it is to recognize when it happens and then STOP AND REMOVE YOURSELF. Once you've done that, just take minute and look a little deeper at what you're feeling so you can identify why you were lead to your "food". Now, you'll be able to actually emotionally heal so emotional eating can be resolved. I'm not saying it will never happen again, hello, it just happened to me yesterday! But learning to deal with it healthily and recognizing it, it will happen less and less. 


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Emotional eating

It's 10:30 am, I've been awake since 6:15 thanks to my lovely daughter and I've successfully scarfed down a banana, toast with honey, two pancakes, enough chips to equal the size of at least a small bag, half a mango, and 6 Oreos...dang, I must have woken up super hungry, right? Normally all I need is a piece of fruit and some egg whites...what happened? 
Emotions is what freakin happened, you don't eat this way out of hunger or because something tastes good. Do you understand that? You don't just go looking for food that doesn't fuel your body and blindly eat when you're happy and sure of yourself. That happens when something is in the way and you don't feel like dealing with it, it just seems easier to stuff some food to make you "feel better". Come on, there's a reason in movies and real life that when a break up happens you always turn to your girls and junk food. 
So what happened to me today? Well, I slept horrible, my ears are so full I can hardly hear, I have a sore throat, runny nose, my daughter has been waking up early for weeks now and it's bugging me because I don't know what to do, my milk supply is dwindling fast out of no where, and I have some kind of pinched nerve or something in my neck that is killing me and has put me at the end of my health straw to keep me from exercising so I don't make any of my sickness or ailments worse. Thats what's making me angry this morning. I killed it last week and was feeling great finally being able to make it to the gym everyday and working hard, then Sunday I wake up with sickness again and I'm so sick of it! I just want to feel normal again. So when I woke up today with this neck thing I about lost it. Then, when I was eating my fifth Oreo the idea popped in my head I just needed to get it out and share my frustrations so if there is someone out there that experiences this same thing, you don't feel alone. Then I let the idea fully sink in after I ate just one more Oreo. Thanks for being my therapist.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Suja Juice Cleanse

Ok ok ok...So here comes the review on the 1 Day Suja Juice cleanse. First, here are my notes that I took throughout the day to give the times I drank everything and my thoughts on it.
I'm just obsessed with the packaging and how pretty they are!
8 am - Lemon water and 24 oz water
9 am - Glow and 24 oz water
           Strong cucumber and celery taste, apple made it sweet.
10 am - I'm hungry but I can hold off, definitely hungry and craving some kind of carb.
11:30 am - Fuel with 24 oz water
                  Strong carrot taste, but the sweetness of the orange makes it pretty good.
12:30 pm - another 24 oz water
1:30 pm - Purify with 24 oz water
                Another really strong cucumber and celery taste.
2:30 pm - Not really feeling hungry anymore and now this seems totally doable. I have been peeing like a race horse!
4 pm - Fiji with 24 oz water
           I'm just so over the cucumber taste, that I need to plug my nose to down it. Really not hungry, wondering how I'm supposed to drink 2 more before 7:30.
6 pm - Green Supreme with 24 oz water
           Not so bad, thought the apples would be more prominent, but the kale over powers it. Saw peppers being chopped and I wanted them so bad they looked so yummy, while the cupcakes looked awful and had no desire for them.
7:30 pm - Vanilla Cloud with 24 oz water
                By FAR the best one of the day! Tasted so dreamy after all the cucumber and celery! I feel light and tight and not hungry at all.

I'm totally over the cucumber and celery taste..obviously

I'll answer some typical questions.
How did the juice taste? If you look above, you can see what I thought about each individual drink, which honestly weren't bad, I've had things MUCH harder to choke down. The hardest part for me was the fact that I was ruined of cucumber and celery tasting purees or juices when doing Tracy Anderson diet. So when 4 of the drinks had varying amounts of those foods, that's all I could taste because I just didn't like it. I'm sure if you have no qualms with cucumber and celery, you'd be just fine. The thing that saved me is that there was no texture, they were all straight up juice which made me very happy and much easier to get down.
Did you lose weight? Although, I did not do this for weight loss at all, I knew this would be a question so I watched it. I did lose 1 pound.
Were you hungry? Up until my third juice, I was feeling hungry. I would have had the 3 juices before 1 pm, but I was just nervous that I was going to go through them too fast, but that was not the case at all. Literally around 3 pm, I wasn't hungry at all, I was actually wondering how I was going to finish all of them because I was feeling too full.
How much did it cost? I found them on sale for $7.99 a piece at Whole Foods. Which is not much more than if you bought all of the ingredients and made it on your own. I don't have a juicer, nor did I want to spend the time, so I feel like the price is fair. So 6 juices for $8 each, just under $50.
Where do I find them? You can find them on the Suja juice website, where if you order them online, they will deliver them straight to your house. You can also see on their website where it is offered in a Whole Foods or other stores near you. 
Did it do what you expected? Let me just say, I was skeptical...for sure! What was 1 day going to do? I was hoping for a little 'reset', help my body crave good things again, and get me to clean out as much bad stuff as it could in just a day. I'll tell you what, it SURPASSED my expectations. It was incredible how good I felt the next day and how I didn't want anything that wasn't going to aid in fueling my body. I just wanted clean clean clean food! I felt great and had a renewed strong desire to eat clean to reach my goals and most importantly, fuel my body with the best things for it.

End result..I would love to do this every month if I could, but I will do it at least every quarter! I'm hoping next time I do it in April that I can try a 3 day and see how that goes! I would seriously recommend this to anyone and everyone, even if it's just 1 day, you'll still see benefits from it.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Sugar & Spice Pork

 Before you judge because you typically don't like pork, try this recipe! I have made it for so many not-so-much-pork people and have converted them with this simple and delicious recipe! Pork tenderloin is right next to chicken breasts in the leanness of the meat, with upwards of 26 grams of protein per 4 oz. serving, so it's a great and tasty alternative for keepin' it clean and lean. The hubs always begs me to make it, and sounds of pure joy are sure to be heard when he takes like every bite...it's pretty much become expected now. So here's my spin off the one found in the P90X cookbook.

Recipe for: 2 lbs lean pork tenderloin

1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all these ingredients together in a little bowl, and put off to the side.

Take pork tenderloin cuts (about 4 oz. each) and lightly coat both sides with EVOO. Then sprinkle spice rub over both sides to marinade (if time allows).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When you're about 20 minutes from eating dinner, start the meat. First, put a little bit of EVOO in a skillet on high heat. Place tenderloins in skillet until brown, two minutes on one side then 2 minutes on the other.


Put tenderloins on a baking sheet, and put about 1 tbsp of brown sugar on top of each cut. pat it down until the top is covered evenly with the brown sugar. Place in oven until cooked. It usually takes anywhere between 15-20 mins for these puppies to cook, it juts depends on the thickness of the cuts. It's really easy to over-do pork, so for the most moist(please excuse, i hate that word, and can't think of another one)and tender outcome, be sure to check it starting around the 15 minute mark. This may mean to just cut open the top of one and make sure it's white inside and no pink juices flow out.

and voila...you have an oh, so tasty and perfectly healthy switch up to the meats you probably normally use in dinners. You can thank me later:)


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Up to date

Last week I got to take a little 'break' and go back to work for a couple days in Florida. I train dentists and their staff how to do amazing therapies that help give people their lives back, it's an amazing treatment that I've been lucky enough to be a part of for over 3 years now. I now just help them out with these trainings that are just a few days every month being held at either NOVA dental school in Ft. Lauderdale or UNLV in Las Vegas. It sounds much more glamorous than it really is, I didn't even get to step foot on the beach or sit outside for longer than 10 minutes...boo:( Although, the break from teen degree weather was very much appreciated! BIG thanks to my hubby and in-laws for taking care of my little peanut while I was away.

In other news, I have been wanting to do a cleanse and you guys have asked about them. I have been researching for a while now because pretty much every cleanse you can't do while pregnant or nursing, so I've been a bit out of luck with the whole formal cleanse thing, and just trying to eat healthy to keep my body clean. However, I have been taking a bit of an eating vacation, relatively speaking, because of the Holidays and what not. Now, I'm totally craving sweets like all the time, and Norah is eating a lot more solid foods so I'm in need of a RESET. The one "cleanse" that I've read countless of positive reviews on is the Suja Juice Cleanse. They have a 1, 3, or 5 day cleanse, I'm just opting to do the 1 day to see how it goes, with the possibility of doing a multiple day one when I am no longer breastfeeding as much. I'm not too nervous about doing it because in the juices alone, you're getting 1,200 calories a day, so hunger really isn't a major issue, unlike other ones where the word 'cleanse' is a synonym for 'starve'. I'll also be adding in some other fruits and veggies throughout the day too. I will be doing this cleanse on Thursday, so you can look forward to my review and further details on it in the very near future. I'm a bit skeptical to see if doing just 1 day does what they claim, so I'll give it a go and let you know if it's worth it.

via www.sujajuice.com






Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The Dark Truth

In case you didn't know, I have been a Master Aesthetician going on 4 years now and one of the things I learned in school, along with what I'm sure all of us have heard, is how to prevent skin cancer. I came across an article in my Women's Health mag that made me finally do a post about what I've been thinking about for so long.

First some facts...
Skin Cancer (Melanoma-the most deadly form) is the 2nd cause of death in the U.S.
Since the introduction of tanning beds 35 years ago, melanoma cases in women have gone up 705%
In the sun and tanning beds, UVA rays (the "A"ging rays) break down the skin's collagen and elastin...meaning, you've caused permanent damage that will lead to wrinkles, saggy skin, and sun spots ....aka, GROSSNESS of the skin and especially face!
It can happen to ANYONE and ANY AGE

Best prevention tools....
If you learn 1 thing from this post..WEAR SUNSCREEN EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. At least on your face and neck, please! I don't care if it's cold and cloudy outside and you feel like you're not getting any ray exposure..YOU ARE!
Don't you EVER go in to a tanning bed, unless of course it is Rx by a dermatologist because you have some special case.
If you need to be tan, get a SPRAY TAN! I know plenty of girls that are amazing at this service, and you can a much prettier, more specialized, and healthier tan.

Now don't get me wrong, I am the BIGGEST sun baby and would rather be on a beach than anywhere in the world. All I'm saying is, don't be dumb about it. Protect your skin. It's the largest organ on our body, meaning, you've got a pretty high chance to damage a couple centimeters of it bad enough to cause some serious damage.

Some advice, I'm not saying go to a grocery store and buy the 100 SPF body sunscreen We don't want you smelling like that craziness OR putting that on your face. UGH! Also, a little tidbit - if an SPF is over 35 Broad Spectrum SPF, it's filled with chemicals to make it higher. 30 SPF is plenty of coverage, no need to add more chemicals to your skin. My absolute favorite I've used is Image Tinted SPF Moisturizer , it gives you a little bit of color/coverage so you don't feel so bare, it smells divine, and it feels fabulous on your skin. It's oil-free so no worries if your skin freaks out easily, then moisturizes on top of it which it vital for your skin health and appearance.
If you have questions, please just ask. I can get this Image stuff I've talked about for you since it is a professional line.

Please remember, total skin health is a lot more than just washing your face with soap or water and putting on sunscreen. For best results and best ways to help protect your skin, please don't hesitate to ask me:)

Friday, January 11, 2013

Really...? Bring on the antiox's!

Of course, right when I'm ready to kick into high gear after being out almost 3 weeks, little N gets sick for the first time in her life and then I get sick. (Did I mention that this all happened on the day we were planning a romantic getaway for our 4 year anniversary?? Yeah, we got to cancel our reservations that night and plans the following day to come home to a baby that woke up every 20 minutes that night....needless to say, we're having a do-over in a couple weeks.)anyways....
 It's been awesome to not be able to move without feeling achy muscles and seeing measurable results. I wanted to keep riding that wave without any setbacks, at least this early in the game. Thus is life. It means more reason to eat healthy so my body can heal. So, here is a healthy, yummy, vitamin rich, immune boosting smoothie to help you along if you're family has caught the bug too.

.........I'm having some technical difficulties uploading a picture of the smoothie on here since im on my mom's iPad, so please forgive the absence of a picture. It might be a better thing that there's not a picture because frankly, it doesn't look appetizing at all. It really taste 10 times better than it looks though, so don't freak out when you blend it all up.

1 cup orange juice
5 strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1 banana or 1/2 cup pineapple
1 large handful spinach
1 scoop protein (optional)

This is PACKED with antioxidants and immune boosters, so do your body a favor and blend all this goodness up and I guarantee it'll give you a boost!


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Pay Off

Nothing feels better than moving towards your goals. Period. Especially when it's required hard work, endless moments of motivating yourself, time, and dedication.

I got my body fat tested back in September and was finally able to get it tested again to see my measurable results. At EXL Fitness, they use the most accurate manual form of body fat/muscle mass testing by using calipers. Essentially, the calipers pinch your fat in 4 or 7 different areas and it shows in millimeters how much fat it can pinch...best way to describe it haha. I have been anxious/scared to get it retested because of the nervousness it stirs inside me to want to see great results, but knowing I had been slacking off quite a bit for the last 3 weeks because of the holiday treats and other health issues that made it impossible for me to exercise. Not a good combo to happen right before body fat testing to say the least. So, onto the exciting and fun stuff! I took a picture of the paper we wrote it down on, although looking at it meant nothing to me until I understood what it all meant. I won't bore you with what each thing means, but spotlight the important ones and celebrate it, because after all, it is something to celebrate. Being proud of my accomplishments is a new thing for me - and it feels good.


9/8/12 
Weight - 144.5 lbs
Body Fat % - 26.08%
Fat Mass (lbs) - 37.69 lbs                                                       TOTALS
Lean Body Mass (muscle) - 106.81 lbs                                    -6.5 LBS
                                                                                                 -8% BODY FAT                      
                                                                                                 -12.91 LBS OF FAT
                                                                                                 +6.41 LBS OF LEAN MUSCLE
1/7/13                                                      
Weight - 138 lbs 
Body Fat % - 17.95%
Fat Mass - 24.78 lbs
Lean Body Mass - 113.22 lbs        

I was SHOCKED when I saw these numbers! To lose almost 13 lbs of straight up fat while adding over 6 lbs of lean muscle is not what I was expecting at all! It's practically a given that when you lose weight a portion of that will be a loss of muscle as well, but the fact that muscle was actually gained while losing that much fat is incredible, especially while breastfeeding because that definitely does not build muscle. I couldn't be happier and more proud of the results I'm seeing at EXL . Their methods straight up WORK. They are doing a team 2013 Contest that starts on January 14th that's a killer deal and awesome motivator to get you fast-tracked to your fitness goals. You do it with a team of 4 and it's 6 weeks long. I would be more than happy to do it with anyone who is interested! Or if you just wanna go try it out, go to their homepage and click the "FREE TRYOUT" button to go in and get a real feel for what you can expect there. Let me know if you're going and I'll plan to meet you there!    

Monday, January 7, 2013

Stair Cardio

When it comes to exercise, it's all about switching things up. Always keep your body guessing, it gets used to doing the same thing and adapts very well. One of my favorite things to do on a cardio day, or even a day where you want to get your heart pumping but not have to think about it....STAIRS!!!


Hop on the stair throne at your gym, input your details, and go for 20-30 mins on 'Speed Intervals' with the high level being one that you feel pretty challenged doing, then on the rest level, one that keeps your heart rate elevated, but a few levels below your high intensity. For example: doing levels 12 and 8, 13 and 9, 11 and 7, so on...you get the picture. You can also mix it up on the low intensity levels by turning to the side and stepping up, or on the high intensity doing two stairs at a time. Not only will you get a great cardiovascular workout, but also a nice leg and booty sculpting action.

I'm sure if you listen to this song, it'll get you right in the mood. Enjoy the BOOTY WURK!!