Willpower Part Two

Earlier this week we began watching Google Authors "The Willpower Instinct" with Author Kelly McGonigal.  It's a fascinating lecture and I have bought the book - but haven't quite gotten around to starting it yet.
Willpower is difficult.  Most people can't simply decide they want to lose weight/exercise more/save money etc and then do it.  It takes planning, effort and a lot of work.
On my journey I found that taking away options worked best for me.  I was only allowed certain foods and didn't have a choice - I could eat that food or go off the diet.  That's easy.  Giving me the option to decide what food I wanted to eat was not easy.  I have been steadily gaining weight since I went off the diet at the end of January.  I am now up 12 pounds ... and still climbing.  I'll get to more of that in a later post - but for now back to willpower.
Here are some of the best tips I learned from watching the lecture:

Setting Yourself up for Success (The Physiology of Willpower):

• Sleep
• Meditation
• Exercise
• Plant-based Diet

In order to be successful you need to prepare your body for success.  Research has found that not getting enough sleep can put you at risk for overeating.  We all know that, right.  Meditation can help put your mind in the right place.  This holds no matter what you need willpower for - not just losing weight.

Pessimism:

• Yes.  Pessimism.  This does not mean negativity.  This means set yourself up for success by planning for failure.  Think of the ways you could possibly fail then think of what you can do *now* to get around the potential future failure. 

Questions to ask yourself:

• What is your goal?
• What could be the most positive outcome?
• What action will I take to reach this goal?
• What obstacles will I face?
• When & where will I face these obstacles?
• What can I do to prevent these obstacles from affecting me?
• What specific thing can I do to get back on track after the obstacle?

Kelly McGonigal, "The Willpower Instinct" | Talks at Google

If you're looking for some help in the willpower department, check out The Willpower Instinct by Stanford professor Kelly McGonigal.  Great insight into the science behind willpower and what you can do to set yourself up for success.

Getting My Workout On!

I'm trying hard to get back into shape.  Despite the weight loss, I am still a bit droopy, lumpy and dumpy.
I just signed up for Pure Barre which is one of many ballet/barre based workouts.

My very first class kicked my butt.  I couldn't move for a couple of days - but now I'm on my fourth class ... and while I'm still not very good, it's gotten better.  Not easier, but better.  I try to attend at least 3 Pure Barre classes a week.

I also am doing Body Pump classes at 24 Hour Fitness.  To me this class is like having a personal trainer without paying for a personal trainer.  It's an hour of lifting weights, squats and sit ups.  It's a killer - but hopefully it will all be worth it shortly!

Tricks to Clean Up Your Diet: From "Mind Body Green Blog"

Great, easy tips on eating healthy from the MindBodyGreen website.  Check it out, they have great articles. This article is from their site, none of it is my own.

Some people claim that healthy eating takes a lot of time and is complicated. But it doesn’t have to be this way. If you know how to do it right, you can incorporate more healthy food into your life!
1. Use this trick to store fresh herbs.Fresh herbs like basil, mint, oregano and sage flavor your food without adding any chemicals. However, sometimes you might get a huge bunch of basil or mint, use only a few sprigs, and the rest goes off before you know it. But there is a trick to make your fresh herbs last for a long time! Simply remove the leaves from the stems and place them into an air-tight glass jar, and store in the fridge. Just make sure that the herbs are absolutely dry. Using this technique, mint and sage will last up to two weeks. Basil, oregano and cilantro will last from seven to 10 days.
2. Freeze ripe bananas to make amazing smoothies and ice-creams.This is my favorite trick! When you freeze bananas, they change their taste, and when you blend them – they give any smoothie an amazing creamy texture. Simply peel some very ripe bananas, put them into a zip-lock bag or a container, and freeze at least overnight. Then add to your smoothies instead of regular bananas.
If you blend frozen bananas with a high speed blender or a food processor, it makes an amazingice-cream, which tastes so creamy and rich! You might need to add some water to facilitate blending. You can also add raw cacao for a raw chocolate ice-cream or some berries (frozen or fresh).
3. Make your own dressings and dips, and store them in a glass jarStore-bought dressings have plenty of preservatives, chemicals and bad fats. Even the healthy ones still have preservatives and ingredients that are not ideal for you. So the best thing is to make your own dressing. There are plenty of recipes for healthy salad dressing available. Just make a big batch and store in a glass jar or a bottle for up to a week.
An even better hack: place your dressing ingredients (for example, freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice, fresh herbs, some salt and pepper) in a glass jar, put the lid on and shake well until the ingredients have mixed. That’s an easy way to make your own dressing. For some of the recipes, though, you might need a blender. (Unfortunately, shaking a jar doesn’t do a great job blending a mango.)
4. Always have healthy food on site.You'll eat what's available. If you have healthy snacks handy, you'll eat them when you’re hungry, and there's less chance that you will eat something unhealthy. When you get very hungry, you might make bad food decisions. But if you have plenty of healthy food at home, you're more likely to eat healthy. Duh.
5. Make healthy breakfast the night before.Yes, mornings may be hectic and super busy. But you have no excuse for not preparing your breakfast the night before. A great way to do it is to make chia pudding or soaked oats in a glass jar. You can even make it in layers, e.g. soaked oats in almond milk, then a layer of blended fruit, etc. it takes about five minutes to make, then you place it in a fridge, and bam! You have a healthy breakfast in the morning.
Another breakfast hack is to prepare all your smoothie ingredients a night before. So in the morning all you have to do is chuck them in a blender. This takes less than three minutes.
6. Thicken soup or sauce with cauliflower.People love a nice texture! Creamy, thick soups, smooth sauces and mashed potatoes all taste good, but contain enormous amounts of fat, usually the unhealthy kinds.
Luckily, there is a super veggie: cauliflower. It's low in fat, low in calories, and high in fiber and nutrients! Simply add the steamed or lightly boiled cauliflower to your soup or a sauce, and blend it. You'll be pleasantly surprised by its thick and creamy texture. If you like to make mashed potatoes, use cauliflower instead of potatoes. It tastes very similar, and is lower in calories and easier to digest.
7. Instead of flour, use oats.White wheat flour is highly processed, devoid of nutrients and also contains gluten. For a healthier option, replace white flour with oats. Simply process dry oat flakes in a blender, food processor or a coffee grinder.
If you’re sensitive to gluten, make sure to get gluten-free certified oats. Oats naturally do not contain gluten, but are often cross-contaminated with tiny bits of wheat, rye or barley.
8. Replace wheat pasta with veggie “noodles.”Wheat pasta is very processed and also contains gluten, which many people are sensitive to. It is also very mucus-forming and is not good for your digestion. Therefore, you can replace your pasta with veggie “noodles” made of zucchini, carrot or cucumber. You will either need a vegetable spiralizer, or a simple peeler. If you use a peeler, just cut the vegetables into a flat noodle shape. Vegetable noodles, mixed with a sauce, become soft and their texture resembles real pasta.
9. Make your own flavored water.Soda and processed drinks are so out of date. They’ve been proven to cause weight gain, diabetes and heart disease. If you’re craving a delicious drink, you can make amazing tasting and absolutely healthy flavored water.
Add some fresh herbs, like basil or mint; some citrus juice, like lemon or orange; or fruit and vegetable slices, like sliced strawberries, cucumbers, orange, ginger, etc. My favorite combo is lemon, fresh ginger and mint. It’s best to make it before going to bed and let it infuse during the night.
10. Ditch milk for a home-made almond or other nut milk, and replace butter with avocado.Dairy products are also the food of the past. They contain so many antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides. Plus, cow’s milk is the food for baby calves, not for grown-up humans. Also, so many people are lactose-intolerant even without knowing it. Almond or other nut milk is so easy to make, and you can make a bigger batch and keep it in the fridge.
Butter is full of saturated fat, which clogs your arteries and leads to a heart disease. Instead, replace your butter with a heart-healthy avocado. It tastes so much better and is cruelty-free.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

The Blog is Back

I'm baaack!

That's right.  After weeks of kind-of dieting and kind-of eating everything in sight.  I am giving up and giving in, so to speak.  It's time to get control and learn how to eat right.  Apparently I really need a regimen and need to stick with it.  I have decided I am unable to do it on my own.

I am joining Weight Watchers again ... along with my weekly Maintenance meetings with the "Weight Management Program".  The WMP group is great, but I don't know how truly helpful it is.  Frankly, it's probably not them, it's me.  I need EXTRA help.

So, I'll be back documenting everything.  I think that's been part of my problem too.  While I've been ignoring the blog, I've also been ignoring healthy eating habits.  Luckily I've only gained about 5 pounds.  But frankly 5 pounds in two months is ... well 5 pounds too much!  At that rate I'd gain everything back in less than two years.  We can't have that now, can we?

So, I have to blog and track ... and hopefully that will help keep me on track.

Fed Up

I've posted several times about the dangers of sugar and how you should try to cut it out of your life.  Now there's a new documentary coming out this week on the subject.

Check out the trailer here.

The documentary is narrated and executive produced by Katie Couric and it's all about sugar and just how much of it we're ingesting every day.

According to the film sugar is added to 80% of all processed foods on store shelves.  That number has dramatically increased in response to the public's desire for "low-fat" foods.  When the fat is removed - more sugar is added to resort the flavor.  One of the more interesting facts from a movie clip shows that despite the increase in low-fat foods - Americans have gotten fatter than ever in the past few decades.

What's even worse ... this generation is the first generation ever that's expected to have a shorter lifespan than their parents.  It's sobering.

You can learn more from the FedUp Facebook page.

There's also a Fed Up 10 Day Sugar-Free Challenge.  You can learn more on the movie's website.