Keeping on Track

I've decided this is a little harder then I was hoping it would be. I have never even tried to "diet" before in my life and it's proving to be a little difficult. My weakness is cookies. Sounds lame right? For Father's Day, we had dinner with my In-laws and she made chocolate chip cookies. Yum! I ate about 6 of them at about 100 calories per cookie... ouch! Then for our family night on Monday I made these super yummy sugar cookies. Again, about 100 calories each.... and I ate 5 of them on Monday and probably about 7 on Tuesday and then gave the rest away. (They were still super yummy on the second day :) I just can't make cookies. It doesn't work for me. I turn into this guy...

There's this nasty little conversation that goes on in my head: "Just eat one." "But I can't only have one so I shouldn't eat any." "Oh, come on. You can do it." "Okay.... Crap that was good. I need another one." "No, don't eat another one." "Just one more." "Okay. Just one more." "What the heck... You've already blown it. Just eat all you want." And then I feel like crap in between cookies and need to eat another one to help me feel better. It's crazy!
I just found this great article about keeping it together when you're trying to eat right. There are some awesome tips in there that I'm going to have to incorporate, especially with summer BBQ's and party's and stuff. I'm out!

Produce Co-op

I'm am super excited about a new (new to me anyway) option that my little town has for those of us looking to add to our crisper without adding to our expenses. There's a traveling food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. You log in on Monday night, order your basket with your credit/debit card and then on Saturday you have a 20 min. pick up window where you go to the pick-up location and get your basket full of fresh produce. This past week was my first week participating and it definitely won't be my last. After your first basket it's only $16.50 for a ton of produce. 50% fruit and 50% veggies. It's quite fun because you don't really know what your getting so it makes it a little bit like Christmas :) and then I get to work all this great produce into my meal plan for the week. This past week we got things like broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, bananas, cantaloupe, coconut (which I never would have bought on my own, but I love!) grapes, red potatoes, apples... and a few other things I can't think of. Amazing, hu?! My husband and I had just recently been talking (well, I was kinna complaining) about the cost of produce and how hard it was to get enough into our diet without costing an arm and a leg and then this opened up to us. Thank You, Thank You!

Things Are Looking Up!

This week has been a good week! I took a shopping trip on Tuesday to Costco and Winco and stopped in to see my favorite Aunt Kaye. (She's officially my husband's aunt, but I very much claim her as mine.) She is an inspiration to me! She is one of the healthiest people that I know and she looks and is amazing. She has recently become a certified Hydro therapist, is also working on her certification as a reflexologist and she's almost a Master Herbalist. She has a wealth of knowledge and I love to chat with her for hours on end and pick her brain. :) We talked about some of my goals with fitness and also some frustrations that I have in trying to change my lifestyle. She told me that she never counts calories. Her theory is that if you are eating whole foods, listening to your body, and not eating in excess your body will naturally find it's balance. She said that she has weighed the same amount for the past 18 years and has never once counted calories. She occasionally has a few bites of desert and eats a little chocolate every now and then but she has reached a point that she doesn't have cravings for things that she knows are not good for her body and craves things like fruit and veggies. In fact I had to ask her to move her giant candy bowl that she keeps on the counter. It was full of peanut butter M&M's and starbursts! I just can't have stuff like that in plain sight or I will eat it all!
I believe that with knowledge comes power. Kaye said that the more she has learned, the easier it has been to make healthy lifestyle choices. She loaned me this book by Kevin Trudeau called "Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About." It's been fascinating! He talks about ways to prevent becoming sick and the importance of what we put into our bodies. I'm not very far into the book, mostly because my husband stole it from me :) so I'll be interested to learn more.
I think this week has been better because I haven't been strict about calorie counting or food logging. I also read that it's a great idea to do that for a month or so just so you can really get a feel for portion sizes and what the regular things you eat would amount to and then from there it's easy to know what's right for you. I haven't told myself that I can't eat this or that but I just ask myself if I really need it and if I really do (haha) then I only eat a few bites. The hardest place for me to just hang out is my in-laws. Our favorite thing to do there is eat, seriously. Food is love and the kitchen is the center of the home. Though Jared's family is in great health and his Mom is a lot like Aunt Kaye (they're sisters) and she can have tons of goodies in her house and not eat them. I don't know how they do it, seriously! I have a habit of going to the pantry or the "treat cupboard" and eating whatever looks good and it's a habit I'm working to break. I'm trying to make better choices and eat things like popcorn or fruits and veggies and I really have to have those talks with myself about "needing" food and I'll just keep on keep'n on! :)

Refocusing....

Tomorrow I am back on board! I had to take a little reprieve from my healthy lifestyle :) and regroup. This week has been nice not having to count calories or argue with myself over whether or not I should eat that treat. I still exercised of course and ate generally well but I didn't deny myself the goodies if I wanted them and in fact I did a really good job ignoring that "I'm full" sensation. So now that I'm tired of feeling like I'm not firing on all cylinders, I'm ready to get back at it!

My cleanse kit came in the mail and I'm excited to give it a go for the month and eat well, drink lots of water and see how it goes. I would say my biggest complaint as far as my health is concerned is my digestive system. It's never worked that great and I want to get things in working order. I have an appointment with my Cranial Therapist in Treemonton Utah tomorrow and that always helps me feel better, emotionally and physically and I am ready for a boost in both areas of my life.