All About Sugar

Making delicious food is a huge part of our culture. We do eat 3-6 times a day, depending on who you are and what kind of schedule you keep. That's a lot of eating. We are talking over 1,000 meals/snacks a year for each person, on the conservative end. Most likely around 2,000 times a year you're putting food in your mouth. This is also a big opportunity. Throughout each day you are forming what kind of body you want and how you plan for it to function, whether intentional or not.

We love food a lot. I am a healthy food obsesser, but I do have a sweet tooth. So much that we help open pie shops and I spend time preparing pies with other people. (: 

With how much we eat, the food industry is logically quite large. One basic defining factor of what you'll eat, the taste. Is it edible enough to chew multiple times and swallow? What about variety? We don't want to eat the exact same food over and over, each day. We also strive for convenience. Nowadays you could have a kitchen without ever using it, or you can be stuck in it for hours, making from scratch meals for your family. 

Pizza night at home is always yummy. Takes some time in the kitchen, but so worth it. Yes, this deep dish was quite amazing.

If you're on the end of hardly using your kitchen, this most likely means things come in packages, boxes or from restaurants (which typically means you're still eating from a bag or box). This also means you have no idea what you are ingesting. You can't see what ingredients they are putting in their food, which goes in your body. We know there are bound to be lots of things that aren't good, and one item in particular is sugar. This sweet and tasty substance ends up everywhere and in almost everything. We rely on it to tantilize our taste buds and our body starts to rely on it in many ways. From your brain becoming addicted to it like any drug, or bacteria and yeast growing rampant causing havoc on your organs, your hormones being thrown off course, your body metabolising it into fat, and not to mention killing your pancreas, sugar tastes good and goes down all wrong (read HERE). We also drink massive amounts of sugar. One soda can having 48 grams of HFCS, that's a problem. Read more about sugar and drinks HERE. 

We as a nation, consume more than 4 times more sugar in a year than less than a hundred years ago. It used to be about 25 pounds a person per year, and now it's over 100 pounds/person/year. I think this is something worth looking at and investigating. We know that regular consumption of sugar causes bad bacteria and yeast overgrowth in our bodies, which is linked to diseases, cancer, obesity, infections, and not to mention mood swings, depression, and diabetes. It's time to start really looking at what we are consuming. 

I believe there are 2 folds to sugar consumption. The first is what type, and the second is how often. Is it realistic that you would NEVER consume refined sugar? No. Ok, so the quality of the entire food you are consuming will have a dramatic effect on your body, whether it contains sugar or not. A Little Debbie cake is going to impact your body differently than a from-scratch cupcake. Why? The ingredients and preservatives that work together with the sugar in the boxed item have many more compenents to cause damage than something fresh made without the preservatives and more quality chosen ingredients. 

cupcakes made from scratch by yours truly- yes I make desserts sometimes (and they rock).

Sugar comes in many forms when you eat out of packages. Let's name a few to lookout for when you read the labels. These forms can wreak havoc on your body....

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS), fructose, glucose, agave nectar, brown rice syrup, barley malt, cane juice crystals, cane sugar, caramel, Carob syrup, caster sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, crystalline fructose, dextran, diastase, ethyl maltol, invert sugar, malt syrup, maltodextrin, maltose, muscovado sugar, panela, panocha, confectioners sugar, yellow sugar

These are still forms of sugar but would be seen as "better sugars" which I can agree with a little bit. I would choose these over the first set of sugar ingredients but remember that they are still sugar.

evaporated cane juice, fruit juice concentrates, galactose, golden sugar, brown sugar, oat syrup, rice bran syrup, sorghum, sucrose, tapioca syrup, turbinado sugar, organic raw sugar, coconut sugar, and sugar. 

Yup, that peanut butter pie was as good as it looks. 

What's the lesson here? Don't be deceived when looking at packages because obviously there are many forms of sugar and they like to hide it from us. Also, again, just go for the real stuff. If you're going to eat a piece of cake, or pie, know that you're eating sugar in there. But if it's been made in a kitchen, and you can talk to the person who made (not a factory) it and find out the ingredients, then your body will be able to at least metabolism the food properly. If we want to avoid sugary foods, then don't go for "sugar free" items, those are riddled with chemicals that destroy the metabolism, endocrine system, and deposit fat, more so than regular sugar. They are foreign invaders. If you want a cookie, just whip out a batch yourself instead of heading to the store for a package.

What are some better alternatives in recipes? 

I recommend honey, maple syrup, applesauce, unsweetened cocoa powder, cinnamon, pureed fruit or fruit juices (like pineapple juice). 

Muffins made with zucchini, banana, honey, applesauce, cinnamon, and ancient grains. Winner.

Sometimes a dash of cinnamon or mashed up banana can be the perfect sub to give food a yummy taste but keep sugar out. The more we can incorporate whole food options (substances that haven't been stripped and processed) the better for our health. Women should be consuming up to 35 grams of sugar a day and men 45 grams. This does not include fruit. Fruit does have sugar but when we compare whole foods with the fiber and vitamins, there's no comparison, really. It does not affect our blood sugar in the same way and doesn't wreak havoc on hormones or organs. 

double fisting carrots and red peppers

In all honesty, the best way to avoid hidden sugars, is the simplest and easiest way, to eat foods without labels.....whole foods. So much easier to discern and takes a lot of the work out of trying to figure it out. I know, I preach it from the mountain tops, but seriously there aren't substitutes to fuel our bodies. And seriously, when you want to have a dessert, just know that you're having sugar and keep it to once and while situations. It's not that you can't ever have it, but we need to be scaling it back from several times a week occassions, to more of a monthly occassion, your body will thank you. 

Yes we let our girls have donuts as a treat....you think they eat veggies 24/7? We're human.

Boxed items are made of mostly the same ingredients, and we've trained our taste buds to crave the same things. The great thing about eating whole foods is opening yourself up to a new world of tastes. I continue to really enjoy it. The balance of sugar and whole foods is to lean more on the whole foods end. You'll be surprised at how you start to crave foods filled with vitamins and minerals and not be tempted by snack cakes and store bought cookies. Maybe I'll have to post some new recipes of things I have been trying?? 

But seriously, nothing better. Reallly, nothing better than right there :)

Flavored Water: a Go or a No?

We all know the negative stats on drinking regular and especially diet sodas, but what about flavored water? Diet Coke used to be my go-to drink. I've always been light on the flavored drinks though. When I was a kid, I couldn't have milk products because I am lactose intolerant. So they switched me to juice boxes. That failed when I broke out in hives everytime I had one because of the citric acid. You can see my aversion to things? Diet Coke did find a place with me at dinner time though. Then I switched to Sprite and Mountain Dew when I found out how bad Diet Coke was for me, and I haven't had one since (Spring 2006). Then with HFCS coming out about how awful that was, I ditched my flavored fake sugar and went for a "healthy" alternative, flavored water. My choice was Crystal Light. 

What a great choice right? It comes in small packets for your water bottle or bigger ones to make 2 quart batches. Light on calories, no sugar, tastes good, it's a win-win-win? Well sadly, I left that train a few years ago. No more flavored water for me. Geesh right? I know. But have you ever looked at the ingredients on your flavored water? Most are riddled with the ingredients "potassium sorbate, red 40, polysorbate 60, citric acids, flavorings" etc. and it is compiled with another list of ingredients made up in a lab. 

I advertise it EVERYWHERE; eat whole foods. God created an abundant source of delicious flavors that we don't need to come up with in a lab. So do flavored waters get my stamp of approval? No. That's just the way it is. Have I looked at every single one out there? No. Could there be good sources at the stores? Possibly. If you love flavored drinks, feel free to shoot me a pic of the ingredients list and I can walk you through if it's a good choice or not. 

So I bet you're wondering, what do I drink? Anyone who knows me can attest that I drink water. I love the stuff! Did you know that water makes up about 75% of your body? Yup. It has massive amounts of benefits for your body. I know it's crazy! How simple and satisfying. Did you know that properly filtered water has no negative side effects on the body? Amazing. We need it to live, literally. So that's the scoop on what I 99.9% of the time drink throughout the day and with meals. Are there other things I drink that have flavor? Yes. Are they healthy? Yes. Let me explain....

Juiced drinks. I use a combination of fruits and vegetables to come up with a tasty and amazingly healthy drink. Smoothies. I also love smoothies and have these regularly. Juiced drinks are typically heavier on the vegetables side and smoothies are heavier on the fruit. I post very regulary drink ideas and have several on my blog as well. 

What are other alternatives if you don't have a juicer or high powered blender? Flavor water yourself. Woah. Yes. Slices of lemons, limes, cucumbers, fresh mint, strawberries, raspberries, oranges, the options are vast. Squeeze some into your drink or crush them in. Letting them sit will add flavor. Experiment with herbs, add some honey, and don't be afraid to try something new. Pinterest has a host of ideas that you can easily find. I make my own lemonade. Sometimes I use sugar, but it's at least real, and I have found that you can sweeten almost as well with honey. I have lemonade recipes you are welcome to try that taste really good (HERE, HERE, HERE). 

What's the take-away? Well now you know that I don't advise anyone to drink flavored waters, but I think there are plenty of alternatives that will not dissapoint. The more water we can ingest, the more healthy we will be. We know this is supported time and time again. Once again, God's provision is the winner :)

6 Exercises for Wearing Your Summer Tank Tops

Who's ready for warm weather?!!! ME. Well, since I am looking forward to summer and tanktops, I figured I would post about some arm exercises...yay! These are just a few and definitely aren't an exhaustive list but you can do most of them anywhere. So start getting ready for summer!

#1 Plank

Planking is not just a core activity, it is a shoulder and arm workout. Start with 30 seconds at a time and work your way up. 

#3 Plank with Arm Reaches

After your arms are getting tired, jazz it up even more with spreading your legs a little wider and reaching each arm out, alternating arms. Count how many you can do and beat it each time after. Again, this will also work your core plus balance...multi-tasking during a workout is a beautiful thing. 

#4 Posterior Deltoid Raise

There's a smaller muscle that can easily get neglected, it's your posterior deltoid. Whaty what you say?! Your shoulder is made up of 3 heads; anterior, medial, and posterior. The posterior is at the back and is a small muscle. I am doing a lunge, learning forward with a flat back, and lifting my pinky towards the sky, keeping my arm uniform and making my shoulder a hinge. Work on 10-12 reps each set.

#5 Push-ups

I can't help you work the arms without having push-ups in here. These rock your world! Start on your knees if you have to but these will work all aspects of your arms, plus they are portable so whip them out wherever you go ;) Get in at least 10 and work your way up.

#6 Tricep Push-ups

Top concern for women wearing tank tops? Arm jiggle. Yup. So get down with another portable push-up and work on those tricep push-ups. The key is rotating your elbows and pushing them into your ribs when you go down. Beginners will probably want to start on the toes and just practice, it takes some time to master the form of this one. Bye bye jiggle. 

There you have it. Almost every one of these exercises doesn't use equipment and will define your arms. I'd love to see pics of you getting ready for summer! 

Dear Woman who is 'Fat and Happy'

Ever since I read this BLOG POST, my heart has been aching, burdened really. The point of the blog post was to say that this woman is much happier "fat" than when she was "thin." She goes through all the things she did to get thin. 1,000 calories a day, countless hours at the gym away from her kids, 3 hours of sleep at night, 12 hour work-shifts, it goes on. I watched an interview with her about this post and she said that she was an exercise bulimic. Now, she takes care of her children, is "fat" unapologetically, and she is happy.

My heart is burdened because there are so many of us in the same boat. Why do you think we are at an all-time high of obesity and fad diets available to us? We go from extreme to extreme, thinking one or the other will make us happy, and it's because it's all based on our momentary happiness....Don't like the weight you are? Great! Go on this crazy low calorie diet, take these pills and exercise 3 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now you're burnt out and lost 30 pounds? Great! It's your perogative to eat what you want, when you want, and not feel guilty. The only guilt you should feel is not doing what you want to do....

Seth Godin says, "Your comfort zone is not your safe zone." We tend to think that what is comfortable is good for us and what's safe is comfortable. But we all know that getting pushed outside your comfort zone molds us, helps us rise to the occasion, builds determination and benefits our character. As an exercise therapist, I learned the "Disuse Syndrome." It means you "use it or you lose it." Your body needs exercise and good nutrients to function at it's prime. If we stop taking care of our bodies, it will deteriorate, which is why 99.9% of health ailments, surgeries, and injuries benefit from some form of exercise. Put an arm in a cast and it will heal but it also loses muscle and needs to be strenghtened again or eventually your arm would lose it's function. Our whole body is the same way. We all know what exercise and good eating habits do for us. These habits help us to truly thrive and enjoy life without being at the same risk for depression, diabetes, diseases, and sickness for those at an unhealthy weight, poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. I don't want to continue more in depth on that because I think it's really quite plain, and EXTREMELY well known the benefits of regular exercise and eating healthy; which is concerning that it appears being thin or fat is being made to be purely about happiness.

Here's the problem with basing our decisions and our lifestyles on "happiness." It's not safe. It's unstable and it's fluid. It's turning what we know is best for us and wise, into an enemy of our happiness because it doesn't make us 'feel good' all the time. And then we fall into the trap. We run after our happiness and continually get in a tangled mess, and truth is confusing because in our world truth is subjective. 

I feel like this woman touched on two ends of the spectrum. Thin, unhealthy, and miserable, but also fat, unhealthy and happy. I saw the other things that contributed to her unhappiness during her thin years. I really want to give her a hug, in all honesty. But I struggle with her message because I just don't think "fat and happy" is the solution. Now, do I think people who are "fat" should be miserable or unhappy? Certainly not. Do I think running yourself ragged and barely eating are the right ways to be a size 4? Never. I do think that we should be content in whatever stage we are in, while moving towards wholeness for our bodies and our lives. I don't think every woman fits into a size 4 box either. We are all different and need to celebrate those differences. It's about how we are filling our time, our mindset, and what we are continually fueling our bodies with. It's a balance that I am really trying to convey in this post. 

One of my clients who has been losing weight without dieting or running ragged. 

What's the answer? Or what's my proposal, really? What I propose is summed up into one word; Jesus. When He is the focus of our lives, it's no longer about "my happiness" because it's all about walking with Him and finding our identity in Him. It's about honoring Christ with our schedules, our rest, our food intake. It is a journey for wholeness, with ourselves, and our world. Wholeness comes when we let go of our life to let Jesus steer it. Wholeness with Christ, is a continual renewal and healing of the good gone bad. It's when you are freed from exercise bulimia and can safely get in a 30 minute workout doing something you enjoy, without obsessing over the food you ate while exercising. Wholeness is a daily peace from God and not from a midnight pizza and milkshake. Wholeness is gathering around a table with friends and family to share a nutritious meal, while just loving on the people you are with, instead of burdened by every calorie you are consuming. Wholeness is looking in the mirror, and smiling, realizing that you are beautiful, unique and represent the image of God, His beloved child. Wholeness is modeling for your children that exercise is not confined to a gym and eating healthy is not pre-packaged diet food. Wholeness is balancing work and rest. It's having enough energy to run around with your kids and grandkids without just sitting on the sidelines. Waking up an hour early to pray, exercise, and shower are healthy disciplines that can steer the rest of your day with wisdom, energy, and a clear mind. But it's also taking days off exercise when you've been going 100 miles an hour chasing after kids and keeping up with life. Practicing discipline and balancing rest, as a result of strength from the One who made us, is more than seeking happiness, it's a meaningful life. 

Another client who has energy, eats enough, and is in her 50's.

So to the woman who is "fat and happy," I say please don't settle for what feels comfortable. Please don't be the spokesperson for "giving up" on being healthy to seek fleeting happiness. Left to our own devices, we all can end up at an unhealthy state, on either end of the "thin or fat" spectrum. I encourage you to be the spokesperson for giving up on your momentary happiness and trade it for lasting joy with Someone who will save your life, and change it more than you thought possible. Freedom doesn't come when we chase after what makes us happy, it comes when we chase after Who makes us whole.

Stop and Taste the Food

I recently read an article on why it's beneficial to chew your food slower and longer (read here). The benefits are quite amazing. It's interesting to see how the things we end up bypassing as a culture, seem to be the things that breathe life into us. Creating on-the-go meal replacements or the drive-thru, accommodates our busy schedules but has a bigger impact than imagined, I suspect. From the statistics of how well kids do in school when families gather around a table at night, to the types of food consumed, and down to how long we chew, the table is quite important.

We gather as an extended family often :)

Chewing slower actually starts a whole digestive process that begins with your saliva. It releases chemicals in your gut to prepare digesting the food, it triggers hormone indicators, and insuline response. Saliva even protects your teeth from decay. 

Family night out at the mall. 

Your body's response time is 20 minutes to realizing that you're eating. How many of us are done in under 10 on a regular basis? We are conditioned to eat quickly do we can move on to the next "important task." Studies show that people who chew their food longer and slow down, are able to maintain a healthy waistline. Also, when eating with others, we tend to put a little less on our plates or not get up to grab seconds. Maybe God is trying to speak to us. The evidence even shows us how He intended us to spend meal times. Slowing down. Talking. Building relationships. Chewing. Not scarfing. But savoring. 

"When we stop everything else to gather around the table and eat a meal made by someone's hands, we honor our bodies and the God who created them. We honor the world He made and the beauty of creation. And in that moment we acknowledge that even though life is fast and frantic, we're not machines and we do require nourishment, physically and otherwise." Bittersweet by Shauna Niequest.

It's no coincidence that the physcial and spiritual intersect. It's not just what you eat, it's how you eat. I think God wants to bring wholeness into our lives through the foods we consume and the manner in which we consume them. The dinner table has the power to be spiritually formative in our lives. We develop practices that can set the tone and pace of our lives. From recalling about your day, to sharing your dreams, to feeling safe enough to share a struggle, to praying, to listening to your kids' hearts, and all the way to mending broken fences of relationships. 

Some of the most enriching times of my life where at a table. I dare to say that they continue to be around a table. I have shared my struggles and celebrated exciting new things to come. I share communion at church every Sunday around a table with hundreds of Christ followers. I've built close friendships and had girl outings that bring bonds you don't get anywhere else, at a table. From MOPS to discipleship group, lunch with a friend, to dinner with my husband and girls. God invites us to the table. Why don't we start practicing it more? Let's invite the Spirit, enrich relationships, foster good conversation, and chew slower to create unity and wholeness in all aspects of our lives.  

Embracing the Imperfections

I've been feeling God call out my tendency for perfection. The problem is...I'm not perfect...and I never will be. We're always striving, right? But should we? If my goal is to glorify God with my life by loving Him and loving others, why strive for something I know I cannot attain? 

Stay with me here. I'm not saying, "throw in the towel on becoming better in life" by any means. But it's about Jesus, not doing the right things, right? It's so hard to remember that after I look in the mirror, get snappy with my girls, eat too much of the "wrong" food, feel jealous, hold onto hurt, obsess over something minor, and feel insecure. My instinct is to improve. I feel guilty or I say to myself that I am going to "do better" like somehow I need to strive for that perfection. 

Grace. It's what Jesus taught and it's what most Christians teach (Lord willing). There's age old songs that say, "come as you are" and we reach out to people who aren't following Jesus. But in a lot of circles, once you start becoming a follower of Jesus, there's a pressure to live up to perfection or being blameless. Saved by grace and then feeling like works keep you there. We end up focusing on rules to keep us in line. I struggle with trying to live up to this. I have for years. My struggle has gone from feeling like I was almost perfect in many areas (and extreme anxiety in areas I fell short in) to now feeling so imperfect. One caused pride and the other causes fear. Both focus on myself and steer me away from loving God and others. But thankfully God has led people into my life over the last 7 years, to start revealing to me that my quest for perfection is not what God calls me to. The quest is to know Jesus and to love others. Period. 

My abs are far from a six pack. I'd like to have a little more definition. I don't eat perfectly. I struggle with vanity. My house is a mess most of the time these days. Sometimes I feel inadequate that I don't plan to homeschool my girls anymore while most moms around me do. I obsessed over something stupid (that I thought wasn't done perfectly) and nagged my husband in the car yesterday till he showed annoyance. I can be judgmental of others' decisions that don't affect me at all because I have a set of rules in my head that should be followed. I am clearly a mess. 

Thankfully, I am learning to feel the nudges of the Holy Spirit to recognize these things. That maybe it's not the issue I obsessed over that's the real problem. Maybe the problem is striving for perfection that we can't live up to, like my attitude that was not loving my husband, but trying to live up to a standard while almost pounding it into my husband (thankfully my husband displays Jesus' love to me a lot and always forgives/forgets my sins).  My attitude with God and with others is what matters; learning how to truly love. God is telling me that my standard for perfection interferes with my love for others, and Him.  

Am I the only one who struggles with this ideal of perfection? I am working on listening to what God is saying in my life. How to not snap or not be negative without making it about following a new rule. Finding practices or spiritual formations that let the Holy Spirit transform me and bring me closer to Christ. Like physically opening my hands up during prayer, or starting the day with the Lord's prayer, memorizing scripture, seeking close relationships with others who are disciples of Jesus, pausing before I speak, and speaking blessings over my daughters and others. But also, learning to embrace my imperfections and let God transform me through them. A guest pastor spoke at our church today and he said that at his church something they say is "no perfect people allowed." How awesome. Well I am here to say that I am far from perfect and I am learning to be ok with that because it's not about me. Thank you Jesus for whispering to me how much you love me and letting me know that I am still lovable, including my imperfections. 

Toss Your Weight Loss Goal

2015 is here, along with New Year's resolutions. How many of us make goals and put the same, year after year, goal of being a certain weight or losing a certain number of pounds? What's the next step? I am daring to say that the problem with a weight loss goal is taking the focus off of being healthy, not recognizing the journey you are on, and not making it an attainable goal. There is no goal of "how" you'll get there. Maybe this is why most people have fizzled out by summer on their goal. Is a number on the scale proof that you are a healthy individual? Let's redefine your weight loss goal with some simple ideas I have.

We are all on a journey. We are making healthier bodies or unhealthier bodies by the choices we make each day. Weight loss and money seem to relate very well to each other. If you ask most wealthy people how they got wealthy they aren't going to say it happened overnight or by a get-rich-quick scheme. It happened through small steps and staying consistent. It happened because they sacrificed when necessary, for the sake of the future. Being the weight you want to be is the same. You have 3 to 6 meals a day to work with. We all get 24 hours a day to fit in a 30 minute workout. Each choice has a good or bad consequence. So where are you on your journey? Let's look at some areas of your life that might steer your goals away from "weight loss" to lifestyle changes.

#1 Energy

Why not make your goal oriented around the type of day you'd like to have? Want to be lethargic by 2 o'clock and too tired to get off the couch at 7:00 PM? Focus your goal around improving your energy level and do some research on how to attain that. Maybe that means changing what you eat for lunch, or doing 20 minutes of yoga before you let yourself sit on the couch at night. How about starting your day with fresh, hot tea instead of a coke at 10 AM? 

#2 Body Aches

Stiff most mornings? Maybe you sit in a chair all day for work. Making a goal to decrease body aches and pains is completely do-able! Your body is communicating to you that it needs something you aren't giving it. That may be drinking more water, needing to warm-up your muscles, get a massage, stretching before and after your workouts more thoroughly, and just plain moving more. 

#3 Reverse Back and Knee Pain

A large amount of people I have worked with struggle with back and knee pain. But guess what? You have the power to make it better! What a goal that would be on your list of resolutions, huh? Again, do the research, make sure your doctor has no restrictions, and get to work. The simple fact is that your muscles can be strengthened enough to take pressure off your spine and knee caps. There are so many safe exercises to prevent pain and injuries, form is key and having guidance to do proper exercises can change your world. If you take OTC meds for these pains, that wreaks havoc on your body, and many people take pills everyday when all that's needed is some dedicated work to reduce pain and inflammation. Diet of course will play a role in this because the body's inflammation response has to do with nutrition. Your daily dose of fruits and vegetables will help that.

#4 Improving Strength

Maybe you need to tailor your goal towards achieving a regular activity that is too hard for you to do. Instead of leaving the heavy bag of salt for your softener in the car for your husband to pick up for you, focus on lifting heavier weights during your exercise so you lift the bag yourself. Maybe it's as simple as being able to open up the salsa jar with your bare hands. What about picking up kids or grandkids? You can increase your strength at any age! 

#5 Vegetables

When your focus is only a number on the scale, people will do crazy diets. Diets that don't help you be healthier, but just focus on that number. Crazy to the point of barely eating, or injecting hormones not meant for their body, or eating only packages of food delivered to their house that is in powder form. Why don't you make a goal to increase the number of vegetables you eat each day? We KNOW without a shadow of a doubt, without a doubt, that eating large amounts of vegetables reduces every single negative health concern by vast amounts. E-V-E-R-Y one. Obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart problems, acne, skin disorders, auto-immune disorders, you name it, vegetables fight it. So start with adding one more serving a day and increase from there. If you're eating 5 servings of vegetables a day, guess what will be thrown out? Probably less empty calorie foods that cause those problems. Woah, removing a culprit but adding in something that fights problems, now we're cooking! I am certainly not perfect with my eating and this is a call to challenge myself and keep adding more. So let's do this. 

#6 Challenging Exercises

Maybe you enjoy working out or you have a routine but still can't make that scale budge. First, read #5 again, and then hone in on improving areas you are weak in. Maybe push-ups, burpees, your balance, core strength, planks, improving your running time, or lifting a certain weight.  The harder you work at achieving these things, the more you'll improve your body. Want to know how to get better at push-ups? By doing push-ups. How to stay in a plank longer? By practicing the plank. It means you'll be pushing your body to limits you haven't gone yet, which in turn benefits your body. 

#7 Managing Ailments

How great of a goal would it be if you got off your high blood pressure medication in 2015? What about no longer being type 2 diabetic or pre-diabetic? It's possible and I am your #1 fan and cheering you on! Since a lot of Americans are in one of those camps, I have trained quite a few taking medications for these things. I have also seen my clients come off these medicines completely. One man in particular was on 12 medications a day. 3 were for blood pressure. After working with him for a few months, he lost weight and was able to go off all 3 blood pressures meds. All 3! If you shift your weight loss goal to doing things that get you off medications, the weight loss will follow, but you'll have a healthier body and feel the results.

#8 Cutting the Sugar

I just read the other day that a hundred years ago we each ate about 10-20 pounds of sugar a year. Now we eat over 100 pounds of sugar a year. Hold the phone. That's insane. Just like vegetables, we also KNOW the effects of sugar on the body and nothing good comes from it, really. It's just pure pleasure when consuming with sugar...until afterwards. We also know that our bodies get addicted to sugar just like drugs. So limiting your sugar intake is an excellent goal that can easily be put on paper. Even completely cutting it out for a period of time is acceptable to kick the addiction. 

#9 Creating an Exercise Habit

Hate exercising? Guess what? I used to hate it. I'm serious.  I love it now but it took time. The first step was creating the habit. That takes time. There it is again. Not a quick fix. Nothing 6 weeks will cure. What if you set your goal to exercise 2 days a week without missing a week in 2015? That's it. Start slow and just stick with 2 days. You might say, "But Steph, what good will that do me?" There's a myth that says we have to exercise 6 days a week to get anywhere. We are going for distance with this one. When you start off sprinting, you'll slow down and stop. That gets the diet cycle going by trying to exercise too much and starting at zero. 

Let's say you maintain 6 days a week of exercise for 6 weeks and fizzle out to once every 2 months (this is not unrealistic). Going at such a hard pace can just discourage your mind every time you workout after that 6 week point. I will average the time at 30 minutes a day. That's 56 workouts in the year. Pretty good, sure. You're looking at burning probably around 8,400 calories in the year. That's about 2 ½ pounds of fat (pound of fat burned is 3,500 calories). But typically when restricting yourself and trying to maintain too high of exercise expectations, binging and consuming more calories happens after the fizzle.

Let's turn this around and shoot for an attainable goal. If you commit to 20-45 minutes of intentional exercise 2 days a week, you'll average around the 30 minute mark. That would add up to exercising 104 days this year! If you burned an average of 150 calories a workout you'd burn 15,600 calories this year. That equals losing 4 ½ pounds of fat, without changing your diet. This doesn't include afterburn and adding muscle, that you would maintain from the regular exercise (which makes you burn more calories all the time). Next year you could shoot for 3 days a week and would be able to maintain because of the habit you formed this year. The cycle would be broken! 

#10 Taking Protein Seriously

Eating enough protein is an essential element to building the body you want, but many forget that. We eat a lot of carbs and bad fat these days. When dieting, calories are restricted and people turn to low calorie foods, some good, some not. Eating cabbage and carrots all day isn't healthy either. Those are healthy choices, but our bodies need protein. It's the foundation of building muscle, keeping blood sugar steady, feeling full, balancing hormones and keeping the body functioning properly. A lack of protein can cause a variety of problems in the body. From thinning hair, to lack of sleep, losing muscle, and even to anxiety and depression. So eat that steak and make bacon. Just choose quality meat sources free of hormones, antibiotics, and are fed at least partly grass. Protein creates a lean body, so aim for protein with every meal and snack you eat. It'll satisfy you, help you burn fat, and keep your blood sugar levels stable (hint for pre-diabetics and diabetics).   

That was a lot of information but hopefully you can sort through it with goals you've made. Let's start focusing more on quality of life, rather than shoot for a goal that doesn't take your journey into account. So start where you are, with what you eat, what habits you need to form, what your doctor is telling you, what your blood work shows, and how you'd like to feel. Maybe if you approach it from that angle, 2015 will not be about conquering a number but a journey of healthy steps you take.